From village Turks to Euro Turks: Turkish State’s perceptions of Turkish migrants in Europe

Abstract

Among many other things, globalization has paved the way for the promotion and acceleration of migratory movements all around the world. Technological advancements provided migrants with new forms of communication and transportation abilities, and the established notion that the act of migration equals to being uprooted from one’s home country was challenged. Moreover, sending countries have gradually transformed their perceptions of migrants and adopted policies reflecting these new understandings. These reforms and changes are manifested in various policy areas including economic policy, political rights, citizenship, state services and symbolic policy. Migrants are not only regarded as potential contributors to sending country economies through investments, but also perceived as sources of political power that would support home country interests in their host societies. This study aspires to examine changes in Turkish state perceptions regarding Turkish migrants in Europe between1960 and 2008 through parliamentary minutes. It discovers that while Turkish migrants were regarded as villagers with no education in 1960s, developments in the socio-economic and political status of many migrants paved the way for the emergence of a new notion; Euro Turks, in late 1990s. Moreover, it finds out that migrants, whose exportation to European countries were supported for mainly economic gains in 1960s and 1970s, were started to be perceived as sources of investment and political power that would support Turkey’s interest in Europe in 1990s.