Social Exclusion of Foreign Immigrants in Turkey: The Case of Azerbaijani Women Workers in the Istanbul Garment Industry

Azerbeijani families come to Istanbul from Nakhchivan and Baku to find better employment and living conditions. As informal sector jobs are mostly directed to women and children, Azerbaijani women become an important cheap labour source for Istanbul’s garment industry. Analysing women’s and their families’ experience in Turkey, the research investigated the effects of three distinct factors on Azerbaijani women’s exclusion. These factors are women’s labour market activities, the structure of institutions organising and regulating migration and existing social norms and perceptions on migrant women. Therefore, the paper will pin down how the Turkish migration regime is designed to automatically exclude those irregular migrants as ‘criminals’ helps to generate a pool of cheap labour source for one of the globally successful industries in Turkey.