Relocants named the reasons for the mass exodus of Russians from Turkey

Relocants named the reasons for the mass exodus of Russians from Turkey

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The “mass exodus” of Russian relocants from Turkey is being discussed in the Turkish press: by the new year 2024, according to statistics from the Turkish Center for Asylum and Migration Research, there are 50 thousand fewer of us on the Turkish coast than on the previous New Year’s Eve.

What caused the “exodus” and where the compatriots from the Republic of Turkey are heading, we learned from them themselves.

The Turkish publication Turizm Gazetesi openly associates the “Russian exodus” with a conscious desire to “reduce” the number of Russian residents on Turkish territory, carried out by “tightening the requirements for issuing an ikamet (tourist residence permit),” which, in fact, became its abolition. Turkish migration experts are more careful in their formulations, although they also use the term “dilution.” The head of the Center for Research on Asylum and Migration, Mr. Metin Chorabatir, for example, put it this way in an official interview: “The government’s efforts to reduce the number of foreigners through dilution policies have led to record return migration.” An expert from the Turkish Institute of Foreign Policy, Professor Mr. Murat Erdogan, clarifies that effective “dilution” was achieved through “a more attentive attitude to the issuance of residence permits to foreigners.” And without exception, all experts, noting the general outflow of foreigners from Turkey (“ikamet” is not extended not only for Russians, but for all foreigners), focus on the fact that Russians are leaving the Turkish coast faster than others.

“Your remote workers and investors are leaving, they have nothing to do here without ikamet, and it is not being renewed,” explains Hakim, the owner of a house in the Side district, whose Russian tenants recently moved out. “My wife and I have already become attached to them as if they were family. They are the same age as our children, a young family with two small children. The husband was on the computer from morning to night, the wife looked after the kids. We even fed them. For almost two years they lived with us without leaving home. But here the Ikamet was not renewed and that’s it.

– So, just pack your bags and say goodbye?!

– No, they give you 90 days to get ready and decide where to go. Ours had to separate: the wife and children went to Russia to live with their parents, the husband to Serbia.

According to the immigration service, today more than a million foreigners hold residence permits in Turkey; the Turkish authorities consider it unreasonable to increase this number, so there is no need to expect any relaxation of the ikamet rule. And the prices for everything are rising before our eyes, there is no work at the place of work, illegal work is prohibited, and the Russian “remote work” feeds our relocant worse and worse. Turkish migration experts predict a further outflow of Russians over the next six months.

“I’ve already lost my previous job,” admits 27-year-old Russian woman Yulia, who worked for a Russian company from Antalya, where she lives with her husband of the same age and two preschool children. – They have some kind of order regarding the reduction of remote workers working from abroad. I found another remote location, but hid the fact that I was not in Russia, my phone number was Russian, I thought they wouldn’t guess. But the employer very quickly found out where I was and refused. Now I have found a part-time job with a Russian family, as a tutor for their children. But these are such pennies! Therefore, when the Ikamet was not extended, Türkiye ceased to be profitable. And I have children to feed!

– Why did you choose Turkey in general?

– We first left for Georgia, but in Tbilisi we rented the same apartment that we rent in Kemer for $500 for $1,500. Georgia is a very friendly country, but the money was melting before our eyes. My husband is a remote IT specialist, but not the kind of “Steve Jobs” to feed all four of us. My job and general savings also mattered, but now all of that is gone. That’s why I’m going home with the children, and Pashka, my husband, is going to Belgrade.

The second mention of the division of the family into Russia and Serbia raises a legitimate question: why there? It turns out that in this country there are certain preferential conditions for “digital nomads,” but the heads of families first go “on reconnaissance,” and their household members will wait out this time under the wing of their Russian grandparents.

Some compatriots are heading to Thailand and Latin America, but with outbreaks in Ecuador and Venezuela, their number is dwindling. The main reason is rising prices. Especially for education.

“My husband and I could handle everything, if only we didn’t have to drag our daughter not just from school to school, but from country to country,” admits Marina, the mother of a Russian seventh-grader who has been studying for the second year at a private school in Antalya, where they teach in English. “But they have already announced to us that starting from the next academic year, that is, from September, tuition fees will increase by 60%. And we are already paying about 300 thousand liras a year for Lisa (about 900 thousand rubles). That is, together with uniforms, meals, supplies, transportation and fees for all sorts of events, it will be 1.5 million rubles, or even more. And then the Ikamet is not renewed. We’ll have to return home.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29193 dated January 12, 2024

Newspaper headline:
Relocant legs are fed

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