Adaptation Strategies to Turkish Society of Europeans Married to Turkish Citizens

Accelerated and increasingly complex patterns of international migration are correlated with the emergence of various types of transnational families and an ever-rising number of culturally and ethnically mixed couples. Once a typical emigration country, Turkey has recently been established as a transit and receiving society, where numerous Europeans settle due to emotional ties with Turkish citizens. This paper is based on a qualitative study of 10 mixed European-Turkish families based in Istanbul, carried out through in-depth interviews. The paper is divided into three parts. First, it examines the social characteristics of the research participants. Second, it analyses the reactions of family and friends to the mixed relationship. Third, it discusses four adaptation strategies of foreign partners to Turkish society – namely, integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization.