The challenges and opportunities of Afghanistani migrants in Türkiye

The history of migration coincides with the history of humanity. With the establishment of nation-states with international borders, the movement of people as immigrants (regular and irregular) becomes more difficult, which brings some challenges and opportunities for the host and destination countries. Migrants and refugees from Afghanistan constitute the second largest group in Europe and also the second largest in Türkiye, and their migration was mostly driven by war. The number of immigrants and refugees from Afghanistan is increasing day by day. Decades of conflict have led to instability, insecurity, socio-economic problems and challenges for the Afghanistani people in Afghanistan. Outside Afghanistan, the biggest problem for the people of Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is the refugee problem. Therefore, the aim of this dissertation is to examine and reveal the challenges and opportunities of Afghanistani migrants and refugees in Türkiye. In this research, the socio-economic, cultural, geographical, health services, access to education, refugee status process, remittances opportunities in Türkiye will be evaluated based on collected data. Mobility has been an important part of Afghanistan's history, and for Afghanistani refugees and migrants Türkiye is considered as a bridge to reach European counties or as a destination country where they want to settle down and join friends and relatives. On the other hand, the legal and socio-economic difficulties of Afghanıstani migrants and refugees such as deportation, uncertainty of refugee status, lack of access to education, health services and social facilities without an identity card, will be assessed. Due to the deteriorating socio-economic conditions in Afghanistan and the destabilization of the political situation, the people of Afghanistan are immigrating to Türkiye en masse. This research approach is based on the push and pull theory of migration, in which migration is influenced by various economic, environmental, political and social factors. It is built on a framework of analysis based on the theory of migrants' country of origin (push factors) or country of destination (pull factors). In this study, The challenges and problems of Afghanistanı migrants are a structural and social issues in Afghanistan. Therefore, quantitative research method is applied in this study to examine the root cause of mass migration.