ABSTRACT

This handbook, the first of its kind, provides a rich overview of the socio-political issues and dynamics impacting Turkey’s diasporic groups and diaspora policymaking.

Turkey constitutes an important case study in the field of diaspora studies with a diaspora population of around 6.5 million. This handbook therefore brings together emerging and established scholars to explore the central issues, actors, and processes relating to Turkey’s diasporic groups and diaspora outreach. Taken together, the historical and contemporary analyses presented in this volume provide readers a multi-lens perspective on the trajectories of Turkey’s diasporic communities and diaspora policymaking in a wide range of regional contexts, including Europe, North America, and Oceania. The handbook comprises six analytical parts:

  • Contextualising Turkey’s diasporas: past and present
  • Localisation, transnational belongings, and identity
  • Governing diasporas
  • Micro-spaces and everyday practices
  • Cultural production, aesthetics, and creativity
  • Country-specific perspectives

The volume offers insights into the debates and processes that structure each of these thematic clusters, but also provides a comprehensive overview of the dynamics shaping Turkey’s diverse diaspora populations today.

The contributions encompass a range of disciplines, including anthropology, history, human geography, political science, international relations, and sociology, and the volume will be vital reading for anyone interested in Turkey, the Middle East, and diasporas.

chapter 1|16 pages

Turkey's Diasporas and Diaspora Policymaking in Flux

An Introduction

part I|88 pages

Contextualising Turkey's Diasporas

chapter 2|15 pages

Moving Populations

The Foundations of Diaspora in the Early Republic of Turkey

chapter 3|14 pages

From ‘Guest-Workers’ to ‘Muslims’

Representations of Turkish-Origin Migrants in Europe

chapter 5|14 pages

The Making of New Diasporic Communities?

Post-2000 Migration from Turkey to Europe

chapter 6|16 pages

Migration and Citizenship Regimes in Europe

The Meandering Path to Dual Citizenship in Germany and the Netherlands

chapter 7|14 pages

The Diaspora Paradox

Methodological Nationalism, Methodological Amnesia, Challenges, and Interventions

part II|78 pages

Localisation, Transnational Belongings, and Identity

chapter 8|13 pages

Constantinopolitans in the Diaspora of the City

The Global Community of Rum Polites of Istanbul

chapter 9|15 pages

Enforced Departures, Anxious Arrivals

A Turkish Diaspora in Israel

chapter 11|13 pages

The Alevi Movement in Europe

A Collective Struggle for Visibility, Rights, and Recognition

part III|100 pages

Governing Diasporas

chapter 13|15 pages

Turkey's Diaspora Engagement Policies

Past and Present

chapter 14|13 pages

State-Sponsored Transnational Religious Fields

The Case of the Diyanet

chapter 16|13 pages

Unpacking the State from the Inside Out

Emerging Spaces and Actors of Diaspora Governance in the Border Province of Edirne

chapter 18|11 pages

Turkish Immigrant-origin Political Parties in Europe

The Case of DENK in the Netherlands

part IV|86 pages

Micro-spaces and Everyday Practices

chapter 20|16 pages

“Mosques Are Life Itself There”

The Social Lives of Turkish-Sunni Mosques in Germany

chapter 25|13 pages

Lending Circles

A Solidarity Practice among Migrant Women from Turkey in Germany

part V|90 pages

Cultural Production, Aesthetics, and Creativity

chapter 26|15 pages

Turkish Rap Music, Made in Germany

Origins, History, and Identity

chapter 27|15 pages

A Marketplace of Love

Muhabbet and the Construction of European Alevi Imaginaries

chapter 28|13 pages

Cinematographic Expressions of Diasporic Experience

Decades of Turkish-German Cinema

chapter 29|14 pages

Writing Home and Selves in Diaspora

Narratives, Texts, and Practices

chapter 30|18 pages

Graphic Politics

Resistance and Community Building through Comics Activism among Turkey's Diaspora(s)

chapter 31|13 pages

From Berlin to the Globe

The Transnational Story of Döner Kebab

part VI|91 pages

Country-Specific Perspectives

chapter 32|11 pages

Turkey's Diaspora in Germany

A Transnational Community Divided between Transnational Integration and Distant-Nationalism

chapter 33|15 pages

The ‘Turkish’ Community in France

An Influential Branch of the Diaspora

chapter 35|12 pages

Alevi Kurds in the United Kingdom

Community Formation, Visibility, and Integration

chapter 36|16 pages

United We Divide

Turkey's Hyper-Polarised Diaspora in the USA

chapter 37|22 pages

Turkey's Diasporas Down Under

Migration to Australia and New Zealand