International Migration and Integration: Turkish Immigrants in Poland

Abstract

This paper focuses on Turkish immigrants' social and system integration processes in Poland along the parameters such as identity, host society policies, communication with the host society, and ethnicity. The research was planned according to the qualitative methodology based on interviews and participant observation in Warsaw, Gdansk, Bydgoszcz, Torun, Poznan and Wroclaw between October 2020 and August 2021. According to the obtained data during the research process, Turkish immigrants in Poland enjoy social and system integration. On the one hand, the identity perceptions of Turkish immigrants in Poland have affected communication, which has an important role as well as in the social and system integration process. But on the other hand, while Turkish immigrants are loyal to their ethnic identity, they have moved away from the perception of ethnicity. Turkish immigrants spend more of their free time with the host society members, use the host society's language in daily life, and find a place for themselves in social spaces.

Full text

Migration Letters
March 2023
Volume: 20, No: 2, pp. 157 – 171
ISSN: 1741-8984 (Print) ISSN: 1741-8992 (Online)
journals.tplondon.com/ml
Migration Letters
All rights reserved @ 2004-2023 Transnational Press London
Received: 26 October 2022 Accepted: 31 January 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33182/ml.v20i2.2836
International Migration and Integration: Turkish Immigrants in
Poland
1
Gizem Karaköse
2
and Filiz Göktuna Yaylacı
3
Abstract
This paper focuses on Turkish immigrants' social and system integration processes in Poland along the parameters such
as identity, host society policies, communication with the host society, and ethnicity. The research was planned according to
the qualitative methodology based on interviews and participant observation in Warsaw, Gdansk, Bydgoszcz, Torun,
Poznan and Wroclaw between October 2020 and August 2021. According to the obtained data during the research
process, Turkish immigrants in Poland enjoy social and system integration. On the one hand, the identity perceptions of
Turkish immigrants in Poland have affected communication, which has an important role as well as in the social and
system integration process. But on the other hand, while Turkish immigrants are loyal to their ethnic identity, they have
moved away from the perception of ethnicity. Turkish immigrants spend more of their free time with the host society
members, use the host society's language in daily life, and find a place for themselves in social spaces.
Keywords:
Turkish Immigrants; Integration; Poland; International Migration; Identity
Introduction
The migration process between Turkey and Poland has started to intensify due to economic
opportunities and commercial ventures after Poland’s European Union membership although
immigration dates back to the pre-European Union era. A key role in the increase leading up
to this era is attributed to the cooperation agreements in the fields of economy, science,
culture, education, and technology in 2019 between the governments (HTTP-1). According
to the data of the Polish Immigration Office (2019), the number of immigrants from Turkey
living in Poland is approximately 4000. By 2020, this number has increased to 4828. The cities
with the highest number of immigrants from Turkey in Poland are Warsaw, Kraków and
Wrocław (Andrejuk, 2019, p.160).
Although the immigrants from Turkey who immigrated to Poland are significant in Europe’s
immigration history, the focus of the current papers does not seek the demographic features
and the lifestyle of immigrants comprehensively as well as it does not map the process of
integration. In this situation, it seems the immigration, cultural adaptation and communication
issues of the Turks living in Poland are often ignored in academic studies. In hindsight, it is
necessary to investigate the migration process between Poland and Turkey from a social
perspective as well as to examine cultural differences and the experience of living together.
Therefore, it remains significant to examine the integration of Turkish immigrants living in
1
This article was produced from the master's thesis titled International Migration and Integration: Turks in Poland Sample,
prepared at Anadolu University, Institute of Social Sciences.
2
PhD candidate, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland. E-mail: karakosegizem4@gmail.com
3
Assoc. Prof. Dr., Anadolu University, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Sociology, Türkiye.
E-mail: fgoktuna2@yahoo.com

