Linköping university - Department of Culture and Society (IKOS) Master´s Thesis, 30 Credits – MA in Ethnic and Migration Studies (EMS) ISRN: LiU-IKOS/EMS-A--20/16--SE
“I would never risk being stuck in that hell again” – Dual citizenship and Syrians/Assyrians in Sweden
Felicia Yildiz
Supervisor: Peo Hansen
ABSTRACT Since the fate of the Syrian/Assyrian minority that has fled Turkey has not received much attention in research, this thesis is made to recognize the group and their experiences as refugees, Christians, and citizens in their old and new countries of Turkey and Sweden. When talking about dual citizenship, in terms of previous research, researchers often argue about how migrants prefer to keep their former citizenship when moving to another country. According to scholars and policymakers, dual citizenship is a benefit since it, for instance, helps immigrants to naturalize into their country of settlement. However, this is not always the case. By interviewing nine Syrians/Assyrians from Turkey, who either hold dual citizenship (Swedish and Turkish citizenship) or only Swedish citizenship (former Turkish citizens), this thesis will focus on how the minority thinks, feels, reasons, and argues about dual citizenship. Because of a history filled with oppression, discrimination, violence, and death (the Syrian/Assyrian genocide in 1915) in Turkey, many Syrians/Assyrians did not want to keep the bond to their country of origin when migrating to Sweden. In the sense of security and safety, belonging, naturalization and integration, and loyalty, this study will focus on what dual citizenship means for the Syrian/Assyrian participants who came to Sweden in the 1970s and if they make use of the possibility to hold more than one citizenship. The main finding is that the minority feels safe and at home in Sweden and not in Turkey. Because of their lack of protection and rights as Christians in their country of origin, Sweden is, as they call it, their new home. Even if some of them hold dual citizenship, while others only have Swedish citizenship, the majority of the Syrian/Assyrian people do not feel any sense of attachment, feeling, or loyalty toward Turkey today. However, there are exceptions. By holding dual citizenship, those Syrians/Assyrians who misses the food, the climate, or the culture can visit their country of origin, whenever they want to, as citizens.
Key-Words: Syrians/Assyrians, Christians, Turkey, migration, immigration, Sweden, citizenship, dual citizenship, security, safety, belonging, naturalization, integration, loyalty
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First, I want to thank my family and my friends for believing in me and encourage me through the process of this thesis. Without their support and motivation, I would never have managed to complete this research and my time as a master student in Linköping’s University.
I also want to thank all of the nine participants who gave me their time and faith when sharing their extremely important and powerful stories. It has been a pleasure to listen to all of you.
And thank you, Peo Hansen, for great supervision, and your approval of this topic. Thank you for having faith in me through the process and for directing me in the right direction.
Table of contents
1. INTRODUCTION ...... 1 1.1 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM ...... 2 1.2 RESEARCH AIM AND QUESTIONS ...... 4
2. BACKGROUND...... 5 2.1 DUAL CITIZENSHIP IN SWEDEN ...... 5 2.2 DUAL CITIZENSHIP IN TURKEY ...... 6 2.3 SYRIANS/ASSYRIANS AND DUAL CITIZENSHIP: FROM TURKEY TO SWEDEN ...... 7 2.3.1 SYRIANS/ASSYRIANS IN SWEDEN TODAY: THE NAME CONFLICT ...... 9
3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ...... 11 3.1 CITIZENSHIP ...... 11 3.1.1 SENSE OF SECURITY AND SAFETY: SAFE COUNTRIES ...... 12 3.1.2 SENSE OF BELONGING ...... 13 3.2 DUAL CITIZENSHIP ...... 14 3.2.1 NATURALIZATION AND INTEGRATION ...... 15 3.2.2 LOYALTY: AS A (DUAL) CITIZEN ...... 16
4. PREVIOUS RESEARCH...... 18 4.1 CONCLUSION OF THE PREVIOUS RESEARCH ...... 24
5. METHOD AND METHODOLOGY ...... 26 5.1 RESEARCH METHOD ...... 26 5.2 DATA COLLECTION ...... 27 5.2.1 SAMPLING TECHNIQUES ...... 27 5.2.2 THE PARTICIPANTS ...... 28 5.2.3 SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS AND GOOD INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ...... 30 5.2.4 TRANSCRIBING THE DATA ...... 32 5.3 ANALYZING METHOD...... 32 5.4 ROLE OF THE RESEARCHER ...... 33 5.5 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS ...... 35
6. ANALYSIS ...... 37 6.1 SECURITY AND SAFETY: SWEDISH AND/OR TURKISH CITIZENSHIP ...... 37 6.2 HOME IS WHERE THE HEART BELONGS… DUAL CITIZENSHIP AND BELONGING ...... 43
6.3 DUAL CITIZENSHIP, A HELP IN THE PROCESS OF NATURALIZATION AND INTEGRATION? ...... 48 6.4 NO LOYALTY, NO GENUINE CITIZEN ...... 53
7. CONCLUSION ...... 60 7.1 CONCLUSION: THE FOUR THEMES ...... 60 7.1.1 DUAL CITIZENSHIP IN THE SENSE OF SECURITY AND SAFETY ...... 60 7.1.2 DUAL CITIZENSHIP IN THE SENSE OF BELONGING ...... 62 7.1.3 DUAL CITIZENSHIP IN THE SENSE OF NATURALIZATION AND INTEGRATION...... 63 7.1.4 DUAL CITIZENSHIP IN THE SENSE OF LOYALTY ...... 64
8. REFERENCES ...... 66 8.1 LITERATURE...... 66 8.2 ARTICLE ...... 68 8.3 PAPER ...... 69 8.4 REPORT ...... 70 8.5 INTERNET ...... 70
1. INTRODUCTION
“Your family [Syrian/Assyrian family] is such good people; it is such a shame that you are Christians”. These are the words our neighbors told my family in Turkey, and well, that “shame” was a daily reminder for me, my family and for my people in Turkey. (Maria)
Human beings have, as Dinesh Bhugra and Pradeep Arya write, migrated from places to places since years back. Because of various reasons related to, for example, personal betterment or escape persecution, people leave their homes to find better lives somewhere else.1 One group who has been migrating from Turkey to places like Sweden to escape persecution is, as David Gaunt clarifies, the Syrian/Assyrian people.2 Historically the minority comes from south-east Turkey, and a large part of its people lived in Mardin. Today, around 95 percent of the Syrian/Assyrian population have left their lives and homes in Mardin to search for protection in other countries.3 For centuries, Syrians/Assyrians have been badly treated in Turkey, because of their Christian religion. Because of their Christian belief and different language (mother language: Syriac-Syrianska), they have been oppressed, killed, and forced to leave their country of origin to survive and, in many cases, start over.4
Migration itself is about social change.5 It is an individual’s movement “from one cultural setting to another for the purposes of settling down either permanently or for prolonged” periods of time.6 When moving to settle down in another country, the person (migrant) can still feel a bond and attachment to his/her country of origin. Grete Brochmann and Idunn Seland clarify that migrants can feel a bond because of family and friends back home.7 Dual citizenship makes it possible for the person to keep the bond to the first country, as he/she creates new relations and attachments to the new county.8 For many migrants, dual citizenship is a benefit. Therefore, the numbers of dual citizens have, as Thomas Faist and Jürgen Gerdes describe, increased in the past decades.9
Since research about dual citizenship demonstrates that migrants prefer maintaining their first citizenship, side by side with their second one,10 I want to know if this applies to all migrants. Aryo
1 Bhugra, Dinesh and Arya, Pradeep. Ethnic density, cultural congruity and mental illness in migrants. (2005), p 133 2 Gaunt, David. Folkmordet på Assyrierna: Seyfo: När – Var – Hur. (Stockholm, 2011), p 51 3 World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples. Turkey: Assyrians. (2018) 4 Gaunt, David. Folkmordet på Assyrierna: Seyfo: När – Var – Hur. (Stockholm, 2011), p 51 5 Bhugra, Dinesh and Arya, Pradeep. Ethnic density, cultural congruity and mental illness in migrants. (2005), p 133 6 Ibid, p 133 7 Brochmann, Grete and Seland, Idunn. Citizenship policies and ideas of nationhood in Scandinavia. (2010), p 436 8 Simonsen, Kristina Bakkær. Does citizenship always further Immigrants’ feeling of belonging to the host nation? A study of policies and public attitudes in 14 Western democracies. (2017), p 4 9 Faist, Thomas and Gerdes, Jürgen. Dual Citizenship in the Age of Mobility. (2008), p 7 10 Faist, Thomas. Dual Citizenship as Overlapping Membership. (Malmö, 2001), p 13 1
Makko, for example, explains in Migration from Turkey to Sweden that Syrians/Assyrians make up a large part of the diaspora from Turkey to Sweden.11 Despite this, “they are usually overlooked in Turkish studies in general, and in studies of the Turkish diaspora in particular”.12 With the opportunity to talk for themselves and share their stories, this research will allow Syrians/Assyrians to be recognized and heard. Because of the curiosity to understand the relationship that the group has to Turkey today, I want to know what they think of dual citizenship, and if they make use of the possibility of holding more than one citizenship.
1.1 Statement of problem
The history of migration from Turkey to Sweden began in the middle of the 1960s. At this time, Bahar Başer and Paul Levin explain that immigrants migrated to Sweden from Turkey “to satisfy the needs of the expanding Swedish industrial economy”.13 However, in the 1970s, the profile of migrants who came from Turkey to Sweden shifted. After the 1971 military intervention, the arrival of people from Turkey to Sweden was most likely asylum-seekers (persons who fled Turkey because of factors that harmed them/their families), more specifically Syrians/Assyrians and Kurds. In a table, Başer and Levin indicate the reasons, in percent, for that fathers’ of second-generation Turks in Sweden, have migrated from Turkey to Sweden. The table shows us the different reasons for, for example, ethnic Turks and Syrians/Assyrians. What stands out in this table is that ethnic Turks have been migrating to Sweden because of family reunification (45, 1%) or work (40, 7%). Syrians/Assyrians, on the other hand, have been migrating as refugees/asylum seekers (56, 6%), while 0 % of ethnic Turks have the reason for migrating to Sweden as refugees/asylum seekers.14 But what is then the reason for that Syrians/Assyrians, in time, have been migrating from Turkey to Sweden as refugees/asylum seekers?
To understand the problem, I have to go back in time. To begin with, Turkey is a country where numerous of minorities live. These minorities have their own, so-called, unique situation within the country. Some of the groups, the Greeks, Armenians and Jews are all included in the Lausanne Treaty (Turkey’s policy on minority rights of 1923).15 According to what Nigar Karimova and Edward Deverell write in Minorities in Turkey, “Turkey argues that national minorities are those that are recognized by international treaties”.16 To be recognized as a minority, the Lausanne Treaty gives
11 Makko, Aryo. ”In search of a new home: The Assyrian diaspora in Sweden” in Migration from Turkey to Sweden: Integration, Belonging and Transnational Community. (ed.) Başer, Bahar and Levin, Paul. (London, 2017), p 263 12 Ibid, p 263 13 Başer, Bahar and Levin, Paul (ed.). Migration from Turkey to Sweden: Integration, Belonging and Transnational Community. (London, 2017), p 3 14 Ibid, p 3-4 15 Karimova, Nigar and Deverell, Edward. Minorities in Turkey. (Stockholm, 2001), p 7 16 Ibid, p 7 2
non-Muslims in Turkey rights such as the freedom of living, religious beliefs, and migration. They are also given the rights of legal and political equality, and the groups recognized as a minority can use the mother tongue in the courts, hold religious ceremonies and open schools in Turkey.17
Compared to the Greeks, Armenians, and Jews, Syrians/Assyrians are not included in the Lausanne Treaty. As a minority, they continue to be “invisible” by the Turkish state, and therefore cannot benefit from the rights stacked above.18 Historically the Syrian/Assyrian people come from formal Mesopotamia, which today is divided into five countries - Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey. Under different powers, the minority has lived in southern parts of Turkey - Diyarbakir, Mardin, and Midyat (also named Tur Abdin by the group, which means “mountain of the servants of God”).19 For a long time, the group has been discriminated against because of their different religion (their strong Christian beliefs) and cultural identity (mainly the Syriac language).20 Before the Christian genocide, Seyfo, in 1915, the group lived in daily fear, insecurity, and financial worries in their home country, Turkey. Gaunt clarifies that their everyday lives were marked by violence, the risk of their daughters being kidnapped, or the risk of losing their homes.21 But it was under 1915 that the group were victims of genocide.22
In 1915 Syrians/Assyrians were slaughtered and murdered because of their Christianity in the Muslim country, Turkey. The genocide was named, as earlier said, Seyfo, which means “the year of the sword”.23 Gaunt explains that the murdering of the group was at its worst in 1915. However, the persecution of the Syrians/Assyrians was ongoing since 1914.24 Between the years 1914, and 1918 Afram Barryakoub writes that hundreds of thousands of people were killed. They were exterminated in four different ways. Many were murdered, some were forced to convert to Islam, others died in starvation and diseases, and the children and young girls were sometimes abducted.25 There are no exact numbers of how many Syrians/Assyrians were killed during Seyfo. But in 1919, the Assyrian- Chaldean delegation stated to the peace congress (fredskongressen) in Paris that 250 000
17 Ibid, p 7 18 Ibid, p 12 19 de Courtois, Sebastien. Det glömda folkmordet: Österns kristna, de sista arméerna. (Stockholm, 2015), p 118 20 Deniz, Fuat. En minoritets odyssé: upprätthållande och transformation av etnisk identitet i förhållande till moderniseringsprocesser: det assyriska exemplet. (Uppsala, 1999), p 7 21 Gaunt, David. Folkmordet på Assyrierna: Seyfo: När – Var – Hur. (Stockholm, 2011), p 17 22 Deniz, Fuat. En minoritets odyssé: upprätthållande och transformation av etnisk identitet i förhållande till moderniseringsprocesser: det assyriska exemplet. (Uppsala, 1999), p 165 23 Barryakoub, Afram. Broking Historia: En bok om Assyrierna från forntid till nu. (2008), p 47 24 Deniz, Fuat. En minoritets odyssé: upprätthållande och transformation av etnisk identitet i förhållande till moderniseringsprocesser: det assyriska exemplet. (Uppsala, 1999), p 23 25 Barryakoub, Afram. Broking Historia: En bok om Assyrierna från forntid till nu. (2008), p 47 3
Syrians/Assyrians had been killed, in total, in both Iran and Turkey.26 Further, according to the author Jacques Rhétoré who lived in Mardin until 1916, he means that 3850 Syrian Catholics and 51 725 Syrian Orthodox lived in Mardin in 1914. These while the numbers of Syrians/Assyrians, in Mardin, in 1916 had dropped to 3150 Syrian Catholics and 22 000 Syrian Orthodox.27
After the genocide, the situation for Syrians/Assyrians was still shaky. The ones who survived did not have an easy time in Turkey. Not everyone could return to their home villages. Instead, as Svante Lundgren writes, they had to flee to, for example, Mosul (northern Iraq), where the Christian group could live in peace.28 But what is an ongoing problem for the Syrian/Assyrian people is that the Turkish state, despite witnesses, has not admitted the genocide. Even though reports have been made by European and American missionaries who were in Turkey when the killing took place, Barryakoub explains that until today the Turkish state denies the genocide of the Christian people. The Swedish missionary, Lars Erik Högberg, was also a witness. In his book “Bland Persiens muhammedaner” from 1920, he writes about the massacre that Syrians/Assyrians had to go through during World War I. A massacre that still, because of the denial, lives on with the group.29
1.2 Research aim and questions
By interviewing Syrians/Assyrians who hold dual citizenship (Swedish and Turkish citizenship) and former Turkish citizens (now only Swedish citizens), this thesis will focus on how the minority thinks and argues about dual citizenship. Since the participants have talked about dual citizenship in the sense of security and safety, belonging, naturalization and integration, and loyalty, the thesis aims to understand the minorities thinking of dual citizenship connected to the stated concepts. With this research, I want to understand why some Syrians/Assyrians hold dual citizenship while others do not.
