Life and Its Meaning of First-generation Immigrant Koreans in Turkey: The Image of a Contributor

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study aims to understand the image and meaning of life by examining the lives of first-generation Korean immigrants in Turkey by conducting an oral life story survey on 9 first-generation Korean immigrants living in Turkey for 20 to 40 years. Based on the oral contents of the narrators, three questions were largely “life before immigrating to Turkey, life after immigrating to Turkey, life in the future, and the most memorable moment”.
First, as a result of examining the life before immigration to Turkey based on the oral contents of the narrators, most of them had positive experiences with foreign countries and foreigners, and it was found that these experiences had an impact on their immigration to Turkey.
Next, we looked at the oral contents of the narrators about their lives after moving to Turkey. First, it is understood that the reason for choosing Turkey was that they wanted to live in a foreign country with advanced culture at the time. Second, as a result of checking life as an immigrant through life in Turkey, it appears that they made a thorough effort to belong to the immigrant society. These efforts were more like conformity by actively accepting and acknowledging systems and commands, rather than adaptation.
Finally, the narratos" answers about the future life and memorable moments gave us a glimpse into the relentless effort to contribute behind the attitude of conformity. Through the above narrative, it is possible to confirm the image of the contributor to the first generation of Korean immigrants in Turkey. The desire to take root and occupy such a position as a person who is helpful to the land to which they immigrated, that is, Turkey, is revealed as the “image of contributor”, and this can be seen in the attitude of the first-generation Korean immigrants in Turkey.
Turkey, the largest refugee country in Europe, is receiving a large number of immigrants from Syria and Afghanistan, as well as from countries in Central Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. In this context, it is very meaningful that the first-generation Korean immigrants from Turkey play such a role as a contributor in Turkish society. Although there are a small number of Koreans among immigrants in Turkey, the significance of this study can be found in that the discourse on the life of Korean immigrants who show the image of contributors in Turkey will be an important message to local immigration-related researchers.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• abstract
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Life of Korean immigrants in Turkey
• 3. The Image of a Contributor Behind Conformity
• 4. Conclusion
• References