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Poland into the lifestyle and the effect of current integration policies. In this respect, this
paper constitutes the nature of the integration processes of immigrants of Turkish origin as
the problem of the study. The main purpose of this research is to analyze the potential
structure of the social and system integration process of immigrants from Turkey to Poland
based on their daily life practices in the context of migration dynamics.
A Brief Review of Turkish Immigration History to Poland
Poland’s international migration (based on consideration of foreign immigrants) movement
experienced its first massive flow between 1948-50 with nearly 13 thousand pro-communist
Greeks immigrating to Poland. The second major change caused a rapid increase in the
number of immigrants from the former Soviet Union countries right after 1989 (the collapse
of the USSR), thus it increased the number of temporary migrants in Poland to millions in a
year (Okólski, 2009, p. 11). However, soon after the first wave of immigrants, the movement
was limited by the introduction of visa requirements which invoked a diminution in irregular
migration towards Poland (Bijak & Koryś, 2009, p. 197). At the same time, labor demands in
agriculture and domestic work with the outflow of immigration from Poland to other
European countries engendered a new work permit requirement for seasonal and temporary
jobs lasting up to 6 months special for former Soviet Union countries such as Ukraine,
Georgia, Belarus, Armenia, Moldova and Russia (which is much less considering the other
countries listed). Therefore, it increased the number of foreigners who are obtaining work
permits over the years including Turkish immigrants (Okólski, 2009, pp. 15-16). However,
Turkish immigrants distinguish from other immigrants by their reasons for immigration which
experienced two particular shifts in nearly fifty years.
The first period comprises the beginning of Turkish immigration to Poland including the first
contact between traders, business persons and entrepreneurs between 1970-2000. Koryś &
Żuchaj’s (2000) study clears several uncertain data on the foundation of the immigration
process of Turks in Poland by grounding the immigration inadequacies to the economic
system and consumer demands that emerged in Poland in the 1970s despite being the only
study focusing on this issue in the first period. According to Koryś & Żuchaj, the Polish
citizens who made regular trips to import textile products takes a big role in establishing good
relations with Turkish manufacturers and traders which resulted with Turks launching small
commercial businesses and textile factories in Poland. Nevertheless, the demands for small-
scale trade especially for textiles decreased due to economic growth after the collapse of the
Soviet Union. Moreover, most recent arrivals who are described as well-educated and qualified
expanded their trade and business areas to goods such as electronics (Koryś & Żuchaj, 2000,
p. 6-7).
The second shift frames the period after 2000 till today, which involves the diversification of
migration factors as well as the job opportunities due to Poland’s European Union
membership, the increase in the number of international companies and education even
though there is no special incentive for Turkish immigrants by the Polish state. In addition,
the current flow of immigrants began to initiate more in the information technology and
gastronomy sector which formed a rise in professional, technical and scientific activities
compared to the first group (Andrejuk, 2019, p. 164-167). Therefore, the tendency to
immigrate to Poland from Turkey has increased to 10.137 according to Turkish Embassy in
Warsaw in 2017 (Yentür, 2018, pp. 52-55) which is estimated to be nearly 20.000 in 2022.

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Methodology
The research was conducted based on the qualitative research methodology. Over the
fieldwork, 30 semi-structured interviews with immigrants from Turkey were conducted. All
interviews were preceded with the first-generation immigrants, while the oldest immigrant
stayed 32 years in Poland.
Graphic 1 shows female and male data of participants all in age, marital status, duration of
stay and Polish language competency categories. The majority of participants are under 40
years old, 10 in total between 20-30 years old that is by 9 participants in the 31-40 years old
category. The tendency in marriage and living together of male participants is higher than
female participants while nearly 37% of participants are single/not in any kind of relationship.
The majority of the male participants married/living together with a Polish while only two
participants married Turkish immigrants. Most of the participants stayed in Poland for 2-10
years however, the tendency in this category is closer to 10 years rather than 2 years. Lastly,
the majority of the participants are good in the Polish language while only one participant
states that the language was not a necessitate for daily life activities due to other language
knowledges which affected Polish language knowledge.
Graphic 1. Distribution of participants in age, marital status, duration of stay and Polish
language

