海角大神

Amid Turkey's brain drain, why some choose to stay

The tightly packed audience of well-off and well-educated Turks sat rapt at attention for two hours and forty minutes, without a break, as they heard the pros and cons of joining the growing exodus of their fellow citizens fleeing Turkey.

On everybody鈥檚 mind: Are the uncertainty and unhappiness of life under Turkey鈥檚 authoritarian and anti-Western president, Recep Tayyip Erdo臒an, combined with shrinking economic prospects and an Islam-oriented retooling of Turkish society, reasons enough to leave their homeland behind?

Turkey鈥檚 so-called brain drain is accelerating, jumping 63.5 percent from 2016 to 2017 alone according to government statistics, and taking with it an educated and financial elite tired of grappling with chronic uncertainty.

鈥淚 am so unhappy I want to sell my car and move,鈥� says one young woman in the audience. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 have a child, but I don鈥檛 feel the motivation to have a child. I would want them to grow up where honesty is a good thing.鈥�

鈥淚 want to live in a place that is more civilized,鈥� says another woman. 鈥淓very day struggling is hard. I鈥檓 tired.鈥�

But from the four panelists, all Turks who have lived in Western cities, speaking at an event billed as an 鈥渋nteractive evening on the question of 鈥榯o stay or to go鈥� 鈥� conducted by the School of Life Istanbul, come words both of encouragement and caution about the challenges of moving abroad and of raising expectations of instant happiness too high.

Such warnings highlight reasons why, despite the scale of the exodus from Turkey, many young, educated, and Western-leaning Turks are in fact choosing to stay, preferring to take their chances of excelling at home and making a difference in their native land 鈥� despite the risks and sense of insecurity 鈥� rather than start anew in a foreign place.

鈥淓ven in the most tolerant and migrant-friendly place, you should know you will never be 鈥榦ne of them,鈥� 鈥� Selin Girit, a BBC journalist who spent a decade in the UK before returning to Turkey in 2015, tells the crowd. 鈥淵ou are always the Turk, 鈥榯he other.鈥� If you jump into an adventure like that, you need to know this.鈥�

鈥淭his is not so romantic as people think,鈥� says panelist and Toronto resident Evrim Kuran about her work in dozens of countries. 鈥淢y advice is: Bury your home in your heart, and then go off and do your thing.鈥�

Though Ms. Kuran is officially part of Turkey鈥檚 brain drain, and says her creative work has been enhanced by living outside the country, she says in her case, 鈥渕y brain never migrated鈥� away from Turkey. Likewise, she adds: 鈥淚 know a lot of people living here whose brains have already migrated.鈥�

It is those legions of soul-searching Turks, buffeted by a series of political, economic, and social shocks that for them date back to the anti-government Gezi Park protests in 2013 and before, that have made departure numbers spike.

Some 113,326 Turks migrated away from the country in 2017, the latest official figures available and a significant rise over the 69,326 who left in 2016, according to the Turkish Institute of Statistics.

Another measure is the loss of more than 11,000 of Turkey鈥檚 millionaires in 2016 and 2017, roughly 12 percent of the wealthy class, according to the annual Global Wealth Migration Review, as first reported by The New York Times.

The Review states that Turkey was the fourth 鈥渨orst performing wealth market鈥� in the world in 2016, shrinking 6 percent even as the global average grew 12 percent. Istanbul was one of the top seven cities in the world for millionaire exodus 鈥� a phenomenon the report says is a 鈥渧ery bad sign鈥� that indicates 鈥渟erious problems in a country.鈥�

Erdo臒an: Buy them a ticket

Yet another measure of falling confidence is that, by mid-2018, the number of Turks who applied to live in the UK under the Ankara Agreement 鈥撀爓hich requires a significant investment 鈥� jumped nearly eight-fold from 2013 to 2017, to 1,190 applications.

鈥淲e are looking at numbers very similar to those of countries characterized by wars like Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and so on,鈥� Ibrahim Sirkeci, a migration expert at Regent鈥檚 University London, told the BBC.

鈥淭urkey has always been a country of insecurity, in many respects, and this is not the first time that Turks are leaving Turkey in large numbers,鈥� says Dr. Sirkeci. Yet Turkey is the only industrialized country from which asylum applications to Europe exceed 6,000, he says, noting that in 2016 the number reached 13,000, and in 2018 went over 20,000.

Turkish media are full of stories about 鈥渂rain migration,鈥� citing outgoing migrants who 鈥渄o not feel safe,鈥� the 鈥渄ecline in democracy,鈥� and even an 鈥渁cademic genocide鈥� to explain why qualified citizens are leaving in such high numbers.