The questions that the analysis/main body will base on is:
How do Syrians/Assyrians from Turkey (now living in Sweden) talk and argue about dual citizenship in the sense of…? - Security and safety - Belonging - Naturalization and integration - Loyalty
26 Gaunt, David. Folkmordet på Assyrierna: Seyfo: När – Var – Hur. (Stockholm, 2011), p 37 27 Ibid, p 31 28 Lundgren, Svante. Hundra år av tveksamhet: Osmanska folkmordet på kristna och Sveriges reaktion. (Åbo, 2014), p 92 29 Barryakoub, Afram. Broking Historia: En bok om Assyrierna från forntid till nu. (2008), p 49 4
2. BACKGROUND
The attitudes towards dual citizenship has come to change in time in both Sweden and Turkey. One time it was not even accepted to hold dual citizenship in the two countries. In that time, a person could only belong to one country, and the person was meant to be loyal to that one country. However, as time passed by, Sweden and Turkey have started to accept dual citizenship. But why?
Since dual citizenship is one main topic in this research, I will, in this second chapter, explain how the attitude towards dual citizenship, in both Sweden and Turkey, has come to change. After explaining the situation in the two countries, I will give a short background of the minority’s migration from Turkey to Sweden, where they today have established.
2.1 Dual citizenship in Sweden
To begin with, in time, the attitude regarding the importance of citizenship has come to change in Sweden. According to what Hedvig Bernitz writes, “during recent years a weakening of the concept of citizenship has occurred”.30 Earlier in Sweden, citizenship was not codified, and ordinary residence was the only thing that a person needed to be considered as loyal to the country. A person who immigrated permanently became then a citizen, and those who emigrated from the country lost their citizenship. However, in the nineteenth and twentieth-century citizenship became more strictly regulated, and with that, the country became stricter to carefully specify who belonged to Sweden and the Swedish population, and who did not.31
This so-called policy made it “more difficult to acquire citizenship for those who were not descended from Swedes and acquisition of citizenship through naturalization or recovery was periodically restricted”.32 In Bernitz’s explanation, the need for this policy was because Sweden, in this period, was an emigration country. However, compared to then, Sweden is today seen as an immigration country, and with that, the country has a more liberal attitude towards citizenship.33 Therefore, in 2001, a new Citizenship Act came into force.34 This act, the Citizenship Act of 2001, are still in force in Sweden and the intention of it was, what Bernitz clarifies:
To effectively fulfil the principle of legal certainty and legal protection of the individual. The extension of the possibilities to submit notifications, the rather generous provisions on
30 Bernitz, Hedvig. EUDO Citizenship observatory: Country report: Sweden. (2012), p 19 31 Ibid, p 19 32 Ibid, p 19 33 Ibid, p 19 34 Ibid, p 8 5
naturalization, the acceptance of dual citizenship, and the prohibition against denaturalization all indicate that Sweden has a generous attitude towards the individual. Acquisition of citizenship is viewed as a part of the integration process, and an aim of the new Act was to strengthen the status of citizenship as a part of integration.35
As Bernitz writes in the quote above, Mikael Spång further explains that dual citizenship has been accepted as a legally recognized option in Sweden since the new Act of 2001 came into force.36 Before, in, for example, the law of 1894, dual citizenship was not accepted.37 In that time, “a Swede who acquired a foreign citizenship lost his Swedish citizenship, no matter where he was resident”.38 Like many other countries, Sweden had a negative attitude towards dual citizenship, which, according to Bernitz, is being reflected in its previous national legislation.39 However, as Spång clarifies, an extensive de facto (exist in reality, but is not officially recognized by law) toleration developed in the country during the 1970s. The tolerance towards dual citizenship in the 70s was made upon the importance of gender equity in the Swedish citizenship legislation and equality in the new integration policy, which resulted in about 300 000 individuals holding dual citizenship in the late 1990s.40 But today, with Sweden’s full acceptance towards dual citizenship, a person (migrant), according to Migrationsverket, have the chance to keep his/her native citizenship (if the other country permits it) when becoming a Swedish citizen.41
2.2 Dual citizenship in Turkey
At the beginning of her report, Zeynep Kadirbyoğlu explains that “international migration and globalization are factors which affect citizenship practices throughout the world”.42 International migration and globalization are further two reasons for that the regime in Turkey, in time, has changed its law regarding citizenship. For example, Kadirbyoğlu argues that the most important changes in Turkish law are the acceptance of dual citizenship. This change was made because of the needs of emigrants who wanted to maintain their bond with Turkey. However, dual citizenship has not always been accepted in Turkey.
35 Ibid, p 19 36 Spång, Mikael. ”Pragmatism All the Way Down? The Politics of Dual Citizenship in Sweden” in Dual Citizenship in Europe: From Nationhood to Societal Integration. (ed.) Faist, Thomas. (Aldershot, 2007), p 103 37 Bernitz, Hedvig. EUDO Citizenship observatory: Country report: Sweden. (2012), p 3 38 Ibid, p 1 39 Ibid, p 1 40 Spång, Mikael. ”Pragmatism All the Way Down? The Politics of Dual Citizenship in Sweden” in Dual Citizenship in Europe: From Nationhood to Societal Integration. (ed.) Faist, Thomas. (Aldershot, 2007), p 103-104 41 Migrationsverket. What does Swedish citizenship mean?. (2020) 42 Kadirbyoğlu, Zeynep. EUDO Citizenship observatory: Country report: Turkey. (2010), p 1 6
If we go back in time, the first citizenship law of Turkey was said to be accepted in 1928. It was based on jus sanguinis (right of blood),43 which means that a person’s citizenship is defined by his or her parent or parents nationality or ethnicity (transmission of citizenship by descent).44 However, it “was complemented by a territorial understanding”.45 Compared to the first citizenship law, the second, in 1964, kept the jus sanguinis, but it also allowed jus soli (right of earth). When allowing jus soli, the country itself, for example, wants to prevent statelessness among the people. As in Turkey’s case, by allowing jus soli, this made it possible for everyone born in the territory of the state to have the right to nationality or citizenship.46 In other words, to understand the principles of the law from 1964, Kadirbyoğlu clarifies that it was built upon the idea “that every person should have a citizenship and should only have one citizenship, and that each person should be free to change his or her citizenship”.47
When talking about the 1960s, it is also important to state that this decade “marks the beginning of the migration of guest-workers to Western Europe from Turkey”.48 Because of the working and the living in Western Europe, Turkish workers were said to not be temporary guests in countries like, for example, Germany. Turkey itself has invested economically by letting its citizens work in other countries. But when letting their citizens work and live in other countries, it is not unusual that problems can come to arise. To avoid problems related to, for example, military service and lack of political rights (in the immigration country), Turkey changed its citizenship law. The first real change, connected to these problems, took place in 1981,49 since the Turkish Nationality Act, as Bilgin Tiryakioglu explains in Multiple Citizenship and its Consequences in Turkish Law, introduced dual citizenship into Turkish law. 50
2.3 Syrians/Assyrians and dual citizenship: From Turkey to Sweden
When reading articles and previous research about Syrians/Assyrians from Turkey, it is clear that no researcher before has focused on dual citizenship among the Christian group. What can be said is that Syrians/Assyrians, as Makko explains, migrated to Sweden between 1972 and 1976 since they “had been granted asylum by the Swedish government upon a request from the World Council of Churches
43 Ibid, p 1 44 Tiryakioglu, Bilgin. Multiple Citizenship and its Consequences in Turkish Law. (2006), p 8 45 Kadirbyoğlu, Zeynep. EUDO Citizenship observatory: Country report: Turkey. (2010), p 1 46 Ibid, p1 47 Ibid, p 3 48 Ibid, p 4 49 Ibid, p 4 50 Tiryakioglu, Bilgin. Multiple Citizenship and its Consequences in Turkish Law. (2006), p 6 7
and UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees)”.51 The 1960s and 1970s were rough and violent periods for Syrians/Assyrians in Turkey because of the military coup. So when Sweden in November 1976 granted those Syrian/Assyrian refugees who made it to Sweden permanent residence permit, the group started to grow in Swedish society. By the end of the decade (the 1970s), it was about 9000 Syrians/Assyrians living in Sweden.52 9000 Syrians/Assyrians who had chosen “Sweden as their destination in search of security and socio-economic conditions”.53
After several migration waves and the search for security, the numbers of Syrians/Assyrians in Sweden are now, as Makko points out, between 100 000 and 120 000.54 The growth continues, but nowhere can we read about Syrians/Assyrians’ positive or negative attitude toward dual citizenship. As written before, Turkey changed its citizenship law in 1981 and introduced dual citizenship into Turkish law. For the country, as Tiryakioglu clarifies, this change was necessary based on the sizable number of Turkish immigrants working outside of Turkey, especially in Western Europe.55 However, compared to other Turkish citizens (mostly ethnic Turks), the migration from Turkey to Sweden, for Syrians/Assyrians, was not based on working conditions, rather because of oppression. The minority came to Sweden, which Başer and Levin explain, as asylum-seekers, in search of a new home.56
When talking about Syrians/Assyrians in Sweden today, Andreas Arsalan (acting chairman of ARS, Assyriska riksförbundet i Sverige) says, what Makko writes, that:
It is a fact that our people are still alive, although we’ve been without power and state for 2,500 years, despite all mass murders, ethnic cleansings and forced conversions, among others. We have been able to establish ourselves better than any other immigrant group in this country socially, economically and in terms of education.57
As Arsalan tells in the quote above, Syrians/Assyrians are one of those immigrant groups in Sweden who have established themselves best.58 In Family, Religion and Law, Annika Rabo argues about how Rakel Chukri, in her article ‘Best in Class’ (2005), states that the Christian group has gone from
51 Makko, Aryo. ”In search of a new home: The Assyrian diaspora in Sweden” in Migration from Turkey to Sweden: Integration, Belonging and Transnational Community. (ed.) Başer, Bahar and Levin, Paul. (London, 2017), p 265-266 52 Ibid, p 266 53 Ibid, p 266 54 Ibid, p 266 55 Tiryakioglu, Bilgin. Multiple Citizenship and its Consequences in Turkish Law. (2006), p 6 56 Başer, Bahar and Levin, Paul (ed.). Migration from Turkey to Sweden: Integration, Belonging and Transnational Community. (London, 2017), p 3-4 57 Makko, Aryo. ”In search of a new home: The Assyrian diaspora in Sweden” in Migration from Turkey to Sweden: Integration, Belonging and Transnational Community. (ed.) Başer, Bahar and Levin, Paul. (London, 2017), p 280 58 Ibid, p 280 8
being refugees to become mainstream and adapted to Swedish society.59 Today they are well known as successful entrepreneurs, mostly in restaurants and service sectors.60 Since 2010, Makko further clarifies that “there has been a record high of six members of parliament of Assyrian background from four different political parties”.61 One of the most well-known is Ibrahim Baylan, who is a politician for the Social Democrats (Socialdemokraterna). With roots from Mardin (Turkey), Baylan has been Minister of School (2004-2006), the acting Minister for Energy (2014-2019), and today, since 2019, he is Sweden’s Minister for Enterprise. With exceptional in business and political life, Syrians/Assyrians are also known in the Swedish football world. Two of their football clubs (Syrianska FC and Assyriska FF) have played in, for example, Allsvenskan (Swedish professional football league).62
2.3.1 Syrians/Assyrians in Sweden today: The name conflict
Today in Sweden, Syrians/Assyrians are not only known as successful entrepreneurs.63 The group itself is also known for its name conflict. Before I continue with this study, I want to point out that I have chosen to write Syrians/Assyrians in this manner, throughout the whole thesis, to make no differences between the two names. In his book, Barryakoub talks about the recurrent question about the Christian minority, which is: Are there any differences between Syrians and Assyrians? The answer is, according to him, both yes and no. As Barryakoub writes, Syrians and Assyrians have the same origin, and they belong to the same ethnic group. But in the same family, one member may see himself/herself as a Syrian, while another member can see himself/herself as an Assyrian.
The reason for the division of Syrians and Assyrians goes back to the beginning of the Assyrian enlightenment. At the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s, some Chaldeans, Nestorians, and Jacobites started to identify themselves as an Assyrian nation. But this development did not reach out to all of its people. Syrians, for example, are one of the groups who today do not share the Assyrian identity. The Jacobites (today called Syrians) from Tur Abdin (south-east Turkey) did not have the same opportunity as the Jacobites from Gozarto (north-east Syria) to take part in the ideas that came with the Assyrian enlightenment. Because of this, the Jacobites from Gozarto was named pro- Assyrians, while the Jacobites (Syrians) from Tur Abdin maintained a religious worldview that did
59 Rabo, Annika. “Without Our Church We Will Disappear: Syrian Orthodox Christians in Diaspora and the Family Law of the Church” in Family, Religion and Law: Cultural Encounters in Europe. (ed.) Rabo, Marie-Claire & Rohe, Mathias & Shah, Prakish. (Farnham, 2014), p 192 60 Makko, Aryo. ”In search of a new home: The Assyrian diaspora in Sweden” in Migration from Turkey to Sweden: Integration, Belonging and Transnational Community. (ed.) Başer, Bahar and Levin, Paul. (London, 2017), p 262 61 Ibid, p 262 62 Ibid, p 262 63 Ibid, p 262 9
not coincide with the Assyrian identity. For Syrians, the religion and the Syriac Orthodox Church was and still is the main identity marker.64 While Assyrians do not only see themselves as members of the church.65
When the anti-Assyrians (Syrians), as Barryakoub, call them, and the pro-Assyrians came to Sweden, their different perceptions came to create two groupings: Syrians and Assyrians. However, what is important to add is that after the move to Sweden, some people (just like some of the participants in this study) from Turkey who one time called themselves Syrians started to identify themselves with the Assyrian identity. This division has, therefore, as Syrians/Assyrians themselves, and outsiders describe it, created a dispute over what name to use (the so-called name conflict).66
64 Barryakoub, Afram. Broking Historia: En bok om Assyrierna från forntid till nu. (2008), p 67-68 65 Ibid, p 43 66 Ibid, p 67 10
3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
In this chapter, the theoretical framework will be presented. The main concepts of this research are citizenship and dual citizenship. To be able to discuss what dual citizenship means for the Syrian/Assyrian population (the participants) from Turkey, in the sense of security/safety, belonging, naturalization/integration, and loyalty. This part will introduce all of the concepts one by one, for later use when analyzing the participant’s interviews in chapter 6.