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Research data were collected through two major methods: interviews and observation. The
fieldwork was based on Warsaw, Poznan, Gdansk, Wroclaw and Torun cities of Poland with
interviews and observations between 2020 and 2021. The information obtained as a result of
participatory observation and in-depth interviews, as well as shared on websites, social media,
and photographs identified through the preceding descriptive and content analysis. While
descriptive analysis aims to present more introductory information that does not require deep
analysis, content analysis refers to a detailed examination of the data (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2008,
p. 89). The descriptive analysis provided the opportunity to examine the demographic
characteristics of the participants while the content analysis was used to study the views and
shares on social media and web sites.
Findings
This section presents the four proposed dimensions of the framework together with evidence
from the data obtained in the fieldwork from interviews and observations.
Social and System Integration
The social and system integration findings highlighted several major domains (Polish language
knowledge, lifestyle, opinions about the host society and the participant's perception of the

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Polish government’s immigrant policy) which constitute the integration process of immigrants
from Turkey into Poland.
The language competence of the immigrants from Turkey is highly advanced. Thus, only one
male participant in all participants does not know the language due to the new settlement
process. Our data suggest that the main factor for language competence in Poland is the
marriage/relationship with Poles. Similarly, language usage in daily life is crucial in the early
stages of language learning and the length of stay to develop proficiency is of continuing
consequential. Therefore, the participants who are a beginner in Polish tend to speak English
in daily life while the fluent participants use Polish as a communication tool.
The effect that lifestyle, family, housing, region and city overall have on immigrants from
Turkey demonstrates versatility. The family life of participants occurs as immigrate from
Turkey together or start a family in Poland. Among the participants, 16 were married or in a
relationship while 14 have immigrated alone. Thus, the differences and similarities between
Poland with other European countries inevitably shaped the immigrant’s decision to
immigrate/stay. Although the participants value job opportunities, financial income,
environment, and family, the concept of social life and culture compared to other European
counties have been influential in determining asserts of settlement. Therefore, many
participants valued the culture and proximity to the family which is considered a positive
assert in settlement decisions as they point out the familiar patterns of family in Turkey and
Poland. For example, Ahmet who has been working in Poland for 10 years explains the
cultural connection as follows:
Ahmet (36, Male): …Even though Poland is a member state of the European Union, Poles are not that
much European. But the good part for us is that the traditional Polish family and Turkish family are highly
similar to each other.
In terms of integration, another significant point is the Polish society’s approach to
immigrants which uncovered many problems that Poland has such as racism, exclusion,
assimilation, and integration as a society that has encountered immigrants in the last decades.
Halil who has lived 20 years in Poland explains Poland’s foreign perception compared to
England as follows:
Halil (46, Male): I lived in England for 4 years. One of the biggest differences that I noticed is Poles were
not open to foreign cultures, especially when I came to Poland
Many immigrants from Turkey choose the capital Warsaw as a place to settle which is the
result of the job opportunities, social connections and trust that immigrants from Turkey
ensure to the newcomers. Although social connection plays a large part in their city choice,
the participants align security, proximity to the workplace, affordability and being in the city
centre as the most important factors in region and district decisions which demonstrates the
absence of co-ethnic, co-national social bond/connection in the settlement. For example,
İlhan (38, male) states the factors as it is nothing but being a safe place, it is also being close to the
workplace.
Consequently, the socio-economic conditions and cultural proximity to Polish society are the
main factors for the successful resettlement of immigrants from Turkey. Comments revealed
that life in Poland is generally satisfying for the participants, however, there are still few
seeking opportunities to immigrate to developed countries.

