Turkish Diaspora in Europe: Diaspora Policy of Turkey Via Netherlands Example

Although it is far from being clear about content and pointing out which society or who is meant, the term diaspora is used in academic and political discussions more and more every day. The reason behind the fact that Turkish people cannot form a powerful lobby in Europe and worldwide is twofold:  Turkey has a newly diaspora policy which should have been formed much earlier considering the huge amount of Turkish people living abroad. Secondly, before empowering this foreign policy regarding Turkish diaspora, it is crucial to highlight that not every Turkish originated people living abroad is a part of diaspora; they should be tied to Turkey with heart. This study discusses the Turkish diaspora in Europe and gives suggestions to politically strengthen it within the framework of AK Party’s new diaspora policy.This study evaluates Turkish diaspora which has accelerated with AK Party period, by examining the case of the Netherlands, where the Turkish existence is highly visible plays important role in the European Union (EU) politics as being among the founding six member countries of the union. The field research of the study includes interviews which are conducted in Netherlands with politicians and Non-Governmental Institutions (NGO) representatives. This study, evaluating with the field research outputs concludes that Turkey has a substantial amount of citizen abroad which necessitates to develop a more effective diaspora policy. In the last part of the study, suggestions are made to achieve a developed Turkish diaspora.

Keywords

Migration, Diaspora, Turkey, Turkish Diaspora, Europe, Foreign Policy