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Jour Fixe with Bilgin Ayata
11/20/2009
We are pleased to announce a Jour Fixe presentation by Bilgin Ayata:
“The Role of Diasporas as political actors in the context of Europeanization: The case of Kurds in Europe” (Discussant: Nicole Doerr)
Date: Monday, 23rd November 2009, 6 pm sharp (18.00 Uhr st)
Place: Ihnestr. 26 / r. 202 (seminarroom)
Abstract
The present paper explores the role of the Kurdish Diaspora in Europe as a political actor and transmitter of ideas in the context of Europeanization and related transformation processes in Turkey. So far, the bulk of scholarship regarding EU-Turkey relations has focused by and large on intergovernmental relations, while the larger literature on Enlargement and Europeanization has hardly paid any attention on the role of diasporas and immigrant communities as potential transformative actors. Myriad social, cultural, political and economic activities by Kurdish organizations have created deterritorialized networks, institutions and daily practices that converge to a virtual and actual formation of Euro-Kurdistan. The paper analyzses how these multi-layered activities are carried out in a transnational mobilization effort across Europe, which target both the newly formed Kurdish Diaspora as well as host governments and European institutions. The Kurdish transnational activities boomerang back to Turkey in form of social remittances and political leverage, thereby challenging Turkey with respect to human rights and its policies towards its minorities.