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Ayhan (56, Male): I am satisfied. First, I get accustomed to being here, secondly, I treat this place as a
second homeland. Then it is a safe country, we have not been exposed to any terrorist incidents here, and there
is almost no risk like war…
In the course of the fieldwork, the participants have no negative manner of approach toward
the Poles however some of them perceived the Poles as cold. For example, Ayça (35, Female)
reflects an optimistic image of Poles: They are good people, generally good people. I love Poles, they were
very helpful. I generally like Poles, even though sometimes they are not all helpful. Conversely, İlhan (38,
Male) cogitates the Poles as cold people: They are cold it’s enough to look at their history. If an eastern
bloc country passed over you, you would be cold too.
Many participants reported that they are not provided with any inclusion and exclusion
associated with the Polish migration policy in terms of the participation of immigrants and
refugees from different groups. The assumption was that such fields as health, education,
work, language learning, social security and participation in social life distinguish oneself as
facilities of integration/immigration policy. Participants who are interviewed at the field site
indicated that there are many structural barriers to effective policy for immigrants in Poland
which procreate an impression among them that the Polish government is against the
immigration movement.
Social Integration Process Within the Host Society
The analysis of the social integration process within the host society suggests six main
grouping of factors (identity and belonging, social connection with host society, relationship
environments, holidays, social bond with ethnic origin, and leisure time and media).
The identification of the participants was questioned by asking “where are you from? how
would you describe yourself?” and “what would you describe yourself in one word?”. The
majority of participants identified themselves with ethnic identity (mainly Turkish), religion,
city and human being however the descriptions are heavily influenced by personal qualities
while the expectation was similar to belonging and ethnicity. Therefore, in the fieldwork one
of the women defines herself with two different identities, while this number rises to seven
for men. In this respect, Mert is the only participant who defines himself as Polish, while
Orhan is the only participant who defines himself as Sunni. The general tendency of the
answers is expressed in one word however many participants additionally expressed the
identity belonging with the involved links they share individually as Alp who identifies himself
in three ways:
Alp (45, Male): …The country we come from is Turkey, we are Turkish, and I define ourselves (family)
as Turkish and Muslim. We have dual citizenship, both Poland and Turkey, we love Poland too.
Despite the absence of an integration policy in Poland the immigrants from Turkey display
belonging to the society by not feeling like foreigners in their environment. Those who signify
the situations they encounter due to their foreign identity align their involved links with Poles
and family to justify the discrimination due to language, appearance, and culture. Thus, Halil
who is married to a Polish woman (15 years) reports that he does not feel alienated:
Haydar (59, Male): …Thanks to the Poles who did not consider me as a foreigner, I cannot express this
question easily because I do not feel like a foreigner but like a Polish… (as for Haydar he defined himself

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as a Turkish in the identity perception, however, underlines that he does not feel like a
foreigner in Poland but like a Polish).
Our analysis identified that individual experiences have been influential assert on the social
relationships of participants with the host society which were obtained mainly through trust
and connection. As Bekir indicates that immigrants from Turkey’s involvement with ethnic
origin influence social communication and bond with Poles. In contrast to Bekir, Burak state
that the lack of communication issues is related to the civil inattention of host community
members:
Bekir (28, Male): Those who come from Turkey generally build their social connections with other
immigrants from Turkey, and they do not communicate with the Poles that much.
Burak (26, Male): It changes, for example, if they meet with good people which is difficult, I am talking
about %20 of the population, it may be a good experience. However, if they meet with the other %80 of the
population, not very pleasant things will happen…
Moreover, the consideration of race relations emerges as Poles acting superior towards the
immigrants for the many participants that took part in the field study:
Kadir (25, Male): Poles are inviolable in Poland according to the Polish constitution. Being Polish is above
everything else. I believe it is because of their historical background, and white race.
Nihat (22, Male): They see themselves as superior, but I do not think they have anything special. They
articulate words like we are Polish! this country is ours! In my estimation, it is because of the suffering they
had under the past regimes.
The issues relating to challenges that occur in communication and friendship or social
harmony between immigrants from Turkey and Polish society generally shape neighborhood
relations. Immigrants from Turkey generally find a place in Polish society which relates to
being neighbors with Poles and communication that is shaped by social exchanges and cultural
borrowings as well as the relationship formed by greetings and daily conversations. On the
other hand, the relationship with ethnic groups is limited to meetings at home which happen
only in the family or close friendship bonds or restaurants and cafes. Concurrently the cities
such as Warsaw and Wroclaw where immigrants from Turkey are thickly populated as well as
where Turkish organizations are mainly located establish connections with events (picnics)
within the ethnic group.
However, many participants interviewed in the fieldwork report differing forms of
participation in both co-ethnic/national events and leisure time which are specified as; “-“
and “-“ (being absent in events and not the following television in Poland), “+” and “+“
(being present in events and following the television) and “±” (being limited present in both
activities). This approach demonstrates that leisure time provides the connection between the
co-ethnicity/nationality and the host society as underlined by the activities such as family and
friend gatherings, picnics, dinner parties and going out with Poles by the vast majority of
participants.
As reflected above following media (television) in Poland is one of the fundamental factors
of social integration which outcomes practically in three tendencies; a) following only Turkish
channels, b) following Polish or international channels and c) not following as Mert and İlhan
report their preferences.

