Old-age problems of elderly individuals who retired abroad and migrated reverse: The example of Emirdağ

With the increase in the elderly population worldwide, the post-retirement life preferences of elderly individuals have become an important area of research. One of the striking phenomena among these preferences is "reverse migration". Reverse migration refers to people returning from the country where they lived or worked for many years to the country where they were born or to a region where they feel more comfortable. This return becomes attractive in terms of both economic advantages and cultural belonging, especially for individuals who have worked abroad and retired. This return process experienced by individuals who work abroad for many years and then return to their hometowns after retirement is not only a physical change of location, but also includes emotional, cultural and social dimensions. At the same time, in this process, which corresponds to the old age period, it becomes important which of the active or passive old age models individuals will tend to. This thesis study, developed within the context of the stated understanding, is based on a field research conducted with qualitative methods in Emirdağ district of Afyonkarahisar province. In-depth interviews were conducted with 25 participants who were determined using the purposeful easily accessible sampling technique within the context of the study designed with a phenomenological research design, using a semi-structured interview form. The field findings obtained were then analyzed with thematic content analysis technique. As a result of the thesis study, it was evaluated that the most determining factors in the return of elderly individuals who lived abroad for many years to Emirdağ were cultural belonging, longing for a social environment and economic advantages, that they preferred reverse migration with the desire to find peace in a familiar environment in old age, to return to a traditional lifestyle and to revitalize social relations, that they experienced social adaptation problems, spatial alienation and conflicts between expectations and reality after their return, and that the economic savings gained abroad emerged as an important dynamic of reverse migration since they provided a more comfortable old age period in Türkiye. In addition, it has been observed that the participants have an ambivalent attitude towards active ageing in line with the living habits they have acquired during their time abroad. Keywords: Old Age, Old Age Problems, Reverse Migration, Retirement Migration, Expatriate Elderly