Introduction: The Origins of Migration

Abstract

Osman worked in a tea factory in Turkey. He was married with three children, two daughters and a son. His father was dead and his brother had moved to Europe. They used to work in the tobacco fields in Acısu, a village in Akçaabat. But in the 1960s, the tobacco fields were badly damaged by blue mould, causing many men to look elsewhere for work. Osman secretly wanted to move to Europe; although his wife supported him, his mother was worried that her sons would lose their belief and get lost in a non-Islamic land. His application was initially declined because he was diagnosed as having anaemia; as luck would have it, the officer said they desperately needed workers, but gave him a very short time to prepare his move. He quickly convinced his mother and said goodbye to his wife and children.