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Mert (45, Male): I had a Turkish satellite dish, and I installed a Turkish satellite dish. I was watching
Turkish channels, then I realized all the programs became TV series, it is what I hate the most. I took a
satellite dish and threw it away.
İlhan (38, Male): TVN, TVN Turbo, I follow Polish channels... I do not follow any Turkish channels,
only sometimes, we open and watch (some programs) on YouTube.
Approach to Ethnicity
The approach to ethnicity addresses the co-ethnic/nationality group meetings, association
membership, the cultural representation of associations, the internet (communication with
co-ethnicity/nationality in social media) and integration findings through the fieldwork.
Accordingly, the data obtained during observation, the participants are cognizant of the
traditional picnics (recognized as the main social event by participants) and events arranged
by Turkish immigrants. Although attendance at these events is low due to reasons such as the
workload, the diversity of the cities they live and being uninvited, participants reported they
took part at least once. In addition to activities and events, membership in an immigrant
association is not preferred by participants by the reason of problems that are expected to
create a negative perception of the process of residence permit and citizenship which creates
a contrast in the attendance frequency.
Participants interviewed in the fieldwork maintain their connection with their home country
through facetime with family members and having access to socioeconomic and political
content in Turkey. Simultaneously, the membership ratio to social media groups is notably
high as İlhan and Cemre summarize with communication, work, social connection, and media
(TV shows) follow-up reasons:
İlhan (38, Male): Yes, every day, it is a must. It involves all kinds of activities including communicating
with the family and retrieving information.
Cemre (39, Male): …I mean, it is also used for business… And of course, as someone who lives abroad,
and has friends and family in Turkey, I often use to communicate with them.
The integration level of immigrants from Turkey is perceived with positive and negative
judgements by participants which involve their experiences about the incompleteness of both
their home country and host country. As an example, Zeki outlines the process of integration
with the following sentence: they are not integrated, I mean (it is) just learning how to live (in Poland).
Such comment is closely associated with negative judgements of the integration process as
Alp reports:
Alp (45, Male): There are not many people immigrating from Turkey (to Poland) anyway, the country
(Poland) does not have such a policy either. Everyone learns what they can do or learn through their means…
The Host Society’s Impact on Integration
The findings of this section address the host society’s ethnic and religious identity perspective,
xenophobia, integration policies, participation in politics, and the political relations between
host and home country dimensions to identify the host society’s impact on integration.
Another issue of integration is considered racism in Poland. The issue of discrimination
generally occurs through labelling and targeting which is not interpreted as racism by

