MEKÂNLA PAZARLIK: AVRUPALI GÖÇMENLERİN TÜRKİYE’DEKİ REFAH VE “AYRICALIK” DENEYİMLERİ
BARGAINING WITH PLACE: EXPERIENCES OF “PRIVILEGE” BY EUROPEAN MIGRANTS IN TURKEY

Summary/Abstract: This paper unpacks how European migrants living in Turkey experience their privileged status and how they engage in different forms of bargaining with place. Deriving from the literature on lifestyle migration, the article examines the experiences of relative privilege that enabled this group of immigrants to live a good life both financially and emotionally. This study shows that the privileges that come with a strong passport are not independent from the insecurity arising from the structural, economic and political conditions in the country of immigrants. It also explains how they bargain with place to deal with the precarious situations they experience. We introduce the term “place bargainers” mainly refering to the mobility practices of privileged migrants. Hence, we open up the material, cultural, spatial and affective forms of the concept of “privilege”. The empirical evidence for our argument is drawn from 18 indepth interviews conducted with Polish and British migrants, living in Turkey as part of a larger project.

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