3.1 Citizenship
Since the French Revolution, Hansen and Weil write that “the fundamental basis of individual belonging is citizenship of a nation-state”.67 Citizenship itself is, as Isin and Turner describe, constructed historically through a citizen’s rights and duties that are related to, for example, work, public service (such as military service), and parenthood.68 Further, in their article, they explain that citizenship as a concept defines a person’s belonging to a specific “society through the entitlements associated with service, and is perhaps most clearly evident in a national system of taxation”.69 In other words, Isin and Turner define citizenship as both a legal and social status.70 A legal status since it confirms a person’s identity and “a social status that determines how economic and cultural capital are redistributed and recognized within society”.71
Faist describes citizenship as “a normative-empirical concept in two different ways”.72 More specifically, as a legal construction and as a political idea. Faist explains that both of the ways are related, but they constitute district dimensions.73 To understand the differences between the legal and the political concept, he writes that:
Citizenship as a legal concept means full membership in a state, the corresponding tie to state law and the subjection of citizens to state power. […] as a contested political concept, the problems becomes one of the relationships between citizens, the state and democracy.74
He further explains that:
67 Hansen, Randall and Weil, Patrick (ed.). Dual nationality, social rights and federal citizenship in the U.S. and Europe: the reinvention of citizenship. (New York, 2002), p 2 68 Isin, Engin and Turner, Bryan. Investigating Citizenship: An Agenda for Citizenship Studies. (2007), p 5 69 Ibid, p 5 70 Ibid, p 14 71 Ibid, p 14 72 Faist, Thomas. “Introduction: The Shifting Boundaries of the Political” in Dual citizenship in global perspective: From unitary to multiple citizenship. (ed.) Faist, Thomas and Kivisto, Peter. (Basingstoke, 2007), p 5 73 Ibid, p 5 74 Ibid, p 5 11
In essence, citizenship builds on collective self-determination that is democracy, and essentially comprises three mutually qualifying dimensions: first, the legally guaranteed status of equality of political freedom and democratic self-determination; second, equal rights and obligations; and third, membership in a political community.75
When a person, as Faist clarifies in the quote above, is a member of a political community, he or she has the right to have rights76 and, as Nina Glick Schiller writes, the right to vote within the society.77 Since citizenship also, as Faist clarifies, is a tie between the governed and the governing,78 it is important to note that the government of a state has the power of its citizens. The power that the government possesses over its citizens makes it decide who will and will not become a citizen,79 and by that get access to human rights and full membership of a society.80
3.1.1 Sense of security and safety: Safe countries
Security and safety is something a citizen should get from holding citizenship. However, some citizens are born into a poor or unwelcoming country where he or she has no accesses to either security or safety. In his article, Steffen Mau explains that security and safety are one central role in a migrant’s decision when moving from a place to another.81 Since citizenship as a concept means that a person automatically has the right to personal security, migration is, as Miller writes, aiming at people on the move to search for another place to live.82 As Bhugra and Arya explain, migration is sometimes the only possibility to escape persecution, terrorism, or human rights violations. By leaving the country of origin, the person can hopefully find peace and get extended protection in another state.83 Here a safe country is what we can read in “Safe countries of origin”:
[…] where, on the basis of the legal situation, the application of the law within a democratic system and the general political circumstances, it can be shown that there is generally and consistently no persecution […], no torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or
75 Ibid, p 5 76 Isin, Engin and Turner, Bryan. Investigating Citizenship: An Agenda for Citizenship Studies. (2007), p 13 77 Schiller, Nina Glick. “Transborder Citizenship: an Outcome of Legal Pluralism within Transnational Social Fields” in Mobile people, mobile law: expanding legal relations in a contracting world. (ed.) Benda-Beckmann, Franz von & Benda-Beckmann, Keebet von & Griffiths, Anne. (2005), p 53 78 Faist, Thomas. Dual Citizenship as Overlapping Membership. (Malmö, 2001), p 4 79 Schiller, Nina Glick. “Transborder Citizenship: an Outcome of Legal Pluralism within Transnational Social Fields” in Mobile people, mobile law: expanding legal relations in a contracting world. (ed.) Benda-Beckmann, Franz von & Benda-Beckmann, Keebet von & Griffiths, Anne. (2005), p 53-54 80 Martin, David. “New Rules for Dual Nationality” in Dual nationality, social rights and federal citizenship in the U.S. and Europe: the reinvention of citizenship. (ed.) Hansen, Randall and Weil, Patrick. (New York, 2002), p 45 81 Mau, Steffen. Mobility Citizenship, Inequality, and the Liberal State: The Case of Visa Policies. (2010), p 343 82 Miller, David. Citizenship and National Identity. (Cambridge, 2000), p 82 83 Bhugra, Dinesh and Arya, Pradeep. Ethnic density, cultural congruity and mental illness in migrants. (2005), p 133 12
punishment and no threat by reason of indiscriminate violence in situations of international or internal armed conflict.84
As stated in the quote above, a safe country is where people can live in peace without being harmed by the state.85 However, as written in “Safe” countries: A denial of the right of asylum, nobody can guarantee that a country is safe for its all citizens.86 But the notion of safety is that “the country ensures, in law and in practice, protection against persecution and mistreatment”.87 When people feel fear or not welcomed in their country of origin, they will start to search for this protection and safety in another state.
3.1.2 Sense of belonging
In her article, Yuval-Davis explains that “people can ‘belong’ in many different ways and to many different objects of attachments”.88 Belonging as a concept is about a person’s emotional attachment to a place. The feeling of being home is what Michael Ignatieff points out, about the feeling of being safe.89 In this sense, as Santokh Anant clarifies in The need to belong, belonging is aiming at “personal involvement in a social system so that persons feel themselves to be an indispensable and integral part of the system”.90 For a person, the feeling of belonging is to feel connected to the environment, such as people and places. Moreover, the feeling of being belonged includes the feeling of being recognized and accepted as, for example, a citizen.91
Connected to citizenship, and citizen’s membership to a state, citizenship is, what Brochmann and Seland explain, considered as a tool for belongingness and loyalty (loyal to the member state).92 The rights that come with being a citizen becomes here, as Simonsen clarifies, “a road to greater belonging”.93 With the feeling of belonging to a society, Anant argues that citizens feel that they can participate in it.94 However, in some cases, belonging and membership (citizenship) do not work together. In her article, Vera-Larrucea explains that a person (a citizen) can be a member of a state,
84 AIDA Legal Briefing No. 3. “Safe countries of origin”: A safe concept?. (2015), p 3 85 Ibid, p 3 86 AEDH / EuroMed Rights / FIDH. “Safe” countries: A denial of the right of asylum. (2016), p 3 87 Ibid, p 4 88 Yuval-Davis, Nira. Belonging and the politics of belonging. (2006), p 199 89 Ibid, p 197 90 Anant, Santokh. The need to belong. (1966), p 21 91 Ibid, p 21 92 Brochmann, Grete and Seland, Idunn. Citizenship policies and ideas of nationhood in Scandinavia. (2010), p 432 93 Simonsen, Kristina Bakkær. Does citizenship always further Immigrants’ feeling of belonging to the host nation? A study of policies and public attitudes in 14 Western democracies. (2017), p 3 94 Anant, Santokh. The need to belong. (1966), p 21 13
but not have the feeling of belonging to it. A person who holds dual citizenship can, for example, feel like belonging to one of the member states, and not both of them.95
3.2 Dual citizenship
In the formal sense of citizenship, Faist writes that dual citizenship is aiming at citizens who combine membership in several, most likely, two states. When talking about dual citizenship, Faist further explains that we are here dealing with a sort of multi-nationalized citizenship, instead of denationalized citizenship (deprive of citizenship of a country).96 Since dual citizenship, or so to say, multi-nationalized citizenship, in recent years, has started to be tolerated and accepted by numerous countries.97 It is usual that people, today, hold more than one passport and vote in more than one country. With the possibility of holding dual citizenship, Marc Morjt Howard writes in Variation in Dual Citizenship Policies, that people (dual citizen) can come to develop “loyalties and attachments to each “home” country than was ever the case before”.98
For individuals who hold dual citizenship, Peter Schuck clarifies that:
[…] the status is advantageous because it provides them with additional options - an alternative country in which to live, work and invest, an additional locus and source of rights, obligations and communal tie.99
With dual citizenship, a dual citizen can, as we can read in the quote above, and as Bernitz write, work or/and live in both of the countries, without any special permission (for example, a visa). The possibility of keeping the original citizenship will likewise make it easier for those who plan to return to their native country.100 Dual citizenship also raises, as Howard clarifies, questions about national includes and national excludes.101 With the advantage of holding dual citizenship, especially migrants can feel included in the new society (feeling at home),102 without, as Faist and Gerdes explain, having to give up their formal citizenship, identity, and attachment to their country of origin.103
95 Vera-Larrucea, Constanza. Dual Citizenship, Double Membership? Membership and Belonging of Immigrants’ Descendants in France and Sweden. (2012), p 168 96 Faist, Thomas (ed.). Dual Citizenship in Europe: From Nationhood to Societal Integration. (Aldershot, 2007), p 3 97 Schlenker, Andrea & Blatter, Joachim & Birka, Ieva. Practicing transnational citizenship: dual nationality and simultaneous political involvement among emigrants. (2015), p 418 98 Howard, Marc Morjt. Variation in Dual Citizenship Policies - in the Countries of the EU. (2006), p 697-698 99 Schuck, Peter. “Plural citizenship” in Dual nationality, social rights and federal citizenship in the U.S. and Europe: the reinvention of citizenship. (ed.) Hansen, Randall and Weil, Patrick. (New York, 2002), p 74-75 100 Bernitz, Hedvig. EUDO Citizenship observatory: Country report: Sweden. (2012), p 11 101 Howard, Marc Morjt. Variation in Dual Citizenship Policies - in the Countries of the EU. (2006), p 698 102 Bernitz, Hedvig. EUDO Citizenship observatory: Country report: Sweden. (2012), p 11 103 Faist, Thomas and Gerdes, Jürgen. Dual Citizenship in the Age of Mobility. (2008), p 10 14
3.2.1 Naturalization and integration
Naturalization as a concept is understood “as the non-automatic acquisition of citizenship by an individual who was not a citizen of that country when he or she was born. It requires an application by the immigrant and an act of granting by the host country”.104 In other words, as Nicole Guimezanes write, naturalization is the primary meaning of changing nationality, for individuals, especially migrants.105 With this understanding of naturalization, Tomas Liebig and Friederike Von Haaren point out that its meaning connects to dual citizenship.106 Already in the 1980s, Gustafson clarifies that Tomas Hammar “foresaw and advocated an increasing acceptance of dual citizenship in Europe in order to facilitate the integration of immigrants”.107 In his article, Gustafson writes that Hammar’s most important argument was that:
[…] large groups of immigrants in Western Europe did not naturalize and were thus excluded from political participation in their new home countries. Hammar therefore argued that, in order to ensure the political integration of migrants, and indeed the legitimacy of representative democracy in immigrant countries, more liberal laws on naturalization were needed. In addition, migrants may have strong emotional ties […] to both their old and their new home countries.108
As Hammar’s argument above, Gustafson further explains that similar arguments are being used today, in places like, for example, Europe. Most social and political scientists find dual citizenship as an important tool when talking about immigrants’ rights and participation in society.109 Within the approach of the state to immigrant integration, Thomas Huddleston and Maarten Vink simplify that “equal rights can be granted through naturalisation as a national citizen”.110 Since dual citizenship, as Faist explains, is a tool in the process of integration and naturalization, the acceptance of it gives dual citizens the same political (the right to vote and be voted for) and cultural rights as native citizens.111
104 Liebig, Thomas and Haaren, Friederike Von. “Citizenship and the Socio-economic Integration of Immigrants and their Children: An Overview across European Union and OECD Countries” in Naturalisation: A Passport for the Better Integration of Immigrants?. (ed.) Martin, John and Fischer, Georg. (2011), p 25 105 Guimezanes, Nicole. “The Current Status of Nationality Law” in Naturalisation: A Passport for the Better Integration of Immigrants?. (ed.) Martin, John and Fischer, Georg. (2011), p 96 106 Liebig, Thomas and Haaren, Friederike Von. “Citizenship and the Socio-economic Integration of Immigrants and their Children: An Overview across European Union and OECD Countries” in Naturalisation: A Passport for the Better Integration of Immigrants?. (2011), p 29 107 Gustafson, Per. Globalisation, multiculturalism and individualism: the Swedish debate on dual citizenship. (2002), p 466 108 Ibid, p 466 109 Ibid, p 466 110 Huddleston, Thomas and Vink, Maarten. Full membership or equal rights? The link between naturalisation and integration policies for immigrants in 29 European states. (2015), p 1 111 Faist, Thomas. “Introduction: The Shifting Boundaries of the Political” in Dual citizenship in global perspective: From unitary to multiple citizenship. (ed.) Faist, Thomas and Kivisto, Peter. (Basingstoke, 2007), p 1 15
When immigrants get easy access to citizenship in the host country, they will integrate faster. As Jens Hainmuellera, Dominik Hangartnerd, and Giuseppe Pietrantuonoe clarify, the person (the migrant) will invest in a future in the host country,112 and as Başer and Levin explains, start living more like the native citizens of that country (learn the countries language, work and pay taxes). For migrants that learn the host country language, the chance increases for them to educate themselves, get a job, and be able to socialize with other people beyond ethnic and cultural boundaries.113
3.2.2 Loyalty: As a (dual) citizen
A person can have multiple loyalties. Loyalty to, for example, his/her family, community, church, sports team, or college.114 But as David Martin explains, these loyalties are usually not “seen as incompatible with allegiance to the nation”.115 When talking about a citizen’s loyalty to the nation- state, it is about the person’s loyalty to its country (member state).116 In their book, Hansen and Weil further write that:
[…] although loyalty may be defined as exclusive, in the same way as allegiance was once defined as perpetual, it may also be defined as dual and multiple.117
As Hansen and Weil clarify in the quote above, even citizens can have multiple loyalties and that to different nation-states.118 Since dual citizenship is aiming, as Faist and Gerdes write, at a person’s involvement in two places across nation-state borders, it means that the person has plural loyalties.119 One can believe that dual citizens feel more attachment and loyalty to their country of origin. But Martin explains that dual citizens (often migrants) who naturalize into the new nation-state may develop a more emotional attachment to the new country.120 A person who may be proud of being, for example, a new Swedish citizen, can end up “fully committed to serving their new country and build a new life for themselves and their children”.121
112 Hainmuellera, Jens & Hangartnerd, Dominik & Pietrantuonoe, Giuseppe. Naturalization fosters the long-term political integration of immigrants. (2015), p 12651 113 Başer, Bahar and Levin, Paul (ed.). Migration from Turkey to Sweden: Integration, Belonging and Transnational Community. (London, 2017), p 50-51 114Martin, David. “New Rules for Dual Nationality” in Dual nationality, social rights and federal citizenship in the U.S. and Europe: the reinvention of citizenship. (ed.) Hansen, Randall and Weil, Patrick. (New York, 2002), p 39 115 Ibid, p 39 116 Brochmann, Grete and Seland, Idunn. Citizenship policies and ideas of nationhood in Scandinavia. (2010), p 432 117 Hansen, Randall and Weil, Patrick (ed.). Dual nationality, social rights and federal citizenship in the U.S. and Europe: the reinvention of citizenship. (New York, 2002), p 7 118 Ibid, p 7 119 Faist, Thomas and Gerdes, Jürgen. Dual Citizenship in an Age of Mobility. (2008), p 10 120 Martin, David. “New Rules for Dual Nationality” in Dual nationality, social rights and federal citizenship in the U.S. and Europe: the reinvention of citizenship. (ed.) Hansen, Randall and Weil, Patrick. (New York, 2002), p 40 121 Ibid, p 40 16
However, when a person (migrant) ends up fully committed and loyal to the new country of settlement, it often has to do with the relationship he/she has to the country of origin. Dual citizens who have emotional ties left to their old country, because of, for example, ongoing relationship with the family still resides there, have a harder time to break the loyalty to that one country.122 Faist and Gerdes clarify that migrants who maintain ties to their country of origin “are often seen by the dominant groups in immigration societies as lacking substantive identification with their country of settlement”.123 But when talking about migrants in terms of forced migration, which according to what Etienne Piguet writes, aims at asylum seekers/refugees who are “merely passive victims”.124 Their loyalty can come to divide strongly, compared to other migrants (people who have migrated because of, for example, work or studies) attachments to the new home country. In his book “Exit, Voice and Loyalty” (1970), Albert Hirschman argues that individuals (migrants) who face violence, insecurity, or persecution in their country of origin, may undermine their loyalty to that one country and instead develop loyalty to the new country.125
122 Ibid, p 40 123 Faist, Thomas and Gerdes, Jürgen. Dual Citizenship in an Age of Mobility. (2008), p 13 124 Piguet, Etienne. “Theories of voluntary and forced migration” in Routledge Handbook of Environmental Displacement and Migration. (ed.) Gemenne, François and McLeman, Robert. (London, 2018), p 23 125 Ibid, p 24 17
4. PREVIOUS RESEARCH
Since sovereign states, over the past decades, have started to tolerate and even accept dual citizenship, research about citizenship in terms of being dual and even multiple has become more discussed nowadays. As Faist writes in his and Kivisto’s timely collection, dual citizenship is not a new phenomenon, but scholars have started to witness its rapid speed recently. Today dual citizenship is not only tolerated and accepted. Scholars do even embrace that citizens can have dual national attachments.126 As the numbers of dual citizens continue to grow, Peter Spiro clarifies that “dual citizenship is well on the way to becoming a commonplace”.127
In their paper, Faist and Gerdes explain that policymakers, in the past, considered dual citizenship as a problem.128 Leading politicians of previous decades saw dual citizenship “as an abhorrence of the natural order, the equivalent of bigamy. Citizenship and loyalty to the state were considered inseparable”.129 In that time, policymakers worried about dual citizens not being able to integrate into their country of settlement, as they uphold exclusive loyalty to their country of origin.130 Further, as Constanza Vera-Larrucea argues, the growing numbers of dual citizens have led to a reformulation of the old ethics and values of membership in one nation-state, including international practices and dual loyalties.131 Even if the idea of a person belonging to two states has been criticized in different theoretical and practical arguments,132 much of the critique has disappeared “in the face of today’s global order”.133 As Faist and Gerdes clarify, a change has taken place in recent decades. Today, many policymakers do not see dual citizenship as a problem for integration, legitimacy, and diplomatic protection.134 Dual citizenship is rather seen as a possibility “that needs to be negotiated from various standpoints”.135
Dual Nationality, Social Rights and Federal Citizenship in the U.S. and Europe is a book edited by Randall Hansen and Patrick Weil. It focuses on dual citizenship and “it is the first volume in over
126 Faist, Thomas. “Introduction: The Shifting Boundaries of the Political” in Dual citizenship in global perspective: From unitary to multiple citizenship. (ed.) Faist, Thomas and Kivisto, Peter. (Basingstoke, 2007), p 1 127 Spiro, Peter. “Postnational and Transnational Citizenship” in Dual citizenship in global perspective: From unitary to multiple citizenship. (ed.) Faist, Thomas and Kivisto, Peter. (Basingstoke, 2007), p 189 128 Faist, Thomas and Gerdes, Jürgen. Dual Citizenship in the Age of Mobility. (2008), p 3 129 Ibid, p 3 130 Ibid, p 3 131 Vera-Larrucea, Constanza. Dual Citizenship, Double Membership? Membership and Belonging of Immigrants’ Descendants in France and Sweden. (2012), p 165 & 167 132 Ibid, p 167 133 Ibid, p 167 134 Faist, Thomas and Gerdes, Jürgen. Dual Citizenship in the Age of Mobility. (2008), p 3 135 Ibid, p 3 18
thirty years to make dual nationality its major” focus.136 In the first chapter, Spiro argues that dual citizenship should be accepted, but most likely, embraced.137 The acceptance of dual citizenship will, as he states, “both encourage further naturalization (and thus integration) at home and serve to spread democratic values abroad”.138 In his chapter, Spiro uses the United States (U.S.) as an example when explaining that immigrants in the U.S. and American citizens want to maintain their former citizenship when acquiring a new. Today, with the right to hold more than one citizenship, he writes that many immigrants who naturalize into the U.S. “seek to maintain their original nationality as a matter of choice”.139 Even about four to five million Americans (natives) who now are permanently living in another country, “hold, or will acquire, citizenship in their country of residence while remaining American citizenship”.140
In his research, the Swedish researcher Per Gustafson “investigated the debate that preceded Sweden’s […] acceptance of dual citizenship” in 2001.141 A central focus of the study is the discussion of whether dual citizenship would facilitate the integration process of immigrants in Sweden.142 What Gustafson explains is that both opponents and proponents “agreed that the integration of immigrants in Swedish society was something which was highly desirable, but it was debated whether or not the acceptance of dual citizenship would facilitate integration”.143 Politicians, authorities, media pundits and immigrants themselves did all argue that dual citizenship would help immigrants naturalize into Swedish society, as they would gain the right to vote and participate more fully in Swedish politics. Another argument in his study is that dual citizenship would allow immigrants to maintain their emotional and identity ties to their country of origin. By the acceptance of dual citizenship, migrants do not have to abandon their sense of identity and their roots, as they, at the same time, can develop new ones.144 Since Gustafson has used individual perspectives, mostly immigrants’ and expatriate Swedes’ thoughts about dual citizenship, he chooses to include a quote from Dagens Nyheter (Swedish newspaper) where an expatriate Swede shares her thoughts about dual citizenship:
136 Hansen, Randall and Weil, Patrick (ed.). Dual nationality, social rights and federal citizenship in the U.S. and Europe: the reinvention of citizenship. (New York, 2002), p 1 137 Ibid, p 11 138 Ibid, p 11 139 Spiro, Peter. “Embracing dual nationality” in Dual nationality, social rights and federal citizenship in the U.S. and Europe: the reinvention of citizenship. (ed.) Hansen, Randall and Weil, Patrick. (New York, 2002), p 21 140 Ibid, p 21 141 Gustafson, Per. Globalisation, multiculturalism and individualism: the Swedish debate on dual citizenship. (2002), p 476 142 Ibid, p 463 143 Ibid, p 471 144 Ibid, p 471-472 & 474-475 19
Your identity is not just one country, one family - it is shaped by experiences in other countries and by new people that you meet. I am 23 and have lived for two years in Australia, and I hope that I will never have to choose between Sweden and Australia - the two countries that have made me the person I am. This does not make me disloyal or a security risk. I am sure I can make a valuable contribution to both countries, just as they have both given invaluable things to me.145
The idea behind Başer’s and Levin’s volume is to “evaluate trajectories of migration from Turkey to Sweden on the 50th anniversary of the start of this migration”.146 In the last chapter, Makko gives an overview of the history of the Assyrian diaspora in Sweden and explains the reasons for its successes and failures.147 When discussing the various causes, Makko uses Hartmut Esser’s (a German sociologist) four dimensions of integration.148 According to Esser, a migrants integration process includes four different elements: Acculturation (acquisition of knowledge and culture skills, such as learning the language), placement (occupation of positions and the provision of rights, for example, citizenship and voting rights), interaction (establishment of social relations), and identification (emotional devotion to the society, such as the social system).149 As Makko writes, “more recent successes and failures of the Assyrian diaspora in Sweden are the result of the developments that occurred in the late 1980s and during the 1990s”.150 After the first Swedish-born Syrians/Assyrians, “the dissonance between successful acculturation and placement and less successful social and emotional integration became more obvious”.151 Compared to other ethnic groups, Syrians/Assyrians have succeeded in placing themselves in Swedish society. They are known for being politicians, entrepreneurs, and football stars in the Swedish society. But also as a group whose younger generation has been part of criminal gangs.152 However, in the new millennium, the minority has improved in social integration, but, as Makko clarifies, “they have shared the struggle of other groups in integrating into Swedish society on a daily basis and in terms of emotional identifications”.153
Furthermore, in Faist’s paper Citizenship as Overlapping Membership, which is a forum for research and debates about issues of migration and ethnicity, the professor writes about various immigration
145 Ibid, p 475 146 Başer, Bahar and Levin, Paul (ed.). Migration from Turkey to Sweden: Integration, Belonging and Transnational Community. (London, 2017), p 1 147 Makko, Aryo. ”In search of a new home: The Assyrian diaspora in Sweden” in Migration from Turkey to Sweden: Integration, Belonging and Transnational Community. (ed.) Başer, Bahar and Levin, Paul. (London, 2017), p 263 148 Ibid, p 263 & 265 149 Ibid, p 264 150 Ibid, p 276 151 Ibid, p 276 152 Ibid, p 262 & 265 & 280 153 Ibid, p 285 20
countries and their tolerance and acceptance of dual citizenship. In 2001, when the paper was written, Faist explains that countries like Canada, France, Israel, Portugal, and Sweden had recently changed their citizenship laws, allowing dual citizenship.154 From a national perspective, he clarifies that “there may be a plausible reason for tolerating or even accepting dual citizenship”.155 The most persuasive reason for that dual citizenship should be tolerated is because it increases the chances for newcomers, or to say immigrants, to naturalize into their new country.156 In his research, Faist uses Germany, among other countries, as an example when explaining how dual citizenship leads to higher rates of naturalization among migrants.157 Even if Germany was a country that did not tolerate dual citizenship in law, “about one fourth to one third of all naturalizations from the 1970s through the 1990s resulted in multiple citizenship”.158 Another statement Faist makes is from the Netherlands. From 1992 until 1997, the country “did not make naturalization depended upon release from the old citizenship”.159 During the period between 1992 and 1997, the naturalization quota in the Netherlands increased from, as Faist clarifies, 5 percent to 12 percent.160
According to Francesca Mazzolari, there are no statistical surveys of how many people who hold dual citizenship in the world, or even in specific countries. But the phenomena are for sure, as Mazzolari writes, growing.161 In her working paper, Mazzolari “explores whether or not recognition of dual nationality by sending countries positively affects the U.S. naturalization rate of immigrants from those countries. The empirical analysis draws on data from the 1990 and 2000 U.S. Censuses and examines immigrants from the countries of Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Mexico, all of which changed their laws to permit dual citizenship in the 1990s”.162 In her analysis, Mazzolari uses tables to show the differences between the naturalization rate of immigrants coming from the six Latin American countries, which stated above, and immigrants from other countries (that did not allow dual citizenship) in the U.S. between 1990 and 2000. The effect of allowing dual citizenship shows that the naturalization rate increased with 3,8 percent, during the researched period, for the immigrants coming from the six Latin American countries. While the rate only increased with 0,9 percent for the other immigrants in the United States. For the first time in decades, the allowing of dual citizenship made the numbers of naturalized citizens in the U.S.
154 Faist, Thomas. Dual Citizenship as Overlapping Membership. (Malmö, 2001), p 4 155 Ibid, p 13 156 Ibid, p 13 157 Ibid, p 4 158 Ibid, p 4 159 Ibid, p 13 160 Ibid, p 13 161 Mazzolari, Francesca. Determinants of Naturalization: The Role of Dual Citizenship Laws. (San Diego, 2005), p 1 162 Ibid, p 29 21
increase. Between 1990 and the mid-1990s, the number of naturalized citizens increased with nearly 1 million people (from 6,6 million to 7,5 million) to 11 million by 2002.163 Numbers, which, as Mazzolari concludes, became proof that dual citizenship had a positive effect on the naturalization rate in the U.S.164
“Dual citizenship is of central theoretical and contemporary political concern. In an age of terrorism and securitized immigration, it is doubly so”.165 Although there exists research about dual citizenship, Faist clarifies in his book that “none of the existing studies has engaged in a systematic international comparison of the politics of dual citizenship”.166 Dual citizenship in Europe is, therefore, a volume written to fill this gap. At the beginning of his research, Faist argues that proponents of dual citizenship have welcomed the phenomena as something which would create equal individual rights (the right to vote and participate in politics) between natives and newcomers (migrants).167 However, in the fourth chapter, Spång focuses on the Swedish debate concerning dual citizenship in Sweden. Spång himself writes about the concern the Swedish commission had regarding dual voting. According to the commission in 1986, the acceptance of dual citizenship was seen as a problem, since it violates the principle of ‘one person, one vote’.168 As Spång clarifies, the commission “recognized that this would be an unwelcomed effect” 169 and, therefore, it became one of the most important arguments against dual citizenship. But dual voting was also seen as an advantage. With the possibility of more people being able to participate in politics, the acceptance of dual citizenship would benefit the integration of immigrants.170 As a politician for the Swedish Centre Party (Centerpartiet) stated in the early 20th century:
Citizenship is very important for the process of integration into Swedish society. It gives immigrants equal opportunities to be active in society […]. Dual citizenship facilitates the process of integration and counteracts the feelings of distress, guilt, and alienation that many persons experience in their everyday lives.171
163 Ibid, p 11-12 164 Ibid, p 29 165 Faist, Thomas (ed.). Dual Citizenship in Europe: From Nationhood to Societal Integration. (Aldershot, 2007), p 0 166 Ibid, p 0 167 Ibid, p 0 & 3 168 Spång, Mikael. ”Pragmatism All the Way Down? The Politics of Dual Citizenship in Sweden” in Dual Citizenship in Europe: From Nationhood to Societal Integration. (ed.) Faist, Thomas. (Aldershot, 2007), p 107 169 Ibid, p 107 170 Ibid, p 107 171 Ibid, p 111 22
In the statement above, Spång clarifies that “we find both moral and expressive arguments in favor of dual citizenship, linking a sense of belonging with equal rights and opportunities”.172
While most people, as Kristina Bakkær Simonsen states in her article, have the same citizenship throughout life. Migrants, on the other hand, may acquire another citizenship in their new country of settlement. The person (migrant) who previously was an alien is now a fellow citizen, who enjoys the same formal status as the native population (the citizens born in the country).173 While debates everywhere, as Simonsen argues, “have it as an underlying premise that being a fellow citizen means being a fellow national, regulation of access to citizenship varies considerably across Western democracies”.174 Countries like Sweden, Belgium and Portugal believe that citizenship should be easy to obtain.175 This while other countries like “Denmark, Switzerland and Spain put greater demands on people who want to become citizens of the country”.176 Because of the different approaches across countries, Simonsen examines “the importance of citizenship and citizenship policy by turning to the issue of immigrants’ host national belonging across Western democracies”.177 In the research, belonging is understood as a feeling of attachment to the nation-state, and the rights associated with citizenship is, what Simonsen mentions, a road to greater belonging for the citizens.178 The result shows that the 14 Western democracies (Germany, Great Britain, the United States, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Spain, France, Portugal, Denmark, Switzerland, Finland, Belgium, and Iceland) which participated in the survey “support the idea that citizenship matters for feelings of belonging, but only when it also matters for host nationals in their perceptions of who belongs”.179
The aim of Nira Yuval-Davis “article is to outline an analytical framework for the study of belonging and the politics of belonging”.180 Her main focus is to simplify the understanding of belonging in three different ways.181 First, “as level concerns social locations; the second relates to individuals’ identifications and emotional attachments to various collectivities and groupings; the third relates to ethical and political value”.182 Belonging, for example, is aiming at emotional attachment and the feeling of being ‘at home’. However, at the beginning of her analysis, Yuval-Davis clarifies that
172 Ibid, p 111 173 Simonsen, Kristina Bakkær. Does citizenship always further Immigrants’ feeling of belonging to the host nation? A study of policies and public attitudes in 14 Western democracies. (2017), p 1 174 Ibid, p 2 175 Ibid, p 2 176 Ibid, p 2 177 Ibid, p 3 178 Ibid, p 3 179 Ibid, p 15 180 Yuval-Davis, Nira. Belonging and the politics of belonging. (2006), p 197 181 Ibid, p 199 182 Ibid, p 199 23
belonging is not as important for everyone.183 Emotions shift in different times, such as situations, and “the emotional components of people’s constructions of themselves and their identities become more central the more threatened and less secure they feel”.184 Further, when talking about belonging in the sense of ethical and political value. Yuval-Davis explains that several theoretical and sociological debates, in recent years, have focused “on the extent to which citizenship should be understood primarily, or even at all, in relation to the nation-state”.185 In liberal theory, citizenship is, as Yuval-Davis writes, “constructed as a reciprocal relationship of rights and responsibilities between individuals and the state”.186 This, while the political community, in republican theories, “mediates between the individual citizen and the state, and loyalty to that political community, the nation, and its preservation and promotion are the primary duties of the citizen”.187
4.1 Conclusion of the previous research
To conclude this chapter, policymakers, in the past, considered dual citizenship as a problem.188 They worried about dual citizens not being able to integrate into their new country of settlement, and only be loyal to their former home country.189 However, today, as Faist and many other scholars note, dual citizenship is not only tolerated and accepted. Many countries also embrace the fact that citizens, most likely migrants, can maintain their former citizenship and have dual national attachments.190 Because of the acceptance of dual citizenship, previous research about the phenomena often focuses on the benefits that come with holding more than one citizenship.
