The conflict arising from Russia’s war on Ukraine has led to significant migration influx. These population movements are not only limited to Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war torn country, but there has also been an increase emigration from Russia to other countries due to economic and political reasons. On September 21, 2022, with the partial mobilisation announcement of Russian President Vladimir Putin, there was an intense migration movement from Russia. Within the first two weeks after the declaration of mobilisation, approximately 1 million Russians migrated to Kazakhstan. According to the Türkiye residence permit report announced in April 2023, the largest group of foreign citizens with residence permits in Türkiye are Russians, indicating a significant increase in Russian migration to Türkiye.
According to the reports of the Turkish Statistical Institute, the Russian population in Türkiye has increased by more than 2 times since 2021 and reached 151,000. In this context, this study, firstly aims to examine the migration movement of Russians within the framework of international law definitions. It will then categorise the type of migration within the framework of Petersen’s theory of migration. Furthermore, the study will analyse the attitudes of people in Türkiye and Kazakhstan towards Russian immigrants through the Meltwater Software program using specific keywords and investigates the reasons behind these findings in both countries.
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