The percentage of Turkish youth wishing to go abroad increased from 28% in March 2010 to 48% in November 2020, Bekir Ağırdir, CEO of research company KONDA, wrote.

Ağırdyr also cited statistics on the population as a whole, saying that the percentage of Turks who would migrate abroad if given the opportunity rose from 24% in March 2010 to 35% in November 2020.

He noted that today the reason for the brain drain is different from that indicated in previous years, since earlier Turks referred to the “prospects” offered by other countries, while now people are migrating “out of desperation” in Turkey.

The head of the research company stressed that today well-educated Turks with already good careers are migrating abroad.

“Instead of referring to prospects, flight from a sense of hopelessness dominates. The perception that their freedoms are limited and their way of life is threatened pushes Turkish citizens to seek a better life abroad. The feeling that they cannot breathe under the current conditions is dominant,” Agirdyr wrote.

According to him, many Turks no longer “feel that they have a place in the future of the country and that they can fulfill their needs and hopes.”

“A feeling of hopelessness and deep concern for the future of the country dominates,” he concluded.