In the previous research used in this thesis, the most persuasive reason for that dual citizenship is argued to be tolerated and accepted is because it increases the chances for newcomers (migrants) to naturalize into their new country of settlement.191 Proof of that dual citizenship has positively affected the naturalization rate in some states, can, for example, be read in Mazzolari paper. In her analyses, she writes that the acceptance of dual citizenship made the numbers of naturalized citizens in the U.S. increase drastically between especially 1990 and the mid-1990s.192 Faist also clarifies that even if Germany was a country that did not tolerate dual citizenship in law, “about one fourth to one third of
183 Ibid, p 197 184 Ibid, p 197 185 Ibid, p 205 186 Ibid, p 205 187 Ibid, p 206 188 Faist, Thomas and Gerdes, Jürgen. Dual Citizenship in the Age of Mobility. (2008), p 3 189 Ibid, p 3 190 Faist, Thomas. “Introduction: The Shifting Boundaries of the Political” in Dual citizenship in global perspective: From unitary to multiple citizenship. (ed.) Faist, Thomas and Kivisto, Peter. (Basingstoke, 2007), p 1 191 Faist, Thomas. Dual Citizenship as Overlapping Membership. (Malmö, 2001), p 13 192 Mazzolari, Francesca. Determinants of Naturalization: The Role of Dual Citizenship Laws. (San Diego, 2005), p 12 & 29 24
all naturalizations from the 1970s through the 1990s resulted in multiple citizenship”.193 Since the numbers of dual citizens continue to grow,194 Gustafson explains that politicians, authorities, media pundits and immigrants themselves argue that dual citizenship is a tool to help immigrants naturalize into, in this case, Swedish society. By the acceptance of dual citizenship, migrants do not have to abandon their sense of identity and their roots, as they can develop new ones in their new country.195 Because of the possibility to maintain the bond to their country of origin, migrants most often take advantage of holding more than one citizenship. For some people, as Yuval-Davis clarifies, the sense of belonging is more important than for others.196 Emotion shifts at different times, but for some people, “their identities become more central”.197 Therefore, some migrants do not want to quit their former citizenship when acquiring a new. As an example, Spiros describes in his research, that immigrants who naturalize into the U.S. “maintain their original nationality as a matter of choice”.198
193 Faist, Thomas. Dual Citizenship as Overlapping Membership. (Malmö, 2001), p 4 194 Spiro, Peter. “Postnational and Transnational Citizenship” in Dual citizenship in global perspective: From unitary to multiple citizenship. (ed.) Faist, Thomas and Kivisto, Peter. (Basingstoke, 2007), p 189 195 Gustafson, Per. Globalisation, multiculturalism and individualism: the Swedish debate on dual citizenship. (2002), p 471 & 475 196 Yuval-Davis, Nira. Belonging and the politics of belonging. (2006), p 197 197 Ibid, p 199 198 Spiro, Peter. “Embracing dual nationality” in Dual nationality, social rights and federal citizenship in the U.S. and Europe: the reinvention of citizenship. (ed.) Hansen, Randall and Weil, Patrick. (New York, 2002), p 21 25
5. METHOD AND METHODOLOGY
Through the use of qualitative research, chapter 5 will include why and how qualitative interviews have been used in this research. The process will be explained, from the beginning, to during and after the interviews. At the end of this section, I will include my role as a researcher and what ethical considerations I have used to respect the participants. But more about this later.
5.1 Research method
The part when having to choose the research method for my thesis was maybe one of the easiest. What I knew before knowing what to make research about was that I wanted to take this opportunity to lift other people and make their voices heard. When it comes to different research methods, I have read lots of literature about various types. However, what I came across, early in the process, was that the use of qualitative research was a perfect method to use in my study. Since I wanted to understand the position of Syrians/Assyrians in Sweden and how they see, understand, and argue about dual citizenship, qualitative interviews have been a useful way for me to collect valuable data. Through the use of my participant’s stories, I had the chance to understand my topic and develop a whole new study.199 But the question is: what are qualitative interviews then?
Qualitative interviews are said to help the researcher, in this case, me, to understand the social position and symbolic worlds of Syrians/Assyrians born in Turkey but who migrated to Sweden in the 1970s.200 The method employs when the researcher, like me, wants to understand the “why” behind people’s different behavior or actions.201 Amy Best explains that “research is defined as a socially organized experience”202, and qualitative research (interviews) is defined as a social experience among the participants.203 However, what is important to add is that qualitative research also touches the people who are not there to speak for themselves. My research will reflect on the ones participating: Syrians/Assyrians who are born in Turkey and today live in Sweden, with and without dual citizenship. But automatically, it will also touch Syrians/Assyrians who are not there to speak for themselves. Even if I only had the chance to hear nine stories, the idea of using interviews was to
199 Rosenthal, Meagen. Qualitative research methods: Why, when, and how to conduct interviews and focus groups in pharmacy research. (2016), p 510 200 Best, Amy L. Doing Race in the Context of Feminist Interviewing: Constructing Whiteness Through Talk. (2013), p 895 201 Rosenthal, Meagen. Qualitative research methods: Why, when, and how to conduct interviews and focus groups in pharmacy research. (2016), p 510 202 Ibid, p 895 203 Ibid, p 895 26
collect data from some people’s real-life experiences, thoughts, feelings, and knowledge about my topic.204
To avoid affecting the participant’s stories, qualitative research/interviews have been a useful method for me, compared to, for example, quantitative research/interviews. To understand the differences between qualitative and quantitative research, Meagen Rosenthal simplifies that qualitative research is more open and fluid compared to quantitative research.205 By using qualitative interviews, all of my participants had the chance to tell their own stories and help me understand the topic from their point of view. Since all of the nine stories are important for my study, I also chose to do individual interviews (in-depth interviews), over group interviews (focus groups). For me, it was important that all my participants felt free to tell their stories without being interrupted by anyone. By the use of qualitative interviews, conflicts and stress did not arise between the participants. Instead of problems between the participants, I (researcher) could build a bond between me and the interviewees. As Rosenthal writes, the way of choosing individual interviews, instead of group interviews, made the interviews feel more like casual conversations.206
5.2 Data collection
5.2.1 Sampling techniques
Sampling is the process of choosing a part of the population to represent the whole. If the researcher considers a part of the population as a representation of the whole, the analysis will be more comprehensive.207
As Mahin Naderifar, Hamideh Goli, and Fereshteh Ghaljaie write in the quote above, sampling is the step in the study when the researcher selects suitable participants to attend in interviews and observations.208 When selecting participants for interviews, Gordon Taylor explains that they can be found through different methods. For example, he clarifies that the researcher can found the participants through social networks, relatives, and friends, or even through various agencies or organizations.209 Since I know many Syrians/Assyrians from Turkey, I found the majority of the participants through the people around me.
204 Rosenthal, Meagen. Qualitative research methods: Why, when, and how to conduct interviews and focus groups in pharmacy research. (2016), p 510 205 Ibid, p 510 206 Ibid, p 510 207 Naderifar, Mahin & Goli, Hamideh & Ghaljaie, Fereshteh. Snowball Sampling: A Purposeful Method of Sampling in Qualitative Research. (2017), p 1 208 Ibid, p 1 209 Taylor, Gordon. A Theory of Practice: Hermeneutical Understanding. (1993), p 108 27
At the beginning of the process, the selection of my participants went easy. However, as time went by, the search got harder. Since I wanted to interview at least nine people, I had to use the snowball sampling at the end. The snowball sampling is, as Naderifar, Goli, and Ghaljaie clarify, a method used “when it is difficult to access subjects with the target characteristics”.210 Because of this, during the process, the snowball method was adopted to find more participants for my study. When it got harder to access subjects, I started to ask my participants if they knew Syrians/Assyrians who hold dual citizenship, one in Sweden, and another in Turkey.211
With the help of the snowball method, I contacted five more Syrians/Assyrians who live in Sweden but are born in Turkey. Four of them wanted to participate. However, according to them, it would take time for me or even be impossible to find more Syrians/Assyrians in Sweden who still hold Turkish citizenship. Therefore, the aim of the study was changed. Instead of only interviewing Syrians/Assyrians who hold dual citizenship, I decided to interview previously Turkish citizens, who today only hold Swedish citizenship. But more about this under the title “the participants”.
5.2.2 The participants
As written above, at the beginning of the selection process of the participants, I only wanted to interview Syrians/Assyrians who hold dual citizenship. However, as I started to call around, I understood that very few Syrians/Assyrians have kept their Turkish citizenship after the move, because of their situation, then and now, as Christians in Turkey. Of course, there are still some who hold dual citizenship. I found five Syrians/Assyrians with dual citizenship who wanted to participate in my research. The thing that makes these five participants extra interesting is that they all have different stories of why they still hold dual citizenship. Through the gender division of my participants (the division of those holding dual citizenship and those who do not), you can see that male Turkish citizens have a harder time getting rid of their Turkish citizenship. Four of five participants holding dual citizenship are male citizens, and somehow they all connect their Turkish citizenship to the military service. Below you can see some background information of the participants holding dual citizenship. Something to add is that all of the participant’s names have been changed (you can read more about this under the title “ethical considerations”):
Matteus (age 70). He came to Sweden in 1975, and he got his Swedish citizenship in 1982. He is the only participant who has done the military service in his birth country, Turkey.
210 Naderifar, Mahin & Goli, Hamideh & Ghaljaie, Fereshteh. Snowball Sampling: A Purposeful Method of Sampling in Qualitative Research. (2017), p 2 211 Ibid, p 2 28
Petrus (age 62). He came to Sweden in 1977, and he got his Swedish citizenship somewhere in- between 1980 and 1985. Because of his disability, he did not have to do the military service in Turkey. He got absolved. Tomas (age 55). He came to Sweden in 1975, and he got his Swedish citizenship in 1985. Compared to the other participants, he wanted to renounce his Turkish citizenship. However, because he has not done the military service, he has not been able to quit it. Jakob (age 52). He came to Sweden in 1977, and he got his Swedish citizenship in 1988. He is the only participant who has paid the military, and that to be able to keep his Turkish citizenship, without doing the military service in Turkey. Lea (age 45). She came to Sweden in 1974, as a 6-month-old baby, and because of that, she does not remember when she got her Swedish citizenship. Lea is the only woman who I found who still holds dual citizenship.
During the selection process of my participants, I had to, as written earlier, start thinking in new paths. As I started to call around to find available participants, I found four persons who told me their stories of why they and probably other Syrians/Assyrians did not keep their Turkish citizenship when moving to Sweden. In the case of the minority’s position as citizens in Turkey, I thought that these stories would be important to highlight in my thesis. I found three women who wanted to participate. However, to make the gender division of those holding dual citizenship and those who do not, creatively equal, one male participant was needed. After many calls, one male Syrian/Assyrian agreed on participating and tell his strong story of why he did quit his Turkish citizenship when coming to Sweden. Below you can read about these four participants:
Eva (age 65). She came to Sweden in 1975 and gave up her Turkish citizenship when becoming a Swedish citizen and that somewhere between 1983 and 1985. Lukas (age 64). He came to Sweden in 1975 and gave up his Turkish citizenship in 1977 (when he became a Swedish citizen). He has neither done the military nor paid the military to get an exemption warrant. But with some luck, he managed to renounce his Turkish citizenship. Rut (age 60). She came to Sweden in 1976, and as she remembers, she gave up her Turkish citizenship, at the time she became a Swedish citizen (in 1983). Maria (age 56). She came to Sweden in 1975 and applied for exemption from Turkey somewhere in the 80s when she became a Swedish citizen.
The ones participating are, as said, nine Syrians/Assyrians who are born in Turkey but today live in Sweden. To collect as much and useful information as possible, nine participants were enough to keep track of the data. Before deciding how many people to interview, I read the paper How many qualitative interviews is enough?. In it, Sarah Elsie Baker and Rosalind Edwards have been gathering
29
different expert’s opinions regarding how many interviews that are enough for a qualitative study. When reading all of the expert’s opinions, you can see the parables in their answers. According to, for example, Professor Kathy Charmaz, “a standard answer to the question of how many interviews is that it depends on your research purpose”.212 The social scientist Andrea Doucet and Professor Uwe Flick also mean that the only answer to the question is that it depends.213 Because of this, I choose nine participants concerning the size of the research. Nine participants helped maintain the grip of the study, and more in-depth interviews would probably have caused the risk of losing essential and valuable information.214
5.2.3 Semi-structured interviews and good interview questions
When deciding to do interviews, in-depth interviews, and after finding available participants, it was time to read about different ways of structuring the interviews and the questions. In their book, Sharan Merriam and Elizabeth Tisdell write about different ways to structure qualitative interviews, and that by using either highly structured, semi-structured, or unstructured interviews.215 What I knew when reading about the different structures was that I wanted to use one that allows my participants to tell their stories without being too limited by me. I wanted them to tell their truth, knowledge, and understanding about the topic, as they want me and the world to hear it.
At first, I had in mind to use highly structured interviews, since it sounded most suitable when structuring interviews in research. For me, the name ‘highly structured’ sound serious, and as the most standard way of structuring interviews in, for example, a master’s thesis. However, when reading Merriam’s and Tisdell’s explanation of highly structured interviews, it made me realize that it was not how I wanted my study to be structured. In their definition:
[…] the problem with using highly structured interviews in qualitative research is that rigidly adhering to predetermined questions may not allow you to access participates perspectives and understandings of the world. Instead, you get reactions to the investigator’s preconceived notion of the world.216
Since the order of questions and the questions itself is predetermined in highly structured interviews, I instead chose semi-structured interviews. By the use of semi-structured interviews, I got answers
212 Baker, Sarah Elsie and Edwards, Rosalind. How many qualitative interviews is enough?: Expert voices and early career reflections on sampling and cases in qualitative research. (2012), p 21 213 Ibid, p 25 & 27 214 Silverman, David. Qualitative Research: Issues of Theory, Method and Practice. (London, 2011), p 168 215 Merriam, Sharan and Tisdell, Elizabeth. Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation. (San Francisco, 2015), p 109 216 Ibid, p 109 30
related to the topic, as I further gathered much more information than I probably would have by the use of highly structured interviews. Compared to the highly structured way, semi-structured interviews allows the researcher to use a mix of more and less structured questions. It is said to be a way of structure, in-between highly structured and unstructured interviews, and that because the researcher can decide to use the chosen questions fully, or use the questions as a guideline, as he/she add other questions related to the topic.217
Through the use of semi-structured interviews, I prepared some questions in advance.218 I prepared two different, but almost similar, interview guides - one for the participants holding dual citizenship (Swedish and Turkish), and another for those who had renounced their Turkish citizenship when becoming Swedish citizens. When structuring my questions, I took help from Michael Quinn Patton’s suggestion of six types of questions to ask in an interview:
Background/demographic questions - Who the participant is, and when and why he/she migrated to Sweden from Turkey. Feeling questions - How it was to move from Turkey to Sweden, and if the participant misses, have feelings or any loyalty for Turkey today. Experience and behavior questions - What experiences the participant has of holding dual citizenship and what experiences he/she has of living in Turkey as a Christian. Opinion and value questions - What the participant thinks of dual citizenship and what differences there is between Swedish and Turkish citizenship, according to him/her. Knowledge questions - Why Syrians/Assyrians do not want to keep their Turkish citizenship when moving from Turkey and why some still hold it. Sensory questions - What problems the participant have encountered by holding Turkish citizenship, but most specifically by holding dual citizenship.219
By the use of the questions above, I had a clear understanding of what to ask during the interviews. However, as Herbert Rubin and Irene Rubin put it, follow-up questions were planned to be asked if needed.220 Follow-up questions have helped me in the process of gathering more detailed and nuanced data through the participant’s understandings of the topic. But to point out, follow-up questions were only asked if the interviewees seemed interested in sharing further information and if the information would be useful in the research.221
217 Ibid, p 110 218 Rubin, Herbert and Rubin, Irene. Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data. (Los Angeles, 2012), p 31 219 Merriam, Sharan and Tisdell, Elizabeth. Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation. (2015), p 118 220 Rubin, Herbert and Rubin, Irene. Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data. (Los Angeles, 2012), p 31 221 Ibid, p 150 31
5.2.4 Transcribing the data
Transcribing is the transformation of oral speech into a written and meaningful text that includes relevant information from the interview and that can be analyzed.222
As Vanessa Azevedo, Margarida Carvalho, Flávia Fernandes-Costa, Soraia Mesquita, Joana Soares, Filipa Teixeira, and Ângela Maia explain in the quote above, transcribing is the process after doing interviews. After each of the interviews, I, therefore, started to transform the interviews into a text on the computer.223 Since the way of transcribing has an integral relationship with the technology available to record the data, the interviews where recorded from my phone.224 When transcribing the material, all that was needed was my phone, who had the data in it, and a computer to write down the participant’s stories and telling’s.
The interviews lasted between 30 and 50 minutes. Because of the length of the interviews, it took me between 1 and 3 days (with pause included) to transcribe each one of them. Since all of my respondents spoke Swedish, all the interviews were done in Swedish. I transcribed into Swedish, and the data that would be used in the analyses were later translated into English. When transcribing the data, the researcher can use two types of ways to transcribe - the naturalized and the denaturalized way. I used the denaturalized way. Every single word that the respondents said was written down. However, pause or, for example, laugh during the interviews were not included in the transcription.225 Instead of focusing on how the participants told their stories, the main focus was on what they shared.
5.3 Analyzing method
After transcribing the interviews, it was time to analyze the findings. To be able to analyze the data, a thematic analysis has been used. To understand what thematic analysis is, Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke explain in Using thematic analysis in psychology that it “is a method for identifying, analyzing and reporting patterns (themes) within data. It minimally organizes and describes your data set in (rich) detail”.226 After transcribing the data, I read and re-read all of the transcripts, to further, as Maggi Savin-Baden and Claire Howell Major write, identify specific key categories.227 For me, it
222 Azevedo, Vanessa & Carvalho, Margarida & Fernandes-Costa, Flávia & Mesquita, Soraia & Soares, Joana & Teixeira, Filipa & Maia, Ângela. Interview transcription: conceptual issues, practical guidelines, and challenges. (2017), p 159 223 Ibid, p 159 224 Davidson, Christina. Transcription: Imperatives for Qualitative Research. (2009), p 44 225 Teixeira, Filipa & Maia, Ângela. Interview transcription: conceptual issues, practical guidelines, and challenges. (2017), p 163 226 Braun, Virginia and Clarke, Victoria. Using thematic analysis in psychology. (2006), p 79 227 Savin-Baden, Maggi and Howell Major, Claire. Qualitative research: The essential guide to theory and practice. (London, 2013), p 175 32
was easier to code the data after reading it all at least two times. While reading the data, I could find similarities and dissimilarities in the interviewee’s stories. Similarities and dissimilarities that further would come to shape the different patterns.228
Even if there is, as Braun and Clarke clarify, no specific agreement about what thematic analysis is, it often is used in qualitative studies. As in the case of this study, coding and identifying common themes has been a rich way to make a clear and understandable analyzing part.229 Through the use of the collected data, four different themes have been identified. The four themes are both linked to the data and research question,230 and named as:
Security and safety: Swedish and/or Turkish citizenship Home is where the heart belongs… dual citizenship and belonging Dual citizenship, a help in the process of naturalization and integration? No loyalty, no genuine citizen
After deciding the various patterns (as stated above), the next step in the process of using thematic analysis was to, as Jodi Aronson describes, “identify all data that relate to the already classified patterns”.231 Since themes are identified to bring and gather ideas, which often, according to what Aronson writes, are meaningless when being alone,232 I tried to fit in similar quotes from different stories under the corresponding pattern. For example, when the interviewees talked about home and belonging, this part came under the theme: Home is where the heart belongs… dual citizenship and belonging.233 The use of patterns made the analyzing part more easily to understand, as it got easier for me to analyze the data and see the connection between the participant’s stories and the findings from the previous research.
5.4 Role of the researcher
When observing people for research, the researcher has to think about the interviewee’s interest. During the collection of the data, I (researcher) had the role and responsibility to create a welcoming and non-threatening environment so that the interviewees were willing to share their personal experiences, knowledge, and stories.234 In Power Relations in Qualitative Research, Orit Karnieli- Miller, Roni Strier, and Liat Pessach describe that “scholars refer to this nonthreatening environment
228 Braun, Virginia and Clarke, Victoria. Using thematic analysis in psychology. (2006), p 87 229 Ibid, p 79 230 Ibid, p 82 231 Aronson, Jodi. A Pragmatic View of Thematic Analysis. (1995), p 1 232 Ibid, p 2 233 Ibid, p 1 234 Karnieli-Miller, Orit & Strier, Roni & Pessach, Liat. Power Relations in Qualitative Research. (2009), p 280 33
as creating ‘a feeling of empathy for informants’ that enables people [to] open up about their feelings”.235 When interviewing people, the relationship between researchers and participates can come to vary in the view of hierarchical power. Sometimes, the relationship is unequal since the researcher has dominance and authority. However, as Karnieli-Miller, Strier, and Pessach clarify, the relationship can come to change. When interviewing the participants, I wanted them to be able to open up as much as possible.236 To create a calm environment, I did not want to be the researcher who gave orders or firm instructions, but instead the guide who helped the participants through their interviews. During the interviews, I got the feeling that this made the participants feel secure in my company. But much of it probably had to do with my ethnic background.
Although I am born in Sweden, I share the same ethnic background as my informants. As the participants, my parents are Syrians born in Turkey. Since I was little, I have heard about the stories, the daily struggle of Syrians/Assyrians living in Turkey, and how nearly all of the Syrian/Assyrian population migrated as refugees to Sweden from Turkey in the 70s. As a researcher who shares the same ethnic background as the participants, it got easier to access the field. It was not hard to find participants who wanted to participate in the research. Like Roni Berger writes, people were more willing to participate and share their experiences when they knew that I was sympathetic to their situation.237
Having the same ethnic background as the participants also meant for me to have a head start in knowing about the topic. Before the interviews, I knew that the interviewees would react differently to the questions. The questions would, as they did, wake up memories, both good, but most likely, bad memories. I was not surprised, but rather quite prepared that some of the respondents became upset and angry when telling their stories. But, regardless of reaction, they all answered most of the questions in a nuanced manner. The relationship created between me and the interviewees affected the information that they were willing to share.238 One participant even told me, afterward, that she only opened up because of our shared background and the knowledge and understandings that I already had regarding the topic. However, as Berger further explains, “Shared experience may also color the power relationship between researcher and participant. These colors may vary. For example, it may create for the participant a feeling of comparison and competition”. 239 Maybe this would have
235 Ibid, p 280 236 Ibid, p 280 237 Berger, Roni. Now I see it, now I don’t: researcher’s position and reflexivity in qualitative research. (2015), p 223- 224 238 Ibid, p 220 239 Ibid, p 224 34
been the case if I was born in Turkey and had experiences of holding dual citizenship. Yet, the feeling was that some of the participants were withholding information because they believed that I understood what they talked about. Even if this was the case, I did not want to take anything for granted. Instead, follow-up questions were asked to ensure that I had understood them correctly. But what has been a challenge for me, is not getting caught up in my feelings during the interviews. The stuff that some of the participants shared awoke memories from when I have been in Turkey. But in the end, the informant’s stories have given me the strength of wanting to complete this research.
5.5 Ethical considerations
The use of qualitative methods, when collecting data, includes the demand of different ethical negotiations between the researcher and the ones participating in the research. As Maxine Birch and Tina Miller write in Ethics in Qualitative Research, this negotiation can be made by developing an ethical covenant.240 Since my participants had agreed to participate and openly talk about their stories related to the topic, I, as a researcher, had and still have the responsibility to behave ethically. Before the interviews, an information letter was sent to all participants to assure that they will not come to harm as a result of the research. For me, it was essential to be honest with my participants before the interviews.241 They needed to know about their rights before, under, and after the interviews. That especially because my participants, according to Pranee Liamputtong, are said to be vulnerable people who, for example, are subjected to discrimination.242
However, regardless of vulnerability or not, ethical issues are always important to take into consideration when doing a study on other people. The researcher should always think of the respondent’s best. But, when dealing with a sensitive topic, the researcher should be extra careful of the participant’s both confidentiality and anonymity. Liamputtong argues that this caution is very important when dealing with vulnerable groups (individuals with an ethnic minority background), such as in my case.243 Because of Syrians/Assyrians history in Turkey, with both persecution and assault, I wanted my participants to feel trust when attending in my research. When I wrote the information letter, I, therefore, did not promise things that could not be delivered to them later.244
240 Birch, Maxine and Miller, Tina. “Encouraging participation: Ethics and responsibility” in Ethics in Qualitative Research. (ed.) Miller, Tina & Birch, Maxine & Mauthner, Melanie & Jessop, Julie. (London, 2012), p 103 241 Rubin, Herbert and Rubin, Irene. Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data. (Los Angeles, 2012), p 85 242 Liamputtong, Pranee. Researching the vulnerable: A guide to sensitive research methods. (London, 2007), p 2 243 Ibid, p 7 244 Rubin, Herbert and Rubin, Irene. Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data. (Los Angeles, 2012), p 86 35
The letter itself consisted of information about the topic and the aim of the research. When explaining the idea of the study, the participants voluntarily could choose whether they wanted to participate or not. Because of the participant’s position in Turkey, it was also important for me to clarify that this study is made for their benefit. That this is their opportunity to tell their stories as they want them to be told and heard. To make sure that everything that has been told stays confidentially, the participant’s names were, as said before, changed. Other information that could reveal their identity was also deleted.245 When writing the information letter, I further informed, as Alan Bryman states, that the person participating can refuse to answer questions under the interview.246 The researcher should not pressure the participants. Instead, my role was to listen to their requests and complete them. Just like their participation was voluntary, so was their right to refuse to answer questions and to complete the interview.247
When doing in-depth interviews, the researcher records the interviews for later analysis.248 In some states, as Rubin and Rubin clarifies, “you need the permission of only one part to the conversation, which can be yourself; in other states, you need the permission by all parties to record”.249 But regardless of legally required or not, the researcher must always ask the participants for permission to record. When informing about the study, it was, therefore, a demand for me to inform the participants that they would be recorded through a phone. Since recording would ensure that their messages would be picked up correctly, I got everyone’s permission to record all of the interviews.250 The trust that I got from them was most likely because of the possibility to guarantee their anonymity. But also because of the promises of only using their stories in this research, and afterward delete their recordings.
245 Liamputtong, Pranee. Researching the vulnerable: A guide to sensitive research methods. (London, 2007), p 37 246 Bryman, Alan. Samhällsvetenskapliga metoder. (Malmö, 2011), p 137 247 Rubin, Herbert and Rubin, Irene. Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data. (Los Angeles, 2012), p 88 248 Ibid, p 100 249 Ibid, p 101 250 Ibid, p 101 36
6. ANALYSIS
This chapter is the main body of the thesis. Here the material from the field, the participant’s interviews, will be presented and analyzed. With the help of the previous research and the selected concepts (discussed in the theoretical framework), the participant’s accounts will help me in the process of answering the research questions of this thesis. As said earlier, the analysis will be divided into four different themes or to say headings. The themes will represent what the participants have shared when talking about their opinions and knowledge of dual citizenship in the sense of:
Security and safety: Security and safety is something a citizen should get from holding citizenship. But that is not always the case. Some people flee and seek asylum and protection in another country. Since the participants know the differences between being a Swedish and Turkish citizen, they will explain it in terms of protection. Belonging: Do the participants feel at home in Sweden and/or Turkey? With belonging as a concept, the participants will be able to talk about their feelings and attachments to the two countries, as they may share why or why not they hold dual citizenship. Naturalization and integration: Since dual citizenship is said to help migrants to naturalize and integrate into the new society, it is a matter, of course, to use the two concepts in this thesis. The question is if dual citizenship has helped the participants to integrate into Swedish society or not. Loyalty: When talking about citizenship, regardless of one or dual, it can be connected to a citizen’s loyalty to his/her country/countries. A person with dual citizenship can feel committed and loyal to both countries, but also only to one of them. Related to their history in Turkey, I want to know if the participants feel loyal to both Sweden and Turkey or only one of the countries.
6.1 Security and safety: Swedish and/or Turkish citizenship
When talking about their position as oppressed and discriminated citizens in Turkey, the participants connect their Swedish citizenship to the security and safety that Sweden has given them. For many migrants, such as Syrians/Assyrians from Turkey, the lack of security and safety in their country of origin becomes, as Mau clarifies, important when searching for protection in another country.251 When the minority chose Sweden as its final destination, the country’s protection became extremely important when starting to settle down in Sweden. Compared to Sweden, even if Lukas is born in Turkey, he means that he and his people lived with a lack of protection in their birth-country:
In Turkey, the biggest fear and question was if I, my parents, and my siblings would survive the day or tomorrow. You know my family, just like other Syrian families, worked, and the
251 Mau, Steffen. Mobility Citizenship, Inequality, and the Liberal State: The Case of Visa Policies. (2010), p 343 37
men served the military. We all lived as Turkish citizens and did our duties, just like Turks. But we were still not given protection from the state, which we were supposed to and deserved. In their eyes, we were only Christians, not humans. It was hard to feel safe in Turkey, even if it was my birth country. When choosing Sweden as my new home, it gave me protection. This was extremely important for me. It is a protection that I missed as a citizen in Turkey. If anything would happen to me today, I know that the Swedish state would protect me. I am their citizen and responsibility. (Lukas)
For Lukas, the biggest fear of living in Turkey was not knowing if he and his family would survive the day or tomorrow. Even if his family and other Syrian/Assyrian families lived and served the country as the other native citizens (most likely ethnic Turks), they were treated differently because of their Christian faith. According to what Lukas shares above, his people were not given the right to protection by the Turkish state. Just like Miller defines citizenship in his book, Lukas means that Syrians/Assyrians, like other Turkish citizens, deserved protection by their member state. Miller himself states that citizenship is the meaning of a set of rights and corresponding responsibilities enjoyed equally by all citizens. To be a citizen means, therefore, that the person has the right to security and safety, regardless of religion, ethnicity, or color.252 Just like citizens have duties, the state has, as Faist further explains, the responsibility to protect its citizens abroad, such as at home.253
However, because of a lack of protection, which Lucas shares, two other respondents, Maria and Lea, mean that their people did and still do everything to try to protect themselves from discrimination and danger in Turkey. By trying to hide their identity and protect their children, Maria, for example, talks about how various Syrian/Assyrian parents gave their children Turkish names instead of Christian names. In this way, people outside would not recognize them for being Christians, and that to prevent them from being hurt:
When living in Turkey, I had constant fear inside of me. In our village, we were known as the Christian family. We stood out. “Your family is such good people; it is such a shame that you are Christians”. These are the words our neighbors told my family in Turkey, and well, that “shame” was a daily reminder for me, my family, and for my people in Turkey. It was not that we were ashamed of being Christians, but Turkey wanted us to be. To protect us from harm, discrimination, and people outside of our village, my parents, such as other Syrian parents, gave their children Turkish names. Now in Sweden, we can live out who we are. As a Swedish citizen in Sweden, I can, and this even if I still have a Turkish name,
252 Miller, David. Citizenship and National Identity. (Cambridge, 2000), p 82 253 Faist, Thomas. “Introduction: The Shifting Boundaries of the Political” in Dual citizenship in global perspective: From unitary to multiple citizenship. (ed.) Faist, Thomas and Kivisto, Peter. (Basingstoke, 2007), p 9 38
tell people who I am. I even know Syrian families who have changed their family names from Turkish to Syrian names. Sweden allows us to be us and feel safe. (Maria)
When living in Turkey, Maria and her family were known for being Christians in their village (a village where the majority were ethnic Turks and Kurds). Because of their religion, they had to go through comments related to shame. For Maria, this shame was something the Syrian/Assyrian people had to go through daily as citizens in Turkey. It was not that they were ashamed of who they were, but it was the feeling of shame that Turkish authorities and many people wanted them to feel. Since Sweden allows Syrians/Assyrians to live out their Christian belief, without being scared, Maria explains that many families of her people have changed their names to Christian names after the move to Sweden. But because of the lack of protection, even today, when visiting Turkey, some Syrians/Assyrians think of their condition as nonprotected citizens. The fear of showing that they belong to the Christian faith has caused that the group, then (when living in Turkey) as today (when visiting Turkey), protect themselves by, for example, avoiding to wear, as Lea describes in her interview, crosses around their necks:
The big difference between Sweden and Turkey must be that I am not scared of walking on the streets in Sweden. Sweden is safe. I mean here, I am not scared of letting my children leaving the house alone. But in Turkey… I do not remember when, but a few years ago, I was there on vacation. I always have a cross around my neck. But when traveling to Turkey, I left my neckless in Sweden. To be on the safe side, I thought it was better to hide that I was a Christian. I have heard stories from my people... how they have been spite on and discriminated against because of wearing crosses. I would never risk that. As Christians we have to protect ourselves in Turkey. Because, sadly, the state is not on our side. I would never want to end up in a situation where my life is in the hands of the Turkish state, police, or military. (Lea)
The stories both Maria and Lea share in the two quotes above show how Turkey as a country does not allow the Syrian/Assyrian people to be themselves and live out their Christian beliefs. When being on vacation in Turkey, Lea explains that she does not wear her cross necklace because of the fear of discrimination. Since the state, according to her, is not on the Syrian/Assyrian people’s side, she would never risk end up in a situation where her life is in the hands of the Turkish state, such as the Turkish police or its military. What Maria and Lea have in common is their ways of comparing Turkey and Sweden. Both of them talk about fear in Turkey and safety in Sweden. Lea even states loud and clear that Sweden is safe. In the definition of what a safe country is, the feelings and stories Maria and Lea tell are the reality of Turkey not being safe for this specific group. In the Asylum Information Database (AIDA), which is a project of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), they 39
confirm this by explaining that a safe country of origin is a country that can show that no persecution or harm exists towards its citizens.254 The fear of giving their children Christian names, or the fear of wearing a cross, contradicts the image of a safe country where “no inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and no threat by reason of indiscriminate violence” exists.255
However, no state, neither Sweden nor Turkey, can fully guaranty that a country is safe for all its citizens. But in law and practice, it should protect its citizens from mistreatment.256 As a dual citizen, Petrus shares in his interview, that the differences between being a Swedish citizen and a Turkish citizen, is the mistreatment he feels by the Turkish state. Even if a country cannot protect all its citizens, he means that Turkey’s discrimination and lack of security and protection are toward a specific group of people (the Syrians/Assyrians) because of their religion. According to him, this can be seen on, for example, their identity (ID) cards:
I understand that a country cannot protect all its citizens. But when it comes to the Christian population, especially my people... it is clear that the mistreatment is because of our religion. It is direct discrimination against a specific group of people. Those few times I have been in Turkey after the move to Sweden, I have traveled with my Swedish passport. But since I am a dual citizen, I must have my Turkish ID card with me. The thing with this ID card is that it says that I am Christian. But why? It is like a note from and to the Turkish state saying: “this person has no rights, it is okay to mistreat him or her”. It is scary. One time, during a pass control, the person working looked at my Swedish passport. He was kind. He probably did not know that I was a Christian... I have a Turkish name and surname. But when I gave him my ID card, his kindness disappeared in less than one second. Stuff like this reminds my people about our lack of protection and rights that we had and still have in Turkey. It is proof of how they treat us. In Sweden, if you are a Swedish citizen, you are a Swedish citizen. All citizens are the same. They protect their citizens. (Petrus)
In Turkey, when parents register their newborn children, they have to, as Mine Yildirim writes, register the child’s religion. According to Yildirim, it is difficult to understand why a person’s religious belief has to be added to the registry and on the ID card.257 But, in the Ottoman Empire, she explains that “it could be justified in that this information was needed in order to determine the personal law individuals were subject to”, which was determined to their religious association.258 Today, “in the modern Republic the religious affiliation information is not used for anything that is
254 AIDA Legal Briefing No. 3. “Safe countries of origin”: A safe concept?. (2015), p 3 255 Ibid, p 3 256 AEDH / EuroMed Rights / FIDH. “Safe” countries: A denial of the right of asylum. (2016), p 3-4 257 Yildirim, Mine. Forum 18. TURKEY: Time to end state recording of individuals’ religious affiliation. (2010), p 2 258 Ibid, p 2 40
necessary”.259 However, even if Yildirim state that the information, of religious belonging, on their ID cards, is not used for anything necessary today. Petrus feels the opposite. Since it says on his ID card that he is a Christian, he means that it is like a note to the Turkish state saying that he is a Christian citizen, which makes it okay to mistreat him, because of his lack of rights in the country. For Petrus, his ID card is a reminder and proof of how he and the Syrian/Assyrian people had and still have no rights or protection in Turkish society. Compared to his Turkish citizenship, Petrus clarifies that his Swedish citizenship is all about him being a citizen and nothing else. Regardless of religion, all Swedish citizens get, as he states it, the same protection.
Since the Syrian/Assyrian people continue to be “invisible” and not recognized as a minority by the Turkish state (not included in the Lausanne Treaty), they lack, as earlier said, both protection and rights in their country of origin.260 Without security nor safety in Turkey, Matteus and Jakob are two participants who connect their position as Turkish citizens to the fear of holding dual citizenship. Both Matteus and Jakob are citizens in their country of origin (Turkey), such as their country of settlement (Sweden). When visiting their former home country, they talk about the fear of anything happening to them. Matteus, for example, talks about the fear of ending up in the Turkish hospital, police station, or court. Since he, as other participants have confirmed, do not trust the Turkish state, the constant fear is to end up in their hands. When visiting Turkey, Matteus and Jakob mean that they belong to the Turkish state, and not to the Swedish state. For them, the fear of holding Turkish citizenship is then connected to when they are in Turkey on, for example, vacation:
The biggest fear of having dual citizenship is the fear of anything happening to me in Turkey when I am there on vacation. Since I have Turkish citizenship, side by side with a Swedish, it is not sure that the Swedish state can help me if anything would happen to me in Turkey. Because of our lack of rights as Syrians in Turkey, since we are not recognized as a minority there. The biggest fear is if I would end up in the Turkish hospital, the Turkish police station, or the Turkish court. I do not trust the Turkish state nor its protection. But as a Turkish citizen, I belong to the Turkish state and not the Swedish when I visit the country. My life, my destiny is in their hands. It is scary, and therefore I do not feel completely safe in Turkey. (Matteus)
Just like Matteus, Jakob explains that he does not feel completely safe, or as he states it, a hundred percent safe in Turkey. According to him, he (such as other Syrians/Assyrians) moved to Sweden because of the lack of security and rights that they had as a minority in Turkey. Therefore, when
259 Ibid, p 2 260 Karimova, Nigar and Deverell, Edward. Minorities in Turkey. (Stockholm, 2001), p 7 & 12 41
visiting the country today, he does not feel safe, rather scared. For him, it is scary not knowing if Sweden can help and protect him if any problems would arise in Turkey:
Even if I choose to visit Turkey today, it is with fear. As a Syrian, you do not feel a hundred percent safe in Turkey. We know about our lack of security and rights. It was because of that we moved. When I am in Turkey, on vacation, I am a Turkish citizen. Since I hold dual citizenship, I belong to the Turkish state when I am in their country. I have never had any problems with holding dual citizenship, or Turkish citizenship, for that part. But when I am in Turkey, I always try to stay away from problems. Sometimes it is hard to relax. I have to think… think about what I say and do in Turkey. I do not want to say the wrong things and end up in a situation where the Turkish state must interfere. All I know is that Sweden maybe cannot help me if anything would happen in Turkey. (Jakob)
For Jakob, it is sometimes hard to relax when being on vacation in Turkey. He has never had any problems with holding dual citizenship or Turkish citizenship. But because of the fear of ending up in a situation where the Turkish state must interfere, he tries to stay away from problems when visiting his country of origin. Even if Faist writes that human security means that a country should protect its citizens “both abroad, through diplomatic service, and at home”,261 this security cannot be guaranteed if a citizen holds dual citizenship.262 As Matteus and Jakob state in the two quotes above, it is not sure that Sweden can help or protect them when being in Turkey. As dual citizens, Matteus and Jakob belong to the Turkish state, when being in Turkey. In his article, Gustafson clarifies this. One problem with dual citizenship is what he explains, such as Matteus and Jakob mean, that diplomatic protection becomes limited.263 Sweden’s “possibilities to help a Swedish citizen who is in trouble in another country where he or she is a citizen are minimal”.264 Because of the limited protection by the Swedish state when visiting Turkey as Turkish citizens, Matteus and Jakob do not feel protected in Turkey. The lack of security that Syrians/Assyrians have in their country of origin is a clear example of why Matteus, Jakob, and the other participants do not feel safe in Turkey.
261 Faist, Thomas. “Introduction: The Shifting Boundaries of the Political” in Dual citizenship in global perspective: From unitary to multiple citizenship. (ed.) Faist, Thomas and Kivisto, Peter. (Basingstoke, 2007), p 9 262 Gustafson, Per. Globalisation, multiculturalism and individualism: the Swedish debate on dual citizenship. (2002), p 473 263 Ibid, p 473 264 Ibid, p 473 42
6.2 Home is where the heart belongs… dual citizenship and belonging
With the possibility to feel safe and belong to a state, Hansen and Weil write that citizenship gives citizens’ rights and duties (duties related to, for example, the military service).265 But also, as Simonsen explains, a passport that tells the world where the person comes from and what state he or she belongs too. The thing with citizenship is that most people have one, while others have none or more than one. Immigrants, for example, sometimes hold dual citizenship since they, as Simonsen writes, want to keep their old citizenship when moving and acquire citizenship in their new country of residence.266 However, even if a person holds dual citizenship, Vera-Larrucea clarifies that it does not mean that he or she necessarily feels like belonging to both of the states.267 In some cases, it does not even mean that the person in question holds dual citizenship by choice. Something that we can see in Tomas case:
For a long time, I tried to quit my Turkish citizenship. But it was impossible since I have not done my duty in the military service. In the beginning, I thought it would be easy to renounce it since I have a health problem. But the embassy told me that I have to travel to Turkey, to the military hospital so the doctors can examine me and maybe give me an exemption warrant. Well… never will I do that. A maybe is not enough. I would never risk being stuck in that hell again. Today, I cannot visit Turkey knowing that I will return to Sweden. But for me, it does not matter. I and my… my people will never feel like belonging to Turkey. I belong to Sweden, and I am thankful that I can hold Swedish citizenship, even if I have a Turkish. Now I know the feeling of being a citizen. (Tomas)
As Tomas shares in the quote above, and as the majority of the other participants ensures, they have no feeling for Turkey today. Since Turkey has and still is treating its Christian citizens differentially, because of their religion, they do not feel like belonging to their, so-called, country of origin. Tomas, for example, talks about feeling like an outsider in Turkey. He even compares the country to hell, a place he never wants to go back to. In her article, Simonsen writes that citizenship is something that marks the differences between citizens and outsiders.268 However, this is not the case for many Syrians/Assyrians from Turkey. Even if they are, or have been Turkish citizens, they do not feel like
265 Hansen, Randall and Weil, Patrick (ed.). Dual nationality, social rights and federal citizenship in the U.S. and Europe: the reinvention of citizenship. (New York, 2002), p 2 266 Simonsen, Kristina Bakkær. Does citizenship always further Immigrants’ feeling of belonging to the host nation? A study of policies and public attitudes in 14 Western democracies. (2017), p 1 267 Vera-Larrucea, Constanza. Dual Citizenship, Double Membership? Membership and Belonging of Immigrants’ Descendants in France and Sweden. (2012), p 168 268 Simonsen, Kristina Bakkær. Does citizenship always further Immigrants’ feeling of belonging to the host nation? A study of policies and public attitudes in 14 Western democracies. (2017), p 4 43
citizens in that specific country, or they do not have any positive feelings relating to their formal Turkish nationality or citizenship. But with the acceptance of holding dual citizenships, Simonsen further explains that allowing immigrants citizenships can be a powerful tool for newcomers to feel like belonging to the new place.269 The possibility of holding dual citizenship (both Swedish and Turkish citizenship) has facilitated Tomas’ sense of belonging in Sweden. This feeling of belonging can also, according to Eva, connect to the feeling of being home:
Home is where the heart belongs… that is all I have to say. My heart belongs to Sweden. I have never had feelings for Turkey. I mean, how can I have feelings for a country that has treated us badly for centuries because of our ethnicity and Christian belief? When I talk to other people, from other countries, they mean that they miss their country of origin and that having dual citizenship is a benefit... they do not have to cut the bond to their homeland. This feeling, this feeling is… well, this feeling is what I want to feel. But I do not, and that is why I did not want to keep my Turkish citizenship when becoming a Swedish citizen. In Sweden, I feel like a citizen, a member with value in a welcoming country. (Eva)
The feeling that Eva explains above is, as Simonsen writes in her article, “here understood in terms of identification with and feeling of attachment to the nation”.270 Moreover, Yuval-Davis explains that belonging is about feeling at home.271 Like Tomas, Eva states that her ethnicity, but most specifically Christian belief is why Syrians/Assyrians for centuries, have been treated differently compared to, for example, ethnic Turks (Muslims). In Sweden, she gets the feeling of being home and a member of a community, regardless of ethnicity or religion.
