About The Article

Brigitte Suter (2017) "Migration and the formation of transnational economic networks between
Africa and Turkey: the socio-economic establishment of migrants in situ and in mobility, African and
Black Diaspora": An International Journal, 10:3, 313-326.

Brigitte Suter: Malmö Institute for Studies of Migration, Diversity and Welfare (MIM),
Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden3-326.
The Aim of Artice
Previous literature on the topic largely views Turkey as a transit country for African migrants... However,
there are several recent studies that point out that Istanbul also offers opportunities for socio-economic
mobility for African migrants, and that Turkey can increasingly be seen as a country of immigration for
many migrants from the African continent.

For this reason the article focuses on the how small-scale immigrants from African traders in Turkey plays
a role both locally and transnationally in the establishment of economic and social stability and upward
mobility for themselves and new coming African traders.

"...In short, I argue that firstly, transnational economic activities between Istanbul and various African
countries generate social upward mobility for African migrants engaging in trade (establishment in
mobility), and that secondly, the presence of the transnational circulating African traders creates
opportunities for social upward mobility (establishment in situ) for the immobile African migrants in
Istanbul."
Previous Literature and Methodology
• As methodology, writer uses secondary sources to collect data about Sub-Saharan African
Migrants’ Experiences in Istanbul based on the study of Suter's ethnographic fieldwork in Turkey
between 2007 and 2009.

• The findings show Istanbul as a crossroad of migrants and as a location not only for transit
movements but also for social and economic upward mobility.

• Migrants who participated in this study were nationals from Nigeria, Kenya, Liberia, Ethiopia,
Eritrea, Burundi, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo who were students, traders,
entrepreneurs, restaurant owners, key figures in a network, such as a pastor or a head of an
organisation, or newcomers trying to grasp the situation. Many of them came to Istanbul to
continue to a European country, and while some eventually did, others changed their plans for
various reasons.
• Apart from the migration towards West, because of the following the tightening of immigration
regulations in the past 20 years, the direction of African migration has somewhat diverted to
other destinations, such as South American countries Gulf countries and China as well as Turkey

• These circular migrants usually operate within a social and economic network stretching two or
more countries. Whether the location of trade is Turkey, China, or the United Arab Emirates or
other places in the Global South, transnational economic mobility – the ultimate goal of which is
to gain increased social status in the country of origin – is one distinctive feature of contemporary
African migration
Turkey and Istanbul's Textile Sector
Reasons for migration to Turkey:
• The restrictive immigration regulations of the European Union
• Turkey’s geographical location
• Turkish asylum and immigration regulations are designed certainly provide a valuable explanation
as to the creation of transit movements in the country

Migrant's experience in transit stay:

• ll-treatment related to their skin colour and their (often) irregular status both by the police and by
other strangers, ranging from inhibited curiosity to verbal offenses and physical harassment.
• Distrust among co-nationals because of the the scarcity of resources for African migrants in Istanbul.
Many migrants complaining about the lack of work, or alternatively, the employers’ refusal to pay
an adequate salary or a salary at all .
Textil as a Job Opportunity for African Migrants
• Istanbul is one of the top destinations for Kenyan traders (along with cities like Amsterdam,
Bangkok, and Guangzhou.
• Turkish Airlines in Nigeria has on the full cargo flights between Istanbul and Lagos.
• Managing Director of Turkish Airlines in Nigeria: "Since 2006, Turkey’s national airline – Turkish
Airlines – opened more than two dozen regular routes to African cities below the Sahara and is
now one of the major connectors to African countries" (for an overview of Turkish relations with
African countries, see Fait 2012).
• Turkey has economic and political presence on African soil. While Turko-African relations have
waned with the formation of the Republic in 1923, they resumed again in volume in 1998. Since
then, Africa as a continent has received steadily increasing political and economic attention and
investments from Turkey (Özkan 2011; Özkan and Akgün 2010).
Immigrant entrepreneurship through a transnational lens
This article looks at the African traders in Istanbul as economic actors who act from within a net of social,
legal, and political structures, and who would often choose self-employment over formal wage labour (see
Şaul and Pelican 2014). This view differs from many studies that define immigrant entrepreneurship as an
enforced solution to exclusion from formal employment.

• in Istanbul, the textile sector provides a good example of the inseparability of formal and informal
economic activities. The sector has for a long time constituted a main share of Turkey’s export
products. The numbers of the informal part of the textile industry are also large.
• This informality on regulations create crucial for entrepreneurship. This article focuces on the presence
of the circulating traders which ultimately alters the opportunity structures, thereby creating
opportunities that did not exist before (see also Kloosterman and Rath 2001).
Immigrant entrepreneurship through a transnational lens
• Ethnicity plays a crucial role in economic activity because it evidently steers migrants’ access to
informal networks. Nationality were observed as an asset in the process of accumulating social
capital. For example, many interviewees stated that they asked a taxi driver or a hotel receptionist
where they were most likely to find another black person, and then walked around until they found
someone.

• Cultural capital is crucial to acquire for migrants who aim at stabilising their economic and social
situation through establishment in mobility such as language skills, knowledge about the society and
culture.

• Immigrant entrepreneurship often takes place in sectors that require low capital investment and
educational attainments, the low status of which – at least at the initial stage of migration – does not
always constitute a constraining factor.
Immigrant entrepreneurship through a transnational lens
• Practices of sending money and travelling and communicating frequently facilitate the increase of the
social status in the country of origin. Migrants are able to climb the social ladder in their places of
origin despite their physical absence.
Struggle and strategies: the process after arrival
• In this section, article discusses some of struggles endured and strategies used to achieve geographical
and ultimately socio-economic mobility through describing one Nigerian migrant’s situation.

