Mobilizing Diasporas: Insights from Turkey’s Attempts to Reach Turkish Citizens Abroad

Abstract

Expansion in state‒diaspora relations in recent decades has led to academic research questioning when, why and how sending states develop diaspora policies in order to re-connect with their citizens abroad. Turkey, which has one of the highest rates of emigration in the world, is a particularly important case study in terms of illustrating a turn in the way it perceives its citizens abroad as a diaspora. When the AKP (Justice and Development Party) came to power, it attempted to develop a number of diaspora policies to maintain, cultivate and deepen relations with its emigrants with an aim of creating a mobilized transnational community. This article explains the transformation in this newly emerging engagement policy by putting an emphasis on Turkey’s foreign policy aspirations and the diffusion of Turkey’s domestic policies abroad.