Changing Diaspora Politics of Turkey and Public Diplomacy, Spring 2013

Turkey’s policies towards Turkish citizens who emigrated to Europe as guest workers from the early 1960s onwards incurred a first phase of change in the early 1980s. Another change of policy has been marked in the past decade, with the Turkish government’s more active efforts to develop ties with Turkish communities abroad. Institutional infrastructure set up to this end aims to establish a Turkish diaspora with common reflexes, in tune with the interests of Turkey and influencing the politics of their host countries. However there have also been cases in which Ankara’s interference in affairs involving the Turkish community in third countries has caused controversy. The Turkish Prime Minister’s messages to the Turkish community in Germany and the mobilization of Turkish diaspora against genocide recognition bills in France are two such examples.