The second generation from Çorum grew up in big cities yet call themselves from Çorum. Registration data, belonging and identity from a psychological view.
The question "Where are you from?" is easy for some people and thought-provoking for others. There are many young people who were born and raised in Ankara, Istanbul or Izmir, who have never lived in Çorum, yet who sincerely answer this question with "I'm from Çorum". The second generation from Çorum is made up of people who adopt their parents' or grandparents' hometown as their own, and who feel a strong bond with a city they visit during religious holidays, at weddings or on summer holidays. So is it possible to long for a place you have never lived in? In this article I will look first at the data on the size of this generation, and then at the second generation's experience of identity and belonging.
What Do the Figures Say? People from Çorum Living Outside Çorum
To understand the people from Çorum who live outside Çorum, one concept first needs to be clarified. In the Address-Based Population Registration System of TÜİK (the Turkish Statistical Institute), the "province of registration" is the province where a person's civil registry record is held. This record is usually passed down through the father's side. So someone born and raised in Ankara also appears as registered in Çorum if their father's record is in Çorum. This registration does not show where a person was born or where they feel they are from; but it carries the official trace of a bond with the hometown.
Seen from this angle, the picture is striking:
- In 2013 there were 1,227,216 people in Turkey registered in Çorum. Of these, 743,123, or 60.6%, were living outside Çorum (Çoban, 2016, citing TÜİK data).
- This share rose every year: from 56% in 2008 it increased to 60.6% in 2013.
- According to more recent news data in which the year is not specified, the number of people in Turkey registered in Çorum reached 1,323,988. As there is no official breakdown, it is not possible to give the current share precisely; however, rough calculations suggest that roughly two out of every three people registered in Çorum may be living outside the province.
The largest concentration of people from Çorum living outside Çorum is in Ankara. According to 2025 data, 438,640 people registered in Çorum live in Ankara; this is the largest group of people from a single home province in Ankara. In 2009 the number was 336,694. According to figures reported in the local press, in which the year is not clearly stated, around 179,000 people from Çorum live in Istanbul, 43,000 in Izmir, 28,000 in Antalya and 19,000 in Bursa.
The limits of the data
The continued rise in the number of people from Çorum in Ankara reflects not only new migration but also the fact that, by definition of the registry, the second and third generations born in the big city remain registered in Çorum. However, figures on who within the registered population migrated and who was born outside the province are not published separately. The number of people from Çorum living abroad is also unknown. Nor could any academic study on hometown solidarity or identity specific to people from Çorum be found. For this reason the psychological reading below is based on general knowledge in the field and everyday observation.
A Sociological Reading: How Is the Bond with the Hometown Passed On?
Migration from Çorum to big cities has been going on for decades. The first generation of this migration tried to preserve their bond with the hometown while building a life in the city they moved to. This bond is passed on to the second generation in several ways.
Family stories. Childhood tales, the house in the village, grandfather's vineyard, the holidays of the past... The second generation often knows the hometown through stories. On the one hand these stories give a sense of roots; on the other hand they can make the hometown look brighter than it really is.
Rituals and visits. Holiday visits, summer holidays, weddings and funerals are the moments when the second generation comes into direct contact with the hometown. Funerals in particular, when held in the hometown, create a strong bond between generations.
Hometown associations. The associations and federations that people from Çorum have founded in big cities make this bond institutional. According to an academic study (Yücel and Gürbüz, 2019), the Çorum Hitit Associations Federation in Istanbul was founded in 2013; it has around 3,000 members and 12 associations. Its activities include solidarity dinners, picnics and scholarships. A federation founded in 2022 in İnegöl, Bursa, lists among its aims preserving cultural values and "passing them on to future generations".
Registration and official identity. The "province of registration" on the identity card is a symbolic bond for some young people. Carrying the name of a city one has never lived in can both nourish and call into question the sense of belonging.
A Psychological Reading: The Second Generation from Çorum and Belonging
The second generation from Çorum may experience complex feelings together, such as belonging to two places at once and not fully belonging to either. These feelings are not a problem but a natural reflection of the migration experience as it spreads across generations.
Longing for a place you have never lived in
In psychology, nostalgia was for a long time defined only as longing for a lost past. Yet people can also long for a past they never directly lived. The village the family talked about, the dishes grandmother made, the streets where father spent his childhood... For the second generation, the hometown is partly a place built in the imagination. This longing can give a person a sense of rootedness and continuity. At moments when they feel like a stranger in the big city, being able to say "I have a place too" can be reassuring.
"I'm a guest there too"
However, when they go to the hometown, things may be different. Let us say a young woman in her twenties who grew up in Ankara goes to her grandfather's village on her summer holiday. Her relatives approach her with affection but see her as a "city girl" because of the way she speaks, dresses and behaves. This young woman, who is "from Çorum" in Ankara, becomes "from Ankara" in Çorum. This experience can be confusing and sometimes hurtful. Identity is shaped as much by how others see a person as by how the person defines themselves.
Parents' expectations and the young person's world
For the first generation, the hometown is a loss and a longing. For the second generation, it is often a choice. Parents may expect their children to show interest in the hometown, to keep up their ties with relatives, perhaps to marry someone from the hometown. The young person, meanwhile, may feel squeezed between these expectations and their own city life, friends and values. Remarks such as "You don't love the hometown" or "You've forgotten your roots" can stir up guilt or anger in the young person. Yet being attached to the hometown in a different way does not mean that the bond is absent.
The protective side of belonging
The need to belong is one of the basic human psychological needs. Feeling that you belong to a community, a story or a place can be protective against loneliness, uncertainty and difficult life events. In this respect, the bond with the hometown is an important resource for the second generation. The scholarship and solidarity activities of hometown associations can also help young people reach a support network in the big city.