However, even if Eva shares that her feelings for Turkey made her quit her Turkish citizenship, she also talks about how she wants to feel. In her interview, she means that other groups of migrants see dual citizenship as a benefit when moving from a place to another. But what Eva does not know is that some Syrians/Assyrians also have these feelings for Turkey today. Even if it is not that usual, both Matteus and Jakob talks about their feelings for Turkey, when explaining why they kept their Turkish citizenship, and today, in Sweden, hold dual:
Okay, so to make a long story short... when I fled from Turkey to Sweden, I was wanted in the military. I had heard how Christians were discriminated against in the military. They, we, were not allowed to have loaded weapons, while Muslims had it. The only way out was well, yes, to flee the country. After living in Sweden, I think in two years, Turkey offered
269 Ibid, p 4 270 Ibid, p 3 271 Yuval-Davis, Nira. Belonging and the politics of belonging. (2006), p 197 44
its citizens to do the military service in 4 months instead of 18 months. I took this opportunity since I knew that I deep down still had a bond to Turkey. I will never move back, that I can ensure. We have suffered too much in Turkey, by the state and its citizens… well, it is everything from discrimination to persecution and genocide. Sweden is my home country. But with dual citizenship, I can, whenever I miss the food, the culture or the climate go there on vacation and feel like a “citizen”. (Matteus)
As we can read in the quote above, Matteus did the military to be able to visit Turkey and keep his Turkish citizenship. Jakob, on the other hand, paid the military to get an exemption warrant so that he could keep his Turkish citizenship and live with dual passports. Below he explains why:
I will probably be the only Syrian who tells you that I somehow feel at home in both Turkey and Sweden. But I only feel accepted and safe in Sweden. It is hard for Christians to have a peaceful life in Turkey. If the government and those Muslim citizens that see us for our religion could stop, Turkey would be a beautiful home for everyone. This would be a dream! But even if I am not feeling welcomed in Turkey, I have my roots there… that they cannot erase from me. Therefore I paid the military so that I did not have to do the service but still could keep my Turkish citizenship and visit the country as a citizen instead of a tourist without living there. (Jakob)
Compared to the other participants, both Matteus and Jakob have in common that they still, after the move from Turkey to Sweden, have feelings for their country of origin. What is interesting with Matteus’ statement is that he makes a clear division between Turkey as a state and the Turkish culture. Even if the Turkish state, according to him, has made his people suffer, he can still feel an attachment to the culture. By keeping his Turkish citizenship, he can travel to the country whenever he misses the food, the culture, or the climate. As Spiro writes, dual citizenship allows migrants and, in this case, Matteus but also Jacob “to enjoy the best of both worlds”.272 When missing the place, Matteus and Jakob can visit Turkey as citizens and not as tourists. However, as the other participants state, Matteus and Jakob mean that Turkey has and still are treating them badly as a group. The discrimination and the feeling of not belonging or being welcomed are some of the reasons that Turkey never will become a home for Matteus, Jakob, and in this case, the other participants.
Despite these feelings, Jakob also explains in his interview that his roots are in Turkey and not in Sweden. The feeling of wanting to keep his Turkish citizenship because of his roots is, as Gustafson describes, not unusual. Gustafson himself writes that both identity, but especially roots are something
272 Spiro, Peter. “Postnational and Transnational Citizenship” in Dual citizenship in global perspective: From unitary to multiple citizenship. (ed.) Faist, Thomas and Kivisto, Peter. (Basingstoke, 2007), p 193 45
important for immigrants. When moving to another country, it is therefore not unusual that immigrants still feel tied to their country of origin and want to maintain their past.273 With the possibility of holding dual citizenship, Mazzolari clarifies that dual citizens (immigrants) have the benefit of deciding whether they want to keep the bond and relationship with their home country when moving. If they decide to keep the contact, dual citizenship makes it easier to sponsor their relatives.274 In his paper, Faist explains that dual citizenship makes it easier for dual citizens to take care and help their elderly parents who are living abroad.275
When it comes to the participants in this study, they do not ones in their interviews talk about having relatives left in Turkey. Lea is the exception. Today her father is dead but, one of the reasons for keeping her Turkish citizenship was since her father still lived in Turkey when she came to Sweden:
Why do I hold dual citizenship? What can I say… it is not because I feel at home in Turkey. I am Swedish, with Syrian roots, and my home is here. I came to Sweden with my family, as a baby, since my family lived in fear in Turkey as Christians. But at the age of 10 to 13, I moved back to Turkey, to my father. After three years, I moved back again to Sweden. At this age, I did not think about what dual citizenship meant for me. But I wanted to keep it since I had my father left in Turkey. Maybe it would mean for him to be able to come to Sweden without any obstacle. Even if my father is dead today, I still hold dual citizenship. To be honest... I do not care about my Turkish citizenship or Turkey. I just kept it because of the laziness of removing it. (Lea)
Even if Lea states in the quote above that she does not feel at home in Turkey, she kept her Turkish citizenship since she had hoped that it would simplify her dad’s migration process to Sweden. But because of her dad’s death, she did not get to experience this. Today she has no relatives left in Turkey, something, as earlier said, stood out in all of the participant’s interviews. They all have the majority of their families gathered in Sweden, or other countries, such as Germany. Because of the Syrian/Assyrian history in Turkey of not being wanted in the country, the whole family often moved together. For this group of people, it is therefore not as typical as Faist explains to continue wanting to have a tie or bond (hold dual citizenship) to Turkey when migrating to Sweden.276 Two persons who confirm this is Rut and Lukas:
273 Gustafson, Per. Globalisation, multiculturalism and individualism: the Swedish debate on dual citizenship. (2002), p 475 274 Mazzolari, Francesca. Determinants of Naturalization: The Role of Dual Citizenship Laws. (San Diego, 2005), p 9 275 Faist, Thomas. Dual Citizenship as Overlapping Membership. (2001), p 24 276 Ibid, p 24 46
When I moved to Sweden, I immediately cut the tie between me and Turkey. Dual citizenship is probably an advantage for people who still have family, relatives, and a life or a future in their home country. But for us Syrians, this is rare. We have nothing in Turkey… I have my life, my family in Sweden. When I moved to Sweden, it was, therefore, important to start over and leave Turkey behind. When I gave up my Turkish citizenship, I started to think about my future in Sweden. Here I feel accepted by the state and its native citizens. So yes, because of my membership in this society I have never, since I moved, visited Turkey. I will always talk about Sweden as my country. My only home. (Rut)
Like Rut explains above, Lukas is determined in his interview when saying that he has nothing left in Turkey. Both of the participants mean that their whole lives are in Sweden and not in Turkey. When asking if Lukas misses Turkey, he responds by saying:
If I miss Turkey? No way. Turkey does not exist for me, and so it has been since I left. Sweden is my home. I have my whole life here. I remember when I was little, I was so young and my grandmother said to me: “When you have the chance, leave this country. This is not the life you want. You should not be scared of being yourself, of being a proud Christian. You should be accepted as long as you do not harm anyone else”. I live by her words, and that is why I only have Swedish citizenship. This country accepts me. Of course, racism exists, but I rather live in a country where I dare to be myself than in a country where the system, the state, and its citizens do not want me. In Turkey, I lived in daily fear. That is not the life I wanted for my children. (Lukas)
For both Rut and Lukas, the move to Sweden resulted in cutting the bond between them and Turkey completely. Rut, on the one hand, explains that she understands that other people, other migrants, want to keep their first country’s citizenship and hold dual citizenship if something is keeping them there. When feeling a sense of belonging as a citizen, Anant clarifies that the person in question feels accepted and recognized by the state and its citizens. This recognition creates the feeling of being part of the environment (the place itself and the people living there).277 But when you, as Rut and Lukas, have nothing left in the country, and at the same time, do not feel accepted (neither by the state nor its citizens), you want to seek for a new home in another country. In a situation like this, citizenship becomes extremely important for immigrants. With citizenship in the new country, Simonsen clarifies that the person (the immigrant) can start a new life as being accepted as a member in the community “on equal footing with the native population”.278 This acceptance, and feeling of
277 Anant, Santokh. The need to belong. (1966), p 21 278 Simonsen, Kristina Bakkær. Does citizenship always further Immigrants’ feeling of belonging to the host nation? A study of policies and public attitudes in 14 Western democracies. (2017), p 4 47
belongingness by the Swedish state, have made Sweden to a new home for Rut, Lukas, and other Syrians/Assyrians from Turkey. Even if Lucas also states in his interview that racism exists in Sweden, he means that he rather live in a country where he dares to be himself than in a country where the system and the state itself do not want him.
6.3 Dual citizenship, a help in the process of naturalization and integration?
Until now, it is clear that the majority of the participants do not feel accepted in their native country (Turkey). Even if some participants, such as Matteus and Jakob, have kept their Turkish citizenship, because of feelings for Turkey, they mean that the country never could be a home for them or other Syrians/Assyrians. Despite, that five of the participants hold dual citizenship (both Swedish and Turkish citizenship), while the other four only hold Swedish, they all have in common that Sweden is their new home. In Sweden, they all feel accepted and welcomed by the Swedish state, regardless of their Syrian/Assyrian background or Christian belief. But the feeling of belonging and acceptance has not come by itself. One participant, Maria, means that she and her people have earned the Swedish societies and its citizen’s acceptance:
Even if I came here at a young age, I directly started to think about the life I wanted in Sweden. I did not want to go back to Turkey, a country where I daily got harassed and called gavur [non-Muslim: someone who blasphemes God or who does not believe in Allah]. When moving to Sweden, I started sfi [Swedish for immigrants] and school. To integrate and fit into Swedish society, it was important for my family to start living like Swedes and forget Turkey. Today, we work, pay taxes, talk fluent Swedish, live by the Swedish rules, and their cultural holiday. I mean, Syrians and Assyrians are known for their successful integration in Sweden, which makes me happy and proud. By hard work, we have, if I may say so, earned our place and acceptance in this society today. (Maria)
When interviewing Maria, as we can see in the quote above, she radiated joy when explaining the conditions of Syrians/Assyrians in Sweden today. She is straightforward about that she thinks that her people have earned their place in Swedish society. Just like the native Swedes, she means that the group lives and works. As in Isin’s and Turner’s definition of citizenship, Maria argues that they carry out their duties as citizens and by that have earned their place in Sweden as accepted citizens, with rights.279
In her interview, Maria does not only talk about how Syrians/Assyrians work in Sweden. She also clarifies, from the perspective of her family, that they have integrated by learning the Swedish
279 Isin, Engin and Turner, Bryan. Investigating Citizenship: An Agenda for Citizenship Studies. (2007), p 5 48
language and live by the countries rules and cultural holidays. Connected to integration, Sweden has liberal laws on naturalization. Charles Westin clarifies that the Swedish state encourages migrants who plan to stay in Sweden to naturalize as Swedish citizens. Since the Syrian/Assyrian people have a long history of oppression in Turkey the reason for leaving has been to stay and establish in Sweden. For this group of people, naturalization has been an opportunity to start over and live as integrated citizens, side by side with the native population.280 By naturalizing into the Swedish society, they do not, as Westin further writes, “diverge in significant respects from comparable population segments of native-born Swedish citizen”.281 Just like Maria, Eva tells that she feels like a Swedish citizen, since she lives, and according to her, has the same rights as one. But compared to Maria, Eva explains that the road to naturalization and integration has not been that easy for all Syrians/Assyrians:
Today I am, if you ask me, fully integrated into Swedish society. I only have Swedish citizenship, I live like a person who is born here, and by that, I have the same rights as the natives. However, I would not say that the road to feeling one with Sweden was easy. It was rather, what can I say? Long and harsh. I mean, I came, we came, from a country where we lived in fear of being ourselves. In Turkey, I daily thought about who I was. I was a proud Assyrian and Christian. But the country wanted me to be ashamed of who I was. When I came to Sweden, I felt lost. I was lost in Turkey too, but you know I understood Turkish and their mentality. In Sweden, everything was new. I did not understand Swedish, the people, or their culture. I was scared, scared of integrating, and lose myself… I did not want to lose the love I had for my people and our bellowed mother language. Back then, I had like a crisis. But no matter what, I never wanted to go back to Turkey. I wanted to believe that Sweden was the country I someday would call home. Look now… today I am a proud Swede with an Assyrian background. Sweden allowed me to grow and find myself, and for that, I will always be thankful. (Eva)
The feeling that Eva had in Turkey, the feeling of being lost and not knowing who she was, was a feeling that followed her to Sweden. She explains that it was different in Turkey, but somehow it was the same feeling. In Turkey, she was scared of being a Christian, but she understood the language (Turkish) and the people’s mentality. Sweden was all new for her. When moving to Sweden, she talks about having a crisis. In his chapter in Baser’s and Levin’s book, Makko writes that the Syrian/Assyrian people have gone through one and another failure before they started to succeed in Swedish society. He writes that it got obvious when the first Swedes-born generation came to the
280 Westin, Charles. ”Reflections on the issue of integration” in Migration from Turkey to Sweden: Integration, Belonging and Transnational Community. (ed.) Başer, Bahar and Levin, Paul. (London, 2017), p 51 281 Ibid, p 51 49
world. Back then, the Syrian/Assyrian community faced new challenges such as alcohol, drug abuse, and changes in the family structures. In Sweden, the Syrian/Assyrian people are a group also known for gang violence and organized crime.282 Makko explains that “one of the first organised Swedish street gangs involved in public shootings and murders in the early 1990s, ‘Original Gangsters’ (commonly known as ‘OG’) from Gothenburg, was established by Assyrian immigrant Denho Acar”.283 However, for the participants (some of them), as Makko further clarifies, when integrating into the Swedish society, the biggest crisis was the fear of losing their roots (Syrian/Assyrian identity) and the fear of Swedish replacing their mother language (Syriac).284 But regardless of this fear, Eva wanted to believe that Sweden someday would be a home for her. The move to Sweden was, as we can see in the two quotes above, a new start for both Maria and Eva. They wanted to be accepted by the Swedish state and its citizen. Therefore, they cut the bond to Turkey and started to live like the native-born in Sweden.
Compared to Maria and Eva, who naturalized and integrated into Swedish society without keeping their Turkish citizenship. Petrus and Matteus are two participants who explain that the keeping of their former citizenship helped them integrate into the country of settlement (Sweden):
The first years in Sweden was maybe the hardest for me. You know, or wait, maybe you do not know. We came here as refugees, and the first thing we: me, and my family faced was a new culture, a new language, and new people. In the beginning, I was scared. I was not afraid of the country and its people. Rather, scared of letting go of my roots in Turkey. Even if I, then, as today, hate Turkey for how they have treated my people, it is the country where I grew up. Since dual citizenship was accepted in both Sweden and Turkey, I kept my Turkish. Today, my Turkish citizenship means nothing for me. Nothing. But back in the days… back then, the keeping of my Turkish citizenship made me dare to integrate. I did not have to stress or be sad over to choose one citizenship. When keeping my Turkish citizenship, I had the feeling of being someone until I found the new me in Sweden. (Petrus)
Even if Petrus state in the quote above that his Turkish citizenship means nothing for him today. It had another type of attachment to him when he first moved to Sweden. Since he and his family came to Sweden, as refugees, everything (the culture, language, and people) was new for them. For Petrus, the biggest fear was to let go of his roots in Turkey. Since Sweden and Turkey accepted dual
282 Makko, Aryo. ”In search of a new home: The Assyrian diaspora in Sweden” in Migration from Turkey to Sweden: Integration, Belonging and Transnational Community. (ed.) Başer, Bahar and Levin, Paul. (London, 2017), p 262 & 277 283 Ibid, p 262 284 Ibid, p 277 50
citizenship he chose to keep his former citizenship, to dare integrate into Sweden, without being forced to let go of his roots or the feeling of being someone (having an identity: Syrian identity). For many migrants, such as in Petrus’s case, Faist and Gerdes clarify that choosing one citizenship over the other can cause emotional difficulties. Instead of choosing one, dