TNT History Mini-Series: Turks in America (1911-1913)/Part I

// Ed. Note: Ahmed Emin Yalman (1888-1972) went from 
Istanbul to Columbia University in New York in 1910 
and returned to Turkey in 1914.  While in America, 
Yalman looked into the status of Turkish immigrants and
his observations and conclusions were published in 
Istanbul University's 'Literature Magazine' in May 1916.

Herewith TNT presents the English translation of 
Yalman's article from the original Ottoman version.//

Turkish Immigrants in America

Almost everyone, more or less, from our country knows that hundreds 

of thousands of people of various roots have migrated to America.  But 

few know that for the past 10-12 years or so Turks have joined this 

migration and at present there are about 40,000 Turks living in America.  

From the standpoint of social studies, there are many aspects of the 

Turkish migrants that are ripe for examination.   At the head of the list 

is determining the motivations of the migrants, how well they have been

able to adapt to their new environment and how they have been living 

within the societal organizations there.  Unfortunately, in order to 

investigate these matters, we cannot refer to any established statistics 

because Turks are not reflected as a separate class in American 

immigrant statistics, being included among those from the Balkans 

and Anatolia. And in Turkey, we have no statistics at all about external

migration.

Neopoli was called Nasliç in Ottoman times. Grevena was

Gerebena.  The area went over to Greek administration 

after the Balkan War in 1913.

According to what I learned from the research I did in the cities of 

Peabody, Worcester, Providence, Chicago, Manchester, Lowell and 

Nashua in America,  the migration did not begin in one fell swoop 

from any one point.  Since the Turks in the Rumeli (Ottoman European
Turkey) districts of Nasliç and Gerebena  knew Greek, they had a habit
of  going to Greece to work on farms there.  The fact that Greeks had
gone to America and made money caught their attention, and 10-12
years ago some of these Turks joined with a few enterprising Greeks
for the trip to America.  After settling in America and finding work,
they had their friends and family join them and gradually, hundreds
of people from these two districts (Nasliç and Gerebena)  went to New
Hampshire to work in shoe, lumber and textile factories.   Although
the migration continued for a long while, the fact that only people from
Nasliç and Gerebena went, while other people in the same economic
circumstances in Rumeli did not go, proves that  it would be wrong to
look for purely economic motivations in this matter.  The migrants did
not go to America because they felt an extreme need to increase their
economic level but, rather, because a number of their compatriots
happened to go and they followed them, living in the same towns and
working in the factories there.

The migration from Anatolia began and continued in much the same 

way.  The migration of Armenians from the Harput region opened the

way for Turks to go, as well.  The first to go were prison escapees and

army deserters, who felt a particular personal need to distance 

themselves from their homeland.   However, there were also a number

of individuals who went to America with the prospect of  economic 

enterprise in their minds.  They were followed by thousands of people

from certain cities and villages who went to the shore of the Atlantic 

Ocean in gradually increasing numbers.  But in the past few years, a 

small number of people have migrated to America from western 

Anatolia and the coastal cities on their own, rather than following 

anyone else.  In addition, in the past few years uneducated youths 

and some others living in Istanbul and other cities have gone to 

America to seek their fortune.  There are a couple of Turkish 

merchants in America who are rather well-off but since they represent

the exception we are leaving them out of our discussion.

Since the number of migrants from cities is relatively small let us talk 

about the lives of this group of migrants and their lives in their new 

environment.    Those who have come from cities mostly prefer to live

 in the big cities of America.  They make a living by selling candy, 

fruit drinks, ice cream, boiled corn and chestnuts in the streets.  A 

few of them have over time established their own shops.  Others who 

came to America thinking they could get rich quick have been forced 

to endure the drudgery of factory life.  And although there are those 

who came with a plan to go to industrial schools and who first found 

work after a period of difficulty, attending night school, learning 

English and other skills, most of these youths had to give up their 

extra-educational pursuits and focus on just making a living.  Some 

young people who learned English before they came to America, and 

who have support from their families, are studying agriculture and 

other subjects in various universities, while others are studying in 

missionary schools but must, to some degree, accept Christianity.  

There are also a number of educated city youths who don’t work but

 who have mixed in with laborers who have come from Anatolia.  We

 will talk more about them later.  It would not be  appropriate to 

compare citified Turkish migrants with individuals of other races and

 countries, from the standpoint of their adaptation into their new 

society in America.  This is because making such a comparison would 

be faulty since their habits are limited and their time in America has 

been so short. 

      Harput in today's Elazığ province in eastern Anatolia.

It is, however, possible to examine village migrants, who are more 

plentiful and who live together in certain places,  with regard to the

degree to which they have adapted to their new society, how they 

are getting along in these new environs and organizations, and how 

they are doing in comparison to migrants of other races and from 

different countries.  In this context, Turks who have come from 

Rumeli and Anatolia are found to be in different situations.

Rumeli migrants work in factories and in iron construction.  The

factories are in Lowell, Massachusetts, and in Manchester, Nashua

and  Goffstown in New Hampshire.   Those who work on the roads

are in Chicago.  The Rumeli factory workers are considered superior

to those who have come to America from southern and eastern 

countries.  They have learned English as necessary for their jobs and

integrated well into factory work.  They are attentive, diligent and 

orderly and since they show initiative in their jobs they are preferred 

by the factory owners over other migrant workers.  They live frugal 

lives, staying together in houses they rent in groups of 15-20 and 

taking turns with cleaning chores.  A few patriotic pictures adorn 

the walls of their residences, which are better than those of Italian 

and Slavic migrants who do the same work.  Their wages fluctuate 

between 8 and 22 dollars per week and they spend only a small 

portion of this on themselves.  Some of their money is sent back to

their homeland and some they save.  Their entertainment consists 

of touring around, visiting each other and spending time in 

coffeehouses.  They speak Greek among themselves and although 

there are some who know no Turkish at all, they are quite patriotic.

They obtain Turkish newspapers and read them to those who know

Turkish, so they are up to date on events in the homeland.  They do 

not get involved in the worker organizations where they are and they

have not formed their own organization for any reason.  But despite

this, they are very supportive of one another, looking after anyone 

who gets sick and taking in those who are unemployed through no 

fault of their own.  If any one of them leans toward loafing and 

carousing they collectively try to set the offender straight.

Ahmed Emin Yalman's article (arrow).

//END of PART I//