‘Reluctant migrants’ and ‘just-in-case citizenships’: Accounts of highly skilled Turkish-Australians in Sydney

Abstract

This paper investigates the experiences of highly skilled Turkish migrants who have migrated to Australia during the past decade and a half due to the socio-political transformations in Türkiye under the reign of the Justice and Development Party. The paper reports on yearlong ethnographic research carried out in Sydney and develops its analysis through empirical data gathered from interviews and participant observation. The paper argues that many highly skilled Turkish migrants initiate their journeys to Australia reluctantly, who nevertheless seek to attain Australian citizenship in hopes of disentangling themselves from the perceived inconveniences of a Turkish citizenship, and to create an alternative option ‘just in case’ they should need it. Through the deployment of two concepts developed in the paper - ‘reluctant migrant’ and ‘just-in-case citizenship’, the article discusses key dynamics with relation to the temporalities, motivations and anxieties of migration experienced by these highly skilled migrants.