People can belong not only to the place where they live but also to the stories they are told; what matters is that these stories do not cut them off from their present, but give strength to it.
The third generation and the transformation of the bond
The bond changes a little in each generation. For the first generation, the hometown is a house left behind and people who are missed. For the second generation, it is mostly stories, holiday visits and summer holidays. For the third generation, the hometown may sometimes remain only as a line on the identity card or a dish grandmother makes. This transformation can stir a sense of loss in the first generation: "My grandchildren don't know the village any more." But the bond changing shape does not mean that it has disappeared altogether. A story told at a family meal, a folk song played at a wedding, or the extended family gathering at a funeral can form a thin but continuous thread between generations. From a psychological point of view, what matters is that this bond is offered to young people not as a burden but as an inheritance they can willingly claim as their own.
The loss of elders and a broken bond
For the second generation, the road to the hometown often passes through the grandparents. While they are alive, the house in the village is open and holiday visits come naturally. With the loss of the elders, however, the house empties, visits become rarer, and a person may feel that they have lost not only a loved one but also their bond with the hometown. This double loss often goes unnoticed; those around them see only the grief for the person who has died. Yet the feeling "I no longer have a reason to go there" is also part of grief and deserves to be recognised.
Similarities with the second generation abroad
What the second generation from Çorum experiences has some points in common with the experiences of young Turkish people abroad. Of course, the difference in language and culture is much more pronounced abroad. Even so, themes such as "an identity between two places", "being seen as a stranger in the hometown" and "balancing family expectations with one's own life" are similar. I discussed this subject from the perspective of life abroad in my article on second-generation Turks.
Practical Suggestions for the Second Generation from Çorum and Their Families
There is no single right way to keep the bond with the hometown alive. The following suggestions can help both young people and parents to live this bond in a way that suits their own circumstances, without hurting one another.
For young people of the second generation from Çorum:
- Make your own definition of the hometown. Your bond with the hometown does not have to be the same as your parents'. You can keep it alive through food, music, a visit once a year, or just a family story.
- Do not set the two identities against each other. There is no single correct answer to the question "Am I from Ankara or from Çorum?" You can carry both belongings together.
- Be curious, ask questions. Ask your elders about their childhood, their migration stories and life in the hometown. These conversations both strengthen the bond between generations and turn the hometown from an idealised place into a real one.
- Do not feel like an "inadequate Çorum person". Not knowing the local dialect or not knowing all your relatives does not make you belong any less.
For first-generation parents:
- Pass on the bond through sharing, not obligation. Tell your child about the hometown not as a duty but as a story worth being curious about.
- Respect the young person's different way of forming a bond. A young person who does not want to come home for every holiday may not dislike the hometown; they may simply be trying to build their own life.
- Separate your own longing from your child's. Your loss may not carry the same meaning for your child.
When Should You Seek Professional Support?
Questions of identity and belonging come up from time to time throughout life, and people mostly find their own way with them. However, it may be helpful to seek support in the following situations:
- If the feeling of not belonging anywhere has turned into a constant sense of loneliness and emptiness,
- If the conflict between family expectations and your own wishes leaves you stuck on important decisions such as marriage, career or where to live,
- If arguments with your family about the hometown are seriously damaging your relationship,
- If, with the loss of a grandparent, you feel your bond with the hometown has been broken and you cannot grieve this loss,
- If anxiety, low mood or anger are affecting your day-to-day functioning.
If feelings of loneliness and worthlessness have turned into thoughts of harming yourself, call 112 (emergency services) or go to the nearest emergency department without delay.
How Are Questions of Identity and Belonging Addressed in Therapy?
Individual therapy offers a space where a person can talk about the questions "Who am I, where do I belong?" without being judged. Sessions can work on the following topics:
- Identity integration: Being able to see different belongings not as parts that exclude each other but as parts that complement each other.
- Roles and expectations within the family: Finding a healthy balance between loyalty to the family and individuation.
- Intergenerational transmission: Noticing the feelings passed on to the young person from the parents' experience of migration, their losses and their longings.
- Grief and loss: Recognising the grief that follows the loss of the elders who carried the bond with the hometown.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) helps to question how realistic thoughts such as "I'm not a real person from Çorum" or "I'm letting my family down" are. The schema therapy approach contributes to understanding how themes such as seeking approval within the family and self-sacrifice developed. Sessions can take place face to face in Çorum or online from other cities.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who are the second generation from Çorum?
They are people whose parents or grandparents migrated from Çorum, who were themselves born and raised in another city, but who define themselves as being from Çorum. Because civil registration is passed down through the father's side, most of these people also appear officially as registered in Çorum.
How many people from Çorum live outside Çorum?
According to the latest official series, in 2013 60.6% of the more than 1.2 million people registered in Çorum lived outside the province. Current rough calculations suggest that this share is approaching two thirds. The largest community, of around 440,000 people, is in Ankara.
Is it strange to long for a city I have never lived in?
No. Through stories heard from the family, rituals and visits, people can form a bond with a place they have never lived in. This longing is an expression of the need for rootedness and continuity, and it is often a feeling that gives strength.
I feel like a stranger when I go to the hometown; is this normal?
Yes, it is a very common experience. Being seen as "from Çorum" in the big city and as a "city person" in Çorum can be confusing. This is a natural result of being part of two different environments; it is possible to carry both belongings together.
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Eda Erkan Alapala
Klinik Psikolog. İstanbul Kent Üniversitesi Klinik Psikoloji Tezli Yüksek Lisans mezunu; bilişsel davranışçı terapi, çocuk merkezli oyun terapisi ve çocuk-ergen psikoterapisi alanlarında eğitimlerini tamamlamıştır.
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