Mixed marriage and migration: Russian brides in Istanbul

Ayla Deniz, Ankara University
E. Murat Özgür, Ankara University

In the early 1990s, Turkey, a previously migrant-exporting country, has become the destination for immigrants from a range of different regions and countries. Most foreigners have come from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and especially from the Russia. A great number of Russian women came to Istanbul (Turkey) for work purpose, while many Turkish men left for Russia for the same reason. By time, the period of stay of them have increased and their reasons for migration have diversified, also by the influence of the political, social and economic changes in Turkey as well as in Russia. One of the migration reasons is the marriage between Russian women and Turkish men, the actors of the transnational mobility. In this paper I analyze some of the issues that enable the understanding of Russian-Turk mixed marriage and transnational lives of Russian brides, by presenting some preliminary empirical findings resulting from on-going qualitative research being carried out in Istanbul.