Home state and transnational policies toward civil society: the case of Turkey

Abstract

Turkish transnational civil society movement has started to emerge following the Gastarbeiter movement in the 1960s, and has accelerated following the 1980 coup and the political asylum mobility in its aftermath. Over the past two decades, there have been significant changes in the axis of state-emigrant civil society relations, particularly as a result of the state's changing approach to its citizens living abroad and the newly formulated institutional structures. This study reveals that the transnational practices of the state and emigrant communities are processes that affect each other. The divisions along the lines of ideological, religious and political membership within the civil society deepens with the governments' objective of creating and strengthening the informal lobby in the recent years.