Acculturation attitudes and urban-related identity of internal migrants in three largest cities of Turkey

This study explores the acculturation strategies and the urban related identity of Turkish and Kurdish internal migrants who moved from different regions of Turkey to Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. In terms of acculturation strategies, assimilation was found to be the most preferred acculturation attitude among Turks. Whereas separation was found to be most endorsed acculturation attitude among Kurds. Concerning urban-related identity scores, Turks reported a higher urban-related identity score than the Kurds. Furthermore, the internal migrants in Izmir reported higher urban-related identity scores than the migrants living in Istanbul and Ankara. The results of the hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that gender, length of residence and migration type were the most significant predictors for integration preference of Kurds.