Transnational Mobilization of Future Generations by Non-Democratic Home States: Turkey’s Diaspora Youth between Empowerment and Co-optation

Böcü, Gözde; Baser, Bahar

doi:10.1080/17449057.2022.2101758

Transnational Mobilization of Future Generations by Non-Democratic Home States: Turkey’s Diaspora Youth between Empowerment and Co-optation

Böcü, Gözde; Baser, Bahar

Authors

Gözde Böcü

Dr Bahar Baser bahar.baser@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Abstract

While many aspects of state-diaspora relations have been explored, the role that youth play in state-led diaspora outreach remains under-researched in the literature. Democratic and nondemocratic states alike, however, actively target diaspora youth for a variety of reasons. In this article, we explore how and why a non-democratic state like Turkey engages with its perceived diaspora youth by focusing on the AKP regimes’ recent engagement within its European diasporas as a case study. We argue that the AKP regime has proactively bolstered transnational youth engagement policies over the last decade with the goal of creating a loyal diaspora that will serve the regime in the long run. We show that selected diaspora youth are not only empowered, but also co-opted and mobilized by the regime to ensure continued influence in the diaspora – ultimately to incorporate them into authoritarian consolidation efforts back home and to turn them into assets that lobby host country governments.

Citation

Böcü, G., & Baser, B. (2024). Transnational Mobilization of Future Generations by Non-Democratic Home States: Turkey’s Diaspora Youth between Empowerment and Co-optation. Ethnopolitics, 23(1), 34-58. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2022.2101758

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Jul 12, 2022
Online Publication Date	Aug 9, 2022
Publication Date	2024-01
Deposit Date	Jul 13, 2022
Publicly Available Date	Aug 12, 2022
Journal	Ethnopolitics
Print ISSN	1744-9057
Electronic ISSN	1744-9065
Publisher	Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	23
Issue	1
Pages	34-58
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2022.2101758
Public URL	https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1197811

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© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.