And Mr. Erdo臒an 鈥撀爓hose divisive and heavy-handed policies many blame for their decision to leave 鈥撀爃as hardly been supportive.

鈥淭hose who say they cannot live in Turkey, or in Istanbul, do not offend our country but offend life itself,鈥� Erdo臒an said in a speech last March. 鈥淲e must collect money to buy these people their tickets and send them on their way. They are a burden to our country.鈥�

That was only one burst in the broader salvo of divisive politics since the 2013 Gezi Park unrest, when Erdo臒an called the antigovernment, largely secular protesters 鈥渢errorists鈥� who defiled 鈥渙ur mosques.鈥�

Other triggers: A failed coup attempt in 2016 prompted a widespread crackdown, purges, and tens of thousands of Turks forced from their jobs. Turkey also suffered dozens of bombings and shootings from Kurdish and Islamic State militants until early 2017.

In a 2017 referendum, Turks narrowly voted to give Erdo臒an unprecedented powers of an imperial presidency. And Turkey鈥檚 struggling economy was hammered further by a weakened currency during a United States-Turkey spat last August.

But many Turks who fit the template of those most likely to depart 鈥� often with degrees from Western universities, bilingual, and with good job prospects abroad 鈥� are also choosing to stay in Turkey.

The country is losing

鈥淲hy invest here? I always thought my own contribution would be higher in my own country, no matter what the circumstances,鈥� says Semih Boyaci, co-founder of the Impact Hub-Istanbul, which focuses on social entrepreneurship. The scores of 20-somethings who work in this energetic, hipster-style place draw their satisfaction from projects as diverse as saving food to urban transformation.

鈥淚t makes a big impact on society,鈥� says Mr. Boyaci. 鈥淚 know there are a lot of hard things [in Turkey] 鈥撀爏ocially, economically, and politically 鈥撀燽ut it gives a kind of hope, and also a reason to proceed here.鈥�

鈥淲hen you see bright people leaving, it鈥檚 something that doesn鈥檛 feel good,鈥� says Boyaci, who got a master's degree in London and worked there, before returning to Turkey to set up the Impact Hub three years ago.

鈥淪ome people think that when they go abroad, all their problems will be solved,鈥� he says. Yet watching turmoil in Turkey while you are away 鈥撀爃is experience in London 鈥撀爓as also painful.

鈥淚 had a perfect opportunity in Europe, but if my country is in a horrible situation, I won鈥檛 be at peace,鈥� says Boyaci. 鈥淚 totally respect individual choices, but from a country鈥檚 point of view, it is losing. [Leaving] is not the way to make it a better place.鈥�

鈥楴othing is permanent鈥�

Art gallery director Beng眉 G眉n made a similar calculation to stay in Turkey, despite the departure of many artists and buyers. She has been director at the Mixer Gallery since it opened six years ago, and now her space for contemporary art is in the trendy port district of Karak枚y.

鈥淣othing is permanent. So all the people who are not leaving are still considering to go,鈥� says Ms. G眉n. 鈥淧eople lost hope, economically as well, not only politically. Mostly in arts, people don鈥檛 feel there is freedom of speech, there is big self-censorship with artists.鈥�

Still, events that changed the political scene have often proved useful to artists, because they were 鈥渁 catalyst to get people to see outside the box,鈥� she says. Likewise, in recent years there has been an increasing appreciation of contemporary art inside the country, which聽helps sustain some 70 art galleries in Istanbul alone.

Those who have stayed already invested a lot in Turkey, whereas abroad your degree and experience 鈥渕ean nothing,鈥� says G眉n.

Still, the trend is toward an exodus, for those Turks who have the option.

鈥淟ast year everyone was talking about this. You would go out to dinner and everyone asks, 鈥楧o you have a plan B? Are you going to stay here? Is it safe?鈥欌�� says a 29-year-old, US-educated Turkish woman who asked not to be named. She lives in an upscale area near the Reina nightclub, where an Islamic State gunman shot dead 39 people on New Year鈥檚 Eve 2016 鈥撀爐he last such attack of its size in Turkey.

鈥淭he shootings and bombings were very effective, because money is one thing, but this is about immediate security,鈥� she says. 鈥淚f I keep losing my friends, of course it will be uninhabitable for me to live here.... Me and my family love this country and we hope it prospers and gets better, and that鈥檚 why we are staying. That鈥檚 what we talk about.鈥