• He gives thirty years oll Peter's example initially arrived in Istanbul in autumn 2007 with the intention
(and the flight ticket) to proceed to Turkish Cyprus. From there, he would cross the border into Greek
Cyprus – and therefore the Schengen area – just as smoothly as his agent back home assured him it
would be. However, during the 72-hour stopover in Istanbul, Peter gathered enough information to
realise the impossibility of his plan. Because of the lack of money Peter stayed in Istanbul
and acoording to his comments in infaced with police brutality, everyday racism, and exploitation, not
only by employers but also by their compatriots. For the next five months, he works petty jobs, that is,
hard work for long hours with little salary. He learned from the Nigerians that Greece is a country for
workers but Turkey is open place for business
Struggle and strategies: the process after arrival
After he starts to invest very modest capital in a small-scale business. He bought a few pieces of clothes,
and paid a couple of dollars to an established circulating trader to transport them along their goods back to
Nigeria, where they would sell these items in their store. Then, in turn, another circulating trader would
send Peter’s share of the profit to Istanbul. The business proceeds slowly, but steadily. His long-term
perspective was – once the business reached a certain size and stability – to return to Nigeria, and then
enter Turkey again circularly on valid visas. Peter in March 2009, listed the three ways in which he planned
to generate an income, indicating that he was well aware of this labour market niche.

• His first step was to improve his own business. By establishing lasting relationships with circulatory
traders, Peter hopes to increase the stability of his income. Furthermore, he also needed the services of
these traders in order to start his own small-scale business.

• Secondly, by guiding Nigerian customers (circulating traders) to the places with the best selection at the
best price, he hoped to secure their patronage. For that service, he received a small fee from the shop
owners and one from the customers.
Struggle and strategies: the process after arrival
• Thirdly, he had plans to make his place available as accommodation. That way he would not only get an
income, but would also run a lesser risk of losing his customers to the competition.In 2013 – after a series of
individual and economic misfortunes – Peter is back to trying to climb the socio-economic ladder through
trading activities. This time, however, he could start with a much higher initial capital investment than the
previous time. This was a result of the type of social ties he had built in the past seven years since his arrival in
the city, which he could mobilise in order to get on his feet again.
Struggle and strategies: the process after arrival
• Steve (pseudonym) from Kenya and Nancy (pseudonym) from Nigeria – who upon their arrival in Istanbul a few years
ago, were in the same situation as Peter. However, both of them have reached a relative level of socio-economic
stability. Steve has adopted a transnationally mobile strategy which spans both his home country and Turkey in order to
reach a certain level of economic and social stability, while Nancy makes her living solely in Istanbul.

• Steve, upon his arrival from Kenya in 2003 lacked any prior contacts or local social network ties.

I came here three years ago with the intention of continuing to Europe. I was told by the agent back home that I could
just take a train to Greece, as easy as that. So when I came here and found out that this is not true, I found myself in
big problems. I did not want to risk my life, so I stayed here. It was difficult, very difficult, the first year. I found some
çabuk çabuk [petty jobs] to get by, really to survive only. ( … ) I did çabuk jobs for almost two years. These jobs are
underpaid, but I was desperate. A strategy is to work very well and try to keep a job over some months, because then
they get used to you, and it is more likely that they want to keep you. That has also the advantage that you are then in
a position to negotiate for better salary. (Steve) .
Struggle and strategies: the process after arrival
• Steve (pseudonym) from Kenya and Nancy (pseudonym) from Nigeria – who upon their arrival in Istanbul a few years
ago, were in the same situation as Peter. However, both of them have reached a relative level of socio-economic
stability. Steve has adopted a transnationally mobile strategy which spans both his home country and Turkey in order to
reach a certain level of economic and social stability, while Nancy makes her living solely in Istanbul.

• Steve, upon his arrival from Kenya in 2003 lacked any prior contacts or local social network ties.

I came here three years ago with the intention of continuing to Europe. I was told by the agent back home that I could
just take a train to Greece, as easy as that. So when I came here and found out that this is not true, I found myself in
big problems. I did not want to risk my life, so I stayed here. It was difficult, very difficult, the first year. I found some
çabuk çabuk [petty jobs] to get by, really to survive only. ( … ) I did çabuk jobs for almost two years. These jobs are
underpaid, but I was desperate. A strategy is to work very well and try to keep a job over some months, because then
they get used to you, and it is more likely that they want to keep you. That has also the advantage that you are then in
a position to negotiate for better salary. (Steve) .
Struggle and strategies: the process after arrival
• Nancy’s story, although initially similar, differs substantially from Steve’s, on lines of strategy and outcome.
The 40-something Nigerian woman arrived in Istanbul in the 1990s. She had no prior contacts. Initially, her
plan was to go to Europe, but facing the risk involved in crossing the sea illegally by night, she decided to
stay in Istanbul. She gained citizenship through marriage and eventually re-married to a man from an
African country.

• Marriage opened up a variety of opportunities, above all the right of permanent residency as well as
business ownership. She opened a restaurant serving ‘African food’ in a neighbourhood with a high
density of textile shops. Her customers were both African circulating traders as well as the African
employees of the textile shops. Furthermore, she registered an import–export company in her name
through which she can now issue letters of invitation for Nigerian and other African nationals who apply
for a business visa in order to enter Turkey.
Conclusion
• Firstly Istanbul presents an opportunity for business for transnationally and locally
embedded, mobile traders from African countries.

• Secondly, how in turn the increasing presence of these traders in Istanbul offers
opportunities for establishment to their co-nationals within a local and transnational context
Discussion Questions
1. What can be the other possible reason that make Istanbul as a settlement for migrants from Sub-
Saharan Africans as well as other Asian and Middle –East countries?

2. What is your observations about the working Africans in Istanbul. Except textil trade, what are the other business
area giving an opportunity to stay in Istanbul?