THE ISTANBUL POLICY CENTER-SABANCI UNIVERSITY-STIFTUNG MERCATOR INITIATIVE
cordially invites you to a workshop on
Making "Turks abroad":
Turkey's new diaspora policies in Western Europe
convened by
Kerem Öktem
(Mercator-IPC Fellow; Research Fellow at the European Studies Centre, University of Oxford)
Monday, July 7, 2014
Istanbul Policy Center
(Minerva Han, Karaköy)
Diasporas and their role in international politics have been receiving increased scholarly and public attention.
This interest has been furthered by the emergence of state-led diaspora organisations particularly in emerging
countries and their policies towards communities in 'host countries'. Turkey has been no exception: In 2010,
the government established the "Presidency of Turks Abroad and Related Communities" (Yurtdışı Türkler ve
Akraba Toplulukları Başkanlığı) as a directorate under the aegis of the Prime Ministry. The Presidency thereby
joined already existing institutions in charge of 'Turks Abroad' such as the Presidency of Religious Affairs
(Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı) and several ministries. The Presidency, however, is distinguished by its coordinating
mission of state policies particularly with regard to Turkish expatriate citizens (predominantly in Western
Europe and the US) and Turkic ethnic kin communities in Central Asia.
This workshop seeks to appraise Turkey's new diaspora policy with a particular focus on its impact in Turkish
(and Kurdish) communities in Western Europe and their relations with their "host countries". At the same time,
it seeks to understand the underlying political goals as well as the internal tensions inherent in this new
Diasporic mind set.
Discussing case studies from Germany and France, we will explore, inter alia, the following questions:

How can we situate this new diaspora policy within Turkey's transformative foreign and domestic
policy projects, as well as within the changing context of diaspora policies globally?

Which ideological and political currents serve as reference points for the Presidency's work, which
norms are projected, and what is the role of religion therein (Diyanet, Islamic Theology Chairs)?

Which conception of citizenship is at the root of the Presidency's work? To what extent is this
conception now being generalised/globalised among Turks abroad?

To what extend does the Presidency's norm projection ('Turkish family', gender, homosexuality,
religious education) conflict with host country expectations regarding integration, diversity and
language education?

Does this policy hold second and third generation 'immigrants' back from engaging with their 'host
society', or does it create opportunity structures for social mobility in a xenophobic environment?

Is Turkey's new diaspora policy inclusive and what kind of tensions are built into the phenomenon of
overlapping/opposed diasporas (Armenians, Alevis)?

How will voting rights for expatriate citizens effect their political mobilization in the host countries?
Istanbul Policy Center, Bankalar Caddesi, No:2 Minerva Han, Karaköy, 34420 Istanbul, Turkey
P +90 212 292 4939 F +90 212 292 4957 E-mail: ipc@sabanciuniv.edu
ipc.sabanciuniv.edu
In finding responses to these questions, the workshop wishes to gauge the potentials, capacity and limitations
of Turkey's diaspora policies and examine its impact on debates of integration and cultural diversity in host
countries. Furthermore, it aims at contributing to the debate on new and state-led diaspora organisations
began by Latha Varadrajan in her The Domestic Abroad: Diasporas in International Relations (Oxford University
Press, 2012) and engage with her critique of Arjun Appadurai's thesis of diasporas as benign anti-colonial actors
in Modernity at large: cultural dimensions of globalization (University of Minnesota Press, 1996).
Making Turks Abroad is planned as a one-day international workshop with 25-minute presentations, and a
concluding discussion sparked off by the inputs of pre-assigned rapporteurs from each panel. The workshop
will be open to a selected expert audience. Mercator-Istanbul Policy Centre will publish the workshop
proceedings, while a special issue in a leading journal may be pursued in addition.
Program
09.15-09.30
Ayşe Kadıoğlu (Sabancı University and IPC, Istanbul)
09.30-11.30
Introduction to the theme
Chair: Samim Akgönül
Kerem Öktem, Sabancı University and University of Oxford
Creating contested diasporas
Sossie Kasbarian, University of Lancaster
The conceptual framework of diaspora policies and the shift to state-led diasporas
Selma Bardakcı, Bahçeşehir University
New diasporas in emerging countries
11.30-11.45
Coffee break
11.45-13.15
Diasporas and the Turkish state
Chair: Sossie Kasbarian
Samim Akgönül, Strasbourg University
Diaspora policies and the strategy of perpetual first generation
Iştar Gözaydın, Doğuş University
Religion as cement and the role of the Diyanet in Diaspora policies
13:15-14:45
Lunch
14.45 - 16.15
Potentials and points of tensions
Chair: Iştar Gözaydın
Armina Omerika, Goethe University Frankfurt
Islamic religious education and theology chairs in Germany and Turkey's role
Maya Arakon, Süleyman Şah University
Are Kurds equal citizens for the Presidency's diaspora policy?
16.15-16.30
Coffee break
16.30-17.30
Round-up discussion
Chair: Kerem Öktem
Diaspora policies: Constructing identity or creating power networks?
Introduced by Berna Turam, Northeastern University
Istanbul Policy Center, Bankalar Caddesi, No:2 Minerva Han, Karaköy, 34420 Istanbul, Turkey
P +90 212 292 4939 F +90 212 292 4957 E-mail: ipc@sabanciuniv.edu
ipc.sabanciuniv.edu