SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN MIGRANTS IN TURKEY: A CASE STUDY ON SENEGALESE MIGRANTS IN İSTANBUL

Over the last two decades, Turkey has witnessed the arrival of people with different ethnic backgrounds including an increasing number of sub-Saharan African migrants. The presence of these migrants in Turkey has, however, largely been ignored academically. Based on only very scant empirical evidence, sub-Saharan African migrants in Turkey are commonly presented as a homogenous group and all are assumed to be transit migrants on their way to Europe. These assumptions have formed the basis for a policy attitude of ignorance towards these migrants. Drawing from ethnographic data collected among Senegalese migrants in İstanbul between 2010 and 2011, the article sheds light on this disregarded migration reality in Turkey. Adopting a case study approach, the main research objective is to comprehend the presence of a specific group of sub-Saharan African migrants in Turkey through an analysis of their migration aspirations. The main findings challenge on two fronts the prevailing assumptions about sub-Saharan African migrants in Turkey.