A Critical Approach to the Term Turkish Diaspora: Is there ‘the’ Turkish Diaspora?

Abstract

In this article, the content of the term of Turkish Diasporawhich is frequently being used in political, bureaucratical andacademic life is being discussed. Particularly, usage of the termTurkish in between citizenship and kinship meanings, and outof the scope of the constitutional and legal definition makes theterm Turkish Diaspora more problematic. It is unclear what ismeant by the term Turkish diaspora that is being broadly andindefinitely used, and who are the subjects of Turkish diaspora.Moreover, Turkey’s expectations and implications in her foreignpolicy regarding the societies which she defines them as diasporais getting more problematic and important day by day. Despitethe enormous scope of the problem, relatively little academicresearch has been conducted on this subject. This article, with thesocial constructionist perspective will discuss the phenomenonof Turkish Diaspora.