Introduction - A State of Diasporas: The Transnationalisation of Turkey and its Communities Abroad

This special collection aims to investigate Turkey's state diaspora policies and the so-called new wave of migration from Turkey-new in as much as it partly consists of what were previously considered the privileged secular middle classes of western Turkey--in the context of autocratization particularly since the Gezi protests in June 2013 and the military coup attempt of 15 July 2016. We are particularly interested in the movement of these new migrants, the transformation of existing diasporas and the emergence of new ones, the circumstances and conditions under which they are mobilized and governed, and the ways in which they are conceptualized, imagined, and defined in the context of contemporary Turkey. The contributions to this collection concern the current expansion of Turkey's transnational space. What we call the trans- nationalization of Turkey is an ongoing process through which the Turkish state creates and mobilizes certain communities abroad as "Turks" and promotes Turkishness- defined through religious and linguistic connections with Tukey, as well as loyalty to the AKP regime--beyond its own borders using various means such as economic incentives or semiotic presence in places of religious observance. How do the home and host states define and interact with the diaspora they construct and shape through their interaction? What can we learn about Tukey's diaspora if observed through the state's diaspora agencies and their modus operandi? What does the Turkish state’s engagement with diaspora communities, and its long-lasting attempt to forge and govern “its” diaspora by expanding its governance beyond its borders, tell us about how societal and political conflicts in Turkey are reproduced outside the territory of the Republic of Turkey? To what extent can migrant communities exist and consolidate beyond the grip of the Turkish state? These are some of the questions this collection seeks to answer.