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participants. Our data suggest that the social bond between immigrants from Turkey and the
host society reduces the feeling of racism and discrimination. Although 13 participants
reported that they had experienced verbal disturbance, the social bond they have influenced
the reflection on the behaviour individually and prevented them from generalizations to the
whole nation. As participants reported the main discrimination issue in Poland is related to
religion and language:
Kadir (25, Male): Of course. Sometimes we are exposed because we came from a Muslim place, not because
I am Turkish. I mean (they say) dirty Muslim and so on.
Umut (24, Male): In the first years of my immigration, I had a few problems on the tram while speaking
Turkish. Apart from that problem, I cannot say that I had problems, especially after I isolated myself a little
more with the car (excluding public transportation with his car).
In addition to individual experiences, many participants acknowledged the anti-foreigner
rhetoric they encountered through media:
Ziya (55, Male): Of course, I mean there were a lot of articles in newspapers, especially after 9/11. In
other words, they do this kind of thing because they see Turks and Arabs as the same.
Additively, the lack of integration policies in Poland shapes the feeling of undesirable and
reflects that the Polish government is indifferent to creating policy, as Ziya reports the lack
of information as follows:
Ziya (55, Male): Well, I do not know that. I do not think I have seen that much integration policy. Because
there are not too many foreigners here. As far as I know, there is no major movement against them (foreigners).
Discussion and Conclusion
This study has intended to analyze the reflections of social and system integration processes
on daily life practices based on the immigration movement from Turkey to Poland with 30
in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted with 30 immigrants.
The data initially identified how the social bond and communication between Turkish
immigrants and Poles shape their linguistic tendencies. Stevens (1986, as cited in Raijman, et
al., 2015, pp.1349) argues that the language and duration of stay associative factors as
witnessed in the case of immigrants from Turkey in Poland. Immigrants from Turkey who
have been in Poland for more than 10 years tend to communicate in Polish compared to those
who have been less than 10 years. Conversely, Chiswick & Miller (2014, pp. 249-250) indicate
that immigrants who live within the ethnic community tend to use their native language which
restrains language learning. The such connection does not arise due to the lack of effective
ethnic community coexistence. Bicultural marriages and friendship ties play a large part in the
lack of ethnic community coexistence which is influential in learning and communicating in
the host society's language. Similarly, Van Tubergen & Kalmijn (2009, pp. 177) report that
bicultural marriages between immigrants and host society members help ensure the rapid
improvement in language skills.
The data obtained during fieldwork reinforce the value of factors such as age and education
in language learning as Van Tubergen and Kalmijn (2009, p. 179) point out the connection
between language and the young generation which resulted faster than the older generation
and language and educated individuals which tend to be willing to learn more than uneducated

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immigrants. However, our data suggest that immigrants from Turkey who completed basic
education (high school/bachelor) in Turkey and decided to continue in Poland do not show
sufficient interest in learning the language of the host society. Such interest in a language only
occurs with emotional bonds like marriage and friendship with a Polish person. Therefore,
the main factors appear to be emotional bonds, relationships, and the meanings that
immigrants attribute to language learning.
Our analysis suggests that the lifestyle of immigrants from Turkey in Poland differs under the
effect of factors such as occupation, social relations with the host society, language skills,
communication with co-ethnic/national groups, social position, and economic level.
Although Adhikary, Simkhada, van Teijlingen, and Raja (2008, p.6) state that migrants tend
to have poor living and health conditions, immigrants from Turkey in Poland generally have
a high socioeconomic status and good living conditions. Likewise, Renzaho, Green, Mellor
and Swinburn (2010, p. 236-237) address the influence that host society has on immigrant's
lifestyle with the example of African immigrants in the Western country which manifested
itself in the areas such as food, habits and traditional values. In Poland, Kusek (2019, p. 742-
743) reports that Ukrainian immigrants who migrated for economic reasons which is the
highest immigration population in Poland generally satisfied with the social life conditions
however they consistently face indirect discrimination which is not the case for immigrants
from Turkey due to their socio-economic positions.
Massey & Redstone (2006, p.956) indicated that the immigrant's lifestyle is influential in the
settlement decision which is similar to the data we obtained during the fieldwork. On the
other hand, Chow (2007, p.515) underlines the lack of connection and belonging that
economic immigrants have to the host country compared to political and cultural immigrants.
This report has several characteristics in common with immigrants from Turkey in the sense
of economic immigrants and refugees feel less belonging to Polish society. Nevertheless, the
individual who migrates for marriage, education and cultural purposes have a higher sense of
belonging.
Eve (2010, p. 1236) addresses social relations as the most important dimension of the post-
migration process which also enables the establishment of social relations. Boyd (1989, p. 641)
on the other hand, argues that social relations are influential in many areas such as the decision
to migrate and emotional support. The example of immigrants from Turkey in Poland has
similarly established social relations through friends or family ties (emotional bonds) which
also affect the decision to migrate and belong to the host society.
This shared basis of relations with family and friends is seen in the foundation of bicultural
marriages. Khoo (2011, p. 118) reported that the terms of bicultural marriages like bringing
different ethnicities together with a common value are significant factors in the integration
process. Bicultural marriages are also a common cultural production of different ethnic
groups. On the other hand, Sowa-Behtane (2016, p. 399) describes the processes of marriages
between the immigrants and host society members as learning about each other’s cultures,
living together, and changing their habits, behaviours, ideas and values. Similarly, it is seen in
the relationships of immigrants from Turkey and Poles who shares marriage and go through
the same process and adopt a more open way of communication in the social relations with
the host country.

