Daily Lives of Afghan Female Immigrants Living in Trabzon

Turkey is used as a transit country by irregular immigrants because it is at the intersection of the Asian, European and African continents and functions as a bridge between underdeveloped states and developed Western countries in terms of political and economic factors. Immigrants of Afghan nationality rank first among irregular immigrants in Turkey. The reasons such as internal conflict, terrorism, economic and political instability and war in Afghanistan have caused the people to turn to Turkey for a safer and more humane life. Regarding the migration from Afghanistan to Turkey in general, and especially the female immigrants of Afghan nationality living in Trabzon, there are limited field studies on how gender affects and differentiates the migration process. This work is based on a field study to reveal how being a woman in migration affects the migration process and the differences in women's migration experiences. In this research, face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 Afghan female immigrants living in Trabzon. These interviews were analyzed through the MAXQDA 12 program and five themes were revealed. The first theme includes views on life in Afghanistan, the second contains views on the immigration process, the third covers changing situations after migration, the fourth involves Afghan immigrants and other women, and the last one comprises the experience of violence before, during and after migration. As a result of the study, it was determined that gender affected the difficulties encountered during the migration process. It was concluded that gender-related assumptions and practices were reconstructed after migration. There are many differences between Afghan female immigrants and women who are the members of the local community in terms of social rights and freedoms. Also it was observed that there is a similarity through religious elements.