The people of Istanbul found the solution by emigrating to other provinces. While Eskişehir is at the top of the cities that Istanbulites want to move to the most, Samsun and Sakarya followed the ranking. After the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes in February, a reverse migration movement started in Istanbul. Having received intense immigration since the 1980s and hosting approximately 20% of Turkey's population, Istanbul is now positioned as a province of immigration. The report prepared by eTaşın, which offers a new generation turnkey transportation service, provided the report of the migration movements in Istanbul after the earthquakes. The report compared the first 30 days after the earthquake with the same period of 2022. According to this, Eskişehir is the city that Istanbulites who migrate to Central Anatolia, Thrace, Central and Eastern Black Sea cities most want to move, followed by Samsun and Sakarya provinces.
eTaşın prepared a report by examining the relocation requests of nearly a thousand customers after the earthquakes in Kahramanmaraş. Within the scope of the report, it was observed that the requests originating from Istanbul were gathered in four regions. Stating that these regions are Central Anatolia, Black Sea, Thrace and the Mediterranean, respectively, eTaş's Founding Partner Kadir Nezih Elgün said, “After the earthquakes that took place as of February 6, great changes were observed in the demands for relocation. In the week following the earthquake, the demand for relocation decreased sharply to 4 in 1, and then there was a rapid increase. According to the report, in which we analyzed the requests for relocations originating from Istanbul after the earthquakes, we can say that Istanbul has become an emigrant city rather than a receiving city. Among the main reasons for this are the fear caused by the possible Istanbul earthquake and the high prices of rents.
“The number of people leaving Istanbul after the earthquakes is increasing day by day”
Kadir Nezih Elgün said, “We have suffered great losses in the earthquakes in Kahramanmaraş, which affected 11 provinces of our country, and unfortunately we have experienced and are experiencing deep sorrows that cannot be compensated. After the earthquakes, many people felt the uneasiness of the earthquake, even if they were far from the disaster area, and the solutions that could be taken against the earthquake came to the agenda again. Istanbuls, whose cities are in the earthquake zone, found the solution to migrate. According to the research we have done, we can say that reverse migration to these regions has started in Istanbul, which has received immigration mainly from the Black Sea and Central Anatolia Regions until today.”
Demand for Sakarya increased 8 times
Kadir Nezih Elgün, co-founder of eTaş, said, “Recently, with the rapid increase in housing prices in Istanbul, there has been an intense migration movement towards Thrace. With the earthquake, this migration accelerated and expanded its borders. Compared to last year, we see that there are more immigrants to cities such as Edirne, Tekirdağ, Çanakkale, Sakarya, Eskişehir, Kayseri and Samsun. The factors that bring these cities to the fore are the low risk of earthquakes and the more affordable housing and land prices. The demand for moving to these provinces increased by an average of 3 times compared to the same period of the previous year. In fact, Sakarya received 8 times more demand, making it the city most desired to move to in the entire Marmara Region by far. Çanakkale received 5 times more demand, Edirne, Tekirdağ and Bursa 2 times more demand," he said.
The most moved cities in Central Anatolia are Kayseri and Eskişehir.
Kadir Nezih Elgün said, “When we look at the Central Anatolia Region, we see that especially big cities receive an average of 8 times more relocation requests compared to the same months of the previous year,” said Kadir Nezih Elgün and continued his words as follows: placed in rows. Demand for Konya, another major city in the region, did not change significantly. While Eskişehir has 18 times more demand compared to last year, there is an increase of 7 times in Kayseri and 4 times in Ankara.”
Samsun became one of the cities most wanted to move
During this period, interest in the Black Sea Region in particular intensified. While Samsun, the city most desired to move to, received 16-fold relocation requests, this rate was recorded as 6 times in Ordu, 4 times in Giresun, and 3 times in Trabzon. Demand to move to the Mediterranean, which is the lowest region, with an average of 4 times growth among the 3 regions that received intense relocation requests from Istanbul, increased 4 times to Antalya and 2 times to Mersin. In addition, there is a sharp decrease in demands for cities such as İzmir and Kocaeli.”
“The common feature of immigration-receiving cities is the low risk of earthquakes”
Kadir, the founding partner of eTaş, said, “When we examine the four prominent regions, namely Thrace, Central Anatolia, Middle-East Black Sea and the Mediterranean, the common features of the cities that migrated to are the low risk of earthquakes, and the lower course of house and land prices compared to Istanbul.” Nezih Elgün concluded his words as follows: “The current influx of reverse migration is not a surprise for Istanbul, which received heavy immigration from the Samsun-Trabzon line in the past. On the other hand, Eskişehir in the Central Anatolia Region, where industrialization is intense, and Sakarya in the Marmara Region are also very attractive with these qualities.”