Aging & Society: Eighth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

Migration is defined as the movement of people from their countries to live in another country for certain reasons. Various disasters and wars make migration compulsory because of life safety. The Syrians, who have to left their countries with migrations that started in 2012 due to civil war and have taken refuge in Turkey, continue their lives in temporary shelter centers near the border. Asylum seekers are from all age groups. Because the elderly do not have an expected adjustment process like the other age groups, in this study the attention is on people sixty-five-years of age and older. Elderly migration is important because of their limited mobility. It is known that the most of the elderly people want to live in-place, ageing-in-place. Their migration process involves a more complex pattern than younger persons. For example their emotions, responses, meaning process, and their memories are differently affected by migration. In this study, in two cities (Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras) in-depth interviews were held to understand who the immigrant elderly are and what do they think about the future situation themselves, including future thinking and adaptation skills. Findings from interviews have shown that older people are affected by their past life experiences, by their war situation, and by future thinking of themselves. Migration from Syria has necessitated rethinking international migration to Turkey and making new plans to migration from our neighbour countries.