In the last three years, the city of Istanbul has witnessed a wave of reverse migration into the Turkish interior, after it had for decades received large numbers of Turks and foreigners;

Due to the large number of job opportunities, the necessities of life and the industrial renaissance, as well as its nature, its favorable climate and its historical position in the country.

Migration flows from rural areas to Istanbul until the first decade of the 21st century caused economic and social problems in the city, but the attractiveness of rural areas returned again after the economic problems, high cost of living and unemployment that exacerbated with the outbreak of the Corona epidemic.

Reasons for emigration

Academics and experts believe that among the reasons that accelerated the pace of reverse migration from Istanbul to the interior, the Turkish government improved living conditions in rural areas, the policies it followed to provide job opportunities in the countryside, and the access of electronic, health and educational services to remote areas.

According to the latest data issued by the Greater Istanbul Municipality, more than 10,000 families have received cash assistance from the municipal treasury during the past three years to move from Istanbul to the Turkish interior;

With the aim of searching for new sources of income in the places they go.

The data indicated that there are 800 new families who have applied to the municipality for similar assistance to immigrate from Istanbul to the interior, and that the requests of these families are currently under study.

In a statement to Al Jazeera Net, a faculty member in the Department of Labor Economics and Industrial Relations at Sakarya University, Professor Amal Islamoglu, said that Turkey learned about internal migration in 1950, and that its pace increased with the industrial renaissance that began in the eighties of the last century.

Islamoglu added that the influx of migration from rural areas to Istanbul until the first decade of this century caused economic and social problems;

Such as the dense population pressure, the formation of slums and the exacerbation of unemployment in the city, and that these problems have accumulated over time and have begun to negatively affect the attractive features of the city.

The academy pointed out that technological developments - especially the development of remote areas and the emergence of new job opportunities in them, and sustainable growth in agriculture - are among the most important factors that encouraged the reverse migration from Istanbul to rural areas.

She pointed out that the Turkish government and local authorities have, in recent years, begun to encourage reverse migration from Istanbul to the Turkish interior, with the aim of relieving the burden on the city and revitalizing the interior regions by providing the necessary labor and creating new job opportunities in those regions.

And she continued, "The most important example of the steps that Turkey is taking to encourage reverse migration is the "Reverse Migration from Istanbul" project, which is implemented by the Greater Istanbul Municipality, where the municipality helps people who wish to return to their villages after they came to Istanbul for various reasons, but they faced financial difficulties due to economic conditions. current".

And she added, "In this context, the municipality provides financial aid to those wishing to return to their villages, buys bus tickets for them and allocates transport vehicles for those who wish to migrate with their home furniture."

Economic benefits

For his part, researcher in migration affairs and its economic implications, Abdul Rahman Banli, said that reverse migration from Istanbul has great economic benefits.

The most important of which is the provision of manpower in the agricultural sector, which has suffered for many years from a lack of labor as a result of large waves of migration towards major cities - especially Istanbul - to work in various fields such as industry and construction.

In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, Banli pointed out that government support for the agricultural sector during the last 18 years increased by 12%, and that the government encouraged the return to the countryside and work in agriculture by providing grants to workers in agriculture and livestock by 311 billion Turkish liras (about 17.2 billion dollar).

He also pointed out that one of the most important reasons for the reverse migration from Istanbul to the Turkish interior is that the returnees to the countryside no longer suffer from difficulties in transportation and transporting their products to the markets as it was in the past, indicating that this matter contributed to reviving the agricultural sector, which is one of the most important pillars of the Turkish economy. In addition to the industry sector.

He continued, "Reverse migration has great economic benefits for people and the country in general. In huge cities - especially Istanbul - the unemployment rate has increased to a large degree, especially after the spread of the Corona epidemic, and the Turkish government has undertaken in previous years large projects inside Turkey, such as building construction Dams, huge irrigation projects, expanding the transportation network, delivering technological services to the countryside, and establishing large industrial cities in remote cities, all of these factors contributed to accelerating the pace of reverse migration.

He added, "From my point of view, I encourage reverse migration from major cities to the countryside because of its great benefits, and we must pay more attention to the agricultural sector. In the main foodstuffs; in the coming years, foodstuffs will be among the most important and hard-to-reach components of life.

Banli stated that the official figures indicate that about 85% of those who moved from Istanbul to the Turkish interior preferred to work in the agricultural sector, and benefited from the government grants provided, adding that this matter contributed to the renaissance of the sector, whose exports during the past two years amounted to about 50 billion dollars.

About 85% of those who moved from Istanbul to the Turkish interior preferred to work in the agricultural sector (Anatolia)

Banli stressed that the continuation of the reverse waves of migration from Istanbul and the rest of the major cities inward will contribute in the medium term to alleviating unemployment rates and the large population density in these cities, in addition to its contribution to investing more agricultural land and developing the livestock sector closely linked with the rise of the agricultural sector.

He said, "Reverse migration does not only reflect positively on the agricultural sector, but this phenomenon also contributes to the development of villages and remote areas through incoming experiences with immigrants. There are many who worked in the industrial and textile sector and started opening small and medium projects in their villages and regions."