When Dilara left Turkey for Dubai, United Arab Emirates, five years ago, her friends said she had made a mistake. The economy was flourishing, the cultural scene was vibrant and relations with the West warm.
However now, “most of my friends are sending me their CVs [curriculum vitae] because they don’t want to stay in Turkey anymore, especially after the referendum,” she said, using the pseudonym Dilara as she did not want to be identified by her real name.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in April won a landmark referendum on expanding his powers, which critics fear will lead to one-man rule in an increasingly polarized nation.
Dilara, a specialist in digital marketing, is one of an increasing number of highly-skilled Turks to leave the country, a trend that has grown in recent years, Istanbul, Turkey-based Bahcesehir University sociologist Ulas Sunata said.
Lamenting a lack of data, she said the issue represented a potentially damaging brain drain.
“It’s a genuine problem for the country, but it’s not just the sociocultural aspect, there’s the economic aspect, too... Their departure is a real disadvantage for the country,” Sunata said.
A dozen Turkish citizens interviewed by Agence France-Presse (AFP), who have left or are planning to leave, cited dwindling job prospects for graduates and complained of a rising conservatism under the Muslim-rooted government and an erosion of civil liberties.
The Turkish government insists that it is building a strong economy based on innovation and investment, with the aim of becoming one of the world’s top 10 economies by the 100th anniversary of the modern republic in 2023.
The economy has remained robust after a failed coup in July last year, even expanding by 5.1 percent in the second quarter this year.
Yet, critics point to high unemployment — especially the 20.6 percent rate among those aged 15 to 24 — and an uncertain future outlook as reforms stall.
Erdogan in July claimed that a brain drain was taking place throughout the Muslim world.
“We are losing our most intelligent students to the benefit of the West,” he said.
Dilara initially left Turkey temporarily to enrich her CV with experience abroad.
“I planned to go back many times in the past few years, but there were things happening in Turkey so I changed my mind,” she said.
Crackdowns on anti-government protests and terror attacks, which hit the country last year, made some think twice about staying in Turkey.
Meanwhile, the failed coup prompted a crackdown that critics have claimed has been used to go after any opponent of Erdogan and not just the suspected putschists.
“Why should I suffer when there are better options elsewhere? What am I doing in a country with no justice?” said a 33-year-old English-language teacher, who, like several people, agreed to speak to AFP on condition their names were not published.
He said that he had taken the first steps to leave the country with his wife and children, explaining that he felt they “deserve better standards of living.”
“There is no longer a place for independent films in Turkey,” said one 26-year-old filmmaker, who plans to move to Paris.
The academic sector has been strongly affected by the post-coup purges, which saw more than 50,000 people arrested and more than 140,000 fired or suspended.
More than 5,500 academics have been fired by decree under a state of emergency imposed after the attempted putsch, newspaper Hurriyet reported last month.
Some are accused of links to the failed coup, others of being linked to terror organizations, but many complain of having received no explanation for their dismissal.
“If you ever express any political thought [as an academic], it may put you at risk,” one 28-year-old Turk living in Montreal said by telephone, who chose to stay there after his doctoral studies. “It would be a quite bold decision now to take up an academic position in Turkey.”
Merve, a doctoral student in communications, is soon to join her partner, who is also an academic, in Budapest. Both believe it is “too difficult” in today’s climate to lead an academic career in Turkey.
“Everyone is making choices, thinking of their future, so I chose to leave,” she said.
Those most likely to leave are graduates, who “have a better chance of being accepted in the countries they want to go to,” Sunata said. “Leaving involves risks, and it is the graduates who can afford to face them.”
However, “their departure means that there are fewer people left to uphold important, universal values such as human rights and [their departure] entails a weakening of those values,” she added.
The procedure for leaving is long and arduous: For one historian, who recently moved to France after having long taught in one of Turkey’s most respected universities, it took four years to prepare the paperwork and find a job abroad.
“I hope I never have to go back to Turkey,” he told AFP by telephone.
However, the narrowness of the “Yes” victory in April is a sign for many that all hope for the opposition is not completely dead.
“Things will not change overnight, but Turkey is unpredictable, everything can flip very quickly,” the filmmaker said.
One civil engineer from Ankara, who resigned himself to take steps to leave after having long refused to follow his friends abroad, lamented his future departure.
“I really love my country. I don’t want to leave my country to the conservatives,” he said. “I feel like I’m fleeing.”
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