Abstract:

Though Turkey has been hosting Afghan refugees for many years, there is not enough information and data about Afghan refugees in the academic literature in the official sources. The studies conducted have rarely established a relationship between the immigration processes of Afghan migrants and the social gender. In this study, social gender was addressed as an analytical category and the causes of migration, migration processes, border transitions, labour market and social life adaptation processes of Afghan migrants living in Denizli were analyzed by social gender. In Denizli, 19 Afghan men and 11 Afghan women had a semi-configured face-to-face meeting. Denizli is an industrial city that has been integrated into the world’s textile industry and production chain since the 1990s. The first talks were held at the Uzbek Afghan Immigrants Resistance Association, then reached to other talks by the carpenter method. Our research findings have shown that not only poverty and conflict, but also severe patriotic norms, forced marriages and gender-based violence can cause both Afghan women and men to migrate. For Afghan women who migrate for reasons such as gender-based violence, divorce or death of their spouse, migration allows them to live in a relatively free environment. Nevertheless, social protection and income shortages, especially for single parents, open the door to a new and challenging struggle. For the young Afghan men who participated in the study, it can be said that migration is a means of mankind construction. Many of them said they crossed the dangerous boundaries through the traffickers to send money to their poor families. The obligation to send money to the house, whatever happens, forces them to submit to all kinds of heavy working conditions. Some participants are Muslim.

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