| dc.description.abstract | After the division of Cyprus in 1974 into a Greek-Cypriot south and a Turkish-Cypriot north, approximately 30,000 immigrants from Turkey moved to north Cyprus. The period 1974 to 1980, during which time these immigrants came to northern Cyprus, is referred to as the first wave of immigration. This thesis seeks primarily to answer the question: Why did the immigrants leave their homes in Turkey in this period, and why did they migrate to northern Cyprus? There are a lot of misperceptions about the immigration of people from Turkey to north Cyprus, which makes this thesis important in creating an accurate and much-needed debate. In short, one should view the first wave of immigration as a result of the employment of state mechanisms, as well as traditional push-pull factors in the context of crisis in Turkey, coupled with opportunities and a need for labor in north Cyprus. Furthermore, family members and other persons of authority, such as imams, were central in encouraging more people from Turkey to move to northern Cyprus during the first wave of immigration. In that way immigration from Turkey was kept alive with a steady flow of immigrants throughout the seven-year period following the division of the island. The immigration from Turkey was characterized by being heterogeneous in terms of ethnicity, in contrast to the common view of the immigrants as an exclusively Turkifying force. | eng |