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Immigrants from Turkey communicate in different fields besides marriage and friendship
relations that can be described through Granovetter’s (1983, p. 209) “weak ties” notion.
According to Granovetter (1983), weak ties are important for accessing information and
resources beyond the immediate environment. At the most basic level, the immigrants from
Turkey benefit from different information and resources through Poles they met in the
workplace and school. Therefore, it is seen that the weak ties are functional for immigrants
from Turkey.
Although the immigrants from Turkey in Poland are a small population compared to the
Turkish immigrant population in other European countries, the migration process dates back
nearly 50 years. The majority of the immigrants who settled in Poland communicate with
other immigrants through social media or acquaintances. This situation includes the general
tendency to communicate with ethnic communities, immigrant networks, and the identity
perception of immigrants from Turkey.
Uysal-Bozkır et al. (2015, p. 113-117) indicate that Turkish immigrants feel less lonely in the
host society with the connection with ethnic groups. The loneliness occurs in the forms of
exclusion and feeling “other” in the host society which is similarly seen in Turkish immigrants
who have a low income or who work in certain fields such as gastronomy in Poland. The
consideration of relationships with ethnic groups and coexistence due to loneliness is the key
factor for the social bond that forms between the immigrants. However, the relations with
the host society, economic and socio-political position and the belonging to host society
recuse the need for a social bond with an ethnic group. Thus, the general tendency of
immigrants from Turkey in Poland is to secession (distance) from the ethnic group. According
to Başkurt (2009, p. 86), the culture, language, religious identity, discrimination, and exclusion
from the host society are influential in the formation of a Turkish ghetto in Europe. However,
immigrants from Turkey in Poland do not avoid communication with the host society due to
factors such as lifestyle and language learning. Therefore, the interaction with ethnicity is
limited to certain areas.
Skrobanek (2009, p. 549) reports that immigrants from Turkey tend to re-ethnicize when they
perceive themselves as a discriminated group. At this point, the question that needs to be
asked of immigrants from Turkey in Poland is “why the re-ethnicization process does not
occur, even if the group consider themselves discriminated?”. The answer to the question
differs as a) immigrants from Turkey are less likely to encounter general preconceptions due
to their high socioeconomic status, b) the perceived discrimination being melted in the pot of
close relations with the host society and c) the limited experience of co-existence with an
ethnic group which is deliberately and voluntarily restricted due to problems in the co-national
group such as different ideology, religion, culture, worldview, or ethnicity.
Unlike the practices of Turkish immigrants in Belgium (Göktuna Yaylacı, 2012), the
immigrants from Turkey in Poland are less likely to watch Turkish channels, attend co-
national/ethnic events such as festivals, picnics and go to Turkish restaurants and cafes. Our
analyses suggest that the most important factor related to associations is the collective
participation of Poles and immigrants from Turkey in activities such as meals, events and
meetings which are multilingual (generally in English, Polish and Turkish) that require to use
of all three languages at the same time or alternately. The participants reported that they
mostly prefer the international and Polish media. Conversely, ethnic-national media is only
preferred through the internet for certain programs.

