The phenomenon of domestic migration in turkey: analysis of domestic migrations specific to march 13, 1992, Erzincan earthquake

The phenomenon of immigration, as old as human history, plays an important role on the social, political and economic structures of countries from past to present. People bear their culture to the places they migrate, interaction occurs at the places that is migrated. Earthquakes are also of great importance in our country. Such that once in almost every 15-20 years, 7 earthquakes have occurred in our country, and these earthquakes have caused high rates of life and structural losses. Since Erzincan has many earthquakes from past to present, the impact of the earthquakes specific to the province and the subsequent migration processes on the people of Erzincan is extremely high. The biggest earthquake in the history of Erzincan is the 1939 earthquake that take place near the top of the world history in terms of its negative consequences and intensity. Another important earthquake for Erzincan is the earthquake that occurred on March 13, 1992, which has a significant impact on the current structure of Erzincan. This study aims to analyze the social and economic consequences of the migration processes occured throughout Erzincan province on March 13, 1992 and afterwards. The data of Turkish Statistical Institute, State Institute of Statistics and Address-Based Population Registration System were mainly used as base. Besides, these data were discussed in relation to the results obtained from in-depth interviews with 20 people who lived through the 13 March 1992 Earthquake. Both the official data and the narratives of the witnesses suggest that the earthquake of March 13, 1992, has downgraded Erzincan as socially, economically and demographically. There has been a general decrease both in the population structure of the city and a significant decrease in the number of rate of qualified labor force and civil servant. This situation negatively affected the social structure of the city. The earthquake also affected the economic structure of the city. Many people from wage workers and the ones who had a business life chose to migrate after the earthquake. As a result, the phenomenon of migration occured after the earthquake negatively changed the sociological, demographic and economic structure of Erzincan. In this study, the post-earthquake change is examined in consideration of official data and interviews