Crushed Under Erdoğan's 'Iron Fist', Turkey Loses Its Best And Brightest To The West

Dramatic pattern from history is back: wherever life becomes unbearable, one considers leaving and, if the conditions allow, off one goes.

Only days after the failed coup in mid-July last year, Turkish President Erdoğan tightened the screws even further by implementing a state of emergency. 

Its impact has been huge by a massive purge of more than 150,000 public employees and arbitrary seizure of assets belonging to business people affiliated by Gülen Movement, which Erdoğan has declared as the culprit behind the uprising.

But the aftershocks of his measures has inevitably caused qualm among the business — and white collar elite. As a result, the professional class is heading west in droves.

The number of educated, white-collar workers relocating abroad has quadrupled to almost 10,000 a month, data compiled by the CHP opposition party show. That includes an estimated 6,000 millionaires just in 2016, a sixfold annual jump, according to Johannesburg, South Africa-based research group New World Wealth.

Voter rolls show the most popular destinations — two-thirds of the 3 million expatriates registered to vote live in Germany, France and Holland, followed by Belgium, Austria, Northern Cyprus, the U.S., Switzerland and Britain.

This is an unprecedented exodus, reminiscent of those that took place in Europe between two world wars and, more recently, the emigration from Iran, after the take over by Khomeini in 1979.

Many Turks have simply given up hope that they can live in freedom; a tranquil life, with a predictable future. Some others cite deep corruption, faltering quality of education, hiking intolerance and a seemingly endless wave of violence and terror. Others looking to escape say they have no choice. Many have been purged, and marked for life, blacklisted. Like many academicians, they have lost faith in a dignified life.

This is their story: leaving sweet home, going west, for good, in bitterness.