Diaspora Diplomacy - (Key Studies in Diplomacy) by Ayca Arkilic (Paperback)

About the Book

This book examines the reasons behind the Turkish state's unprecedented recent interest in its diaspora and Turkey's diplomatic relations with Europe.

Book Synopsis

This book examines the reasons behind the Turkish state's unprecedented recent interest in its diaspora, details new political activism in Europe among the Turkish diaspora and explores how Turkey's growing sway over its overseas population has affected intra-diaspora politics and Turkey's diplomatic relations with Europe.

From the Back Cover

Since the early 2000s, Turkey has shown an unprecedented interest in its diaspora. Diaspora diplomacy provides the first in-depth examination of the institutionalisation of Turkey's diaspora engagement policy since the Justice and Development Party's rise to power in 2002 and the Turkish diaspora's new role as an agent of diplomatic goals. It also explores how the country's growing sphere of influence over its overseas population affects intra-diaspora politics and Turkey's diplomatic relations with Europe.

The book is based on fourteen months of fieldwork in Turkey, France and Germany. Drawing on more than one hundred interviews conducted with representatives of a wide range of diaspora organisations originating from Turkey, as well as with Turkish, French, German and EU policymakers and journalists, it argues that Turkey has conceived of the conservative elements of its diaspora as a tool of political leverage, mobilised towards enhancing official diplomatic endeavours. At the same time, however, Turkey's selective engagement with its expatriates has complicated relations with disregarded diaspora groups and with Europe.

This study contributes to the growing literature on diasporas and diplomacy. Diasporas have come to be understood as influential actors that transform relations at the state-to-state level and blur the division between the domestic and the foreign. A case study of Turkey's diasporas thus represents a significant study at a time when emigrants from Turkey form the largest Muslim community in Europe and when issues of diplomacy, migration, citizenship and authoritarianism have become more salient than ever.

Review Quotes

'Diaspora diplomacy is an impressive study and an important contribution to the scholarship on diaspora engagement and diplomacy. It offers a compelling account of Turkey-diaspora relations under the AKP government, as well as more general insight into state-diaspora and diaspora-diaspora interactions. These empirical and theoretical accomplishments make the book an essential reading for anyone interested in diaspora diplomacy in general and Turkey's diaspora diplomacy in particular.'
Jonathan Grossman, Mediterranean Politics

'Arkilic provides a welcome contribution to diaspora and diplomacy studies and to International Relations (IR) more generally. The book gives ample empirical evidence to challenge the domestic-international binary that has shaped the IR discipline for decades. The author skilfully interweaves different levels of analysis, from the sub-national to the national, transnational and international, to provide a nuanced context for the rise of the Turkish diaspora as a diplomatic agent.'
Paula Sandrin, International Affairs 99: 2, 2023

'Ayca Arkilic takes the reader on a journey starting from the early days of Turkish migration to Europe in the 1960s and ending in the early 2020s. She demonstrates the growing efficacy of "diaspora diplomacy" under the Justice and Development Party (AKP) that has ruled Turkey since 2002. Using first-hand data collected from French and German cases, she reveals how the AKP has instrumentalised the Turkish diaspora in Europe to accomplish its foreign policy objectives, at the expense of fragmenting it in a way that favours Sunni-Islamic narratives and groups.'
Ayhan Kaya, Professor of Politics and Jean Monnet Chair of European Politics of Interculturalism, Istanbul Bilgi University

'Diaspora diplomacy is an indispensable book for anyone interested in the decades-long effort of Erdogan's government to institutionalise and mobilise parts of the Turkish diaspora in Europe in support of the country's foreign policy interests. Ayça Arkiliç innovates in various ways: focusing on internal variation within the Turkish diaspora; highlighting the adverse consequences of diaspora diplomacy on Turkey's relations with destination countries, but also for "non-conforming" diaspora segments; and, finally, by examining diasporan agency.'
Harris Mylonas, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University

About the Author

Ayca Arkilic is a Lecturer in Political Science and International Relations at Victoria University of Wellington