Feeling at home: Qualified Turkish immigrants work in the subcontractor company in Athens

The migration of young and qualified individuals abroad is a subject being discussed in the literature. Migration in Türkiye has also increased significantly due to social, economic, and political factors. For this reason, individuals have started to migrate to Europe, the USA, and Canada through student, work, and refugee ways. Since the target of most individuals regarding external migration is developed countries, migration to developed countries has also been focused on in the literature. However, the migration of skilled individuals is a topic that has received little focus within the framework of work anthropology. Also, there are not enough studies in the literature on the migration of individuals to developing countries such as Greece. This study discusses the reasons for the migration of qualified Turks who migrated from Türkiye to Greece. In addition, the participants' sense of belonging, their understanding of home, the similarities, and differences in working life between Türkiye and Greece, their social structures, and cultural and geographical proximity factors between the two countries were discussed in the light of in-depth interviews. As a result of this study, it was concluded that the participants left Türkiye due to social, economic, and political reasons and considered Greece as a step to Europe. The residence card they will obtain after five years also symbolizes capital power. The relevant data revealed that the participants felt at home in Greece due to the cultural similarity between Greece and Türkiye, working life, and alienation from their homeland. Another result of the study is the uncertainty arising from the short contracts of the said subcontractor company to its employees. In this research, the phenomenon of globalization is discussed based on Appadurai's (Appadurai, 1996) culture flow model.