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Amelina & Faist (2008, p. 92) discusses immigrant associations under three types: a) religious,
b) political and c) business. However, only 2 type of association which is based on business
and culture presents the immigrants from Turkey to Poland. The business association is active
in the production of integration policies, political activities between the two countries and
business with the host society while the cultural associations operate activities such as cultural
promotion, communication with the host country, language training, and legal and moral
support.
Chen and Choi (2011, p. 1068) underline that social support through the internet is a
significant factor in the integration process due to the time that immigrants need for
integration and adaptation into the host society. The expected social support comes from
family members, and friends in the home country as well as from immigrants in the host
country and the host country society. Chen (2010, p. 396) discusses the impact of
communication through the internet on immigrants in the concept of the intercultural
communication process by exchanging information and ideas in social media networks that
help to reduce loneliness. In particular, immigrant networks play an important role in receiving
legal and moral support from the ethnic/national communities as is seen from the support
network in Poland that provided help before, during and after immigration to immigrants
from Turkey through the information they received from others who have experienced it.
According to Esser (2000, p. 276-288), the immigrants' relationship with ethnic/national
communities in the integration process emerges in two different ways as multiple integration
or segregation. However, the ethnic/national community is not the only factor in integration.
The impact of the host society, integration policies, practices, media, xenophobia and
perspectives on immigrants, ethnicity or religion are equally notable in integration. In Poland,
xenophobia and attitude toward immigrants directly affect some immigrants from Turkey
while most do not have a negative effect. Mayadas and Elliott’s (1992, p. 48) inference about
the “other” is categorized in the definition of xenophobia coincides with the situation of
immigrants from Turkey in Poland. In this regard, the fear of foreigners in Poland arises based
on religion and physical appearance. In Mayadas and Elliott’s (1992, p. 48-49) study, the social
structure and interpersonal components of xenophobia are listed as national laws, nationalism,
institutional discrimination, lack of accommodation, and interpersonal prejudice which is seen
in the fieldwork.
Although the vast majority of immigrants from Turkey do not directly encounter
discrimination, the anti-immigrant discourses affect their religious, cultural and linguistic
identities and cause them to hide their identity in society. Hjerm and Nagayoshi (2011, p. 816)
underlined the relationship between being a homogeneous society and immigrant image as
well as the conditions under which minorities are perceived as a threat. In this sense, they
stated that cultural, economic, and individual reasons should be considered in minority-
majority relations. In Poland, immigrants are perceived as a threat due to cultural, economic,
and individual reasons. Aksu Kargın (2021, p. 573) argued that media affects social acceptance
by examining the sections of the cartoons about Syrian refugees in Turkey and concluded that
these sections contributed to the acceptance and respect of different ethnic groups. In Poland,
the media, television programs, news and social media play a huge role in the society’s
immigrant conception.
Religion is another factor in the Polish society’s immigrant image as Poland is one of the most
religious countries in Europe and adheres to its religious rituals. This situation with the

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influence of the media and the recent increase in Islamophobia turns it into a problem for
immigrants (who believe the different religions) beliefs. Therefore, the opposition to Muslim
immigrants combining with the Muslim image depicted in the media which is defined as
people with darker skin is Muslims creates apprehension for all immigrants.
Organista et al. (2002 as cited in Saleh, 2015, p. 299) reported that in African societies,
appearance (racial identity) is more important in the discrimination systems of the host
societies than the region or the country they migrate to. Similarly, the fact that Polish society
is generally white-skinned causes dark-skinned immigrants to draw attention and face religious
discrimination even if they are Catholic. According to Norris (2002 as cited in de Rooij, 2012,
p. 455) political participation not only includes voting and election but also neglected issues
such as boycotts, protests, extra-institutional social movements, and signature collections
which is observed in the political attitudes of immigrants from Turkey in Poland.
Martiniello (2006, p. 83) underlines the importance of positive change in Europe by
participating in the political life that immigrants despite being seen as the only economic factor
for a long time have an active voice in host country politics also includes a significant
dimension of identity, belonging and integration. Thus, the immigrants who are active in
politics influence the decisions and policies with their sense of belonging. In the case of
immigrants from Turkey in Poland, although they are small in terms of population, they
influence politics with immigrants who work in local and national politics.
Consequently, there is a clear need for more research on immigrants from Turkey in Central
and Eastern European countries, especially Poland which remains deeply important for
integration studies. Therefore, language education which is the most important factor in the
social and system integration of immigrants from Turkey in Poland should be improved with
courses, bilingual education programs (in line with the language requirement that has become
necessary for citizenship in Poland) and implications of new conditions. The discriminative
language in the new and traditional media against the identities such as Muslim or Turkish
that leads to negative outcomes for immigrants should be defused and turned into programs
that focus on intercultural communication. Lastly, integration programs and intercultural
communication platforms should be developed by both local and international institutions as
well as relevant government authorities and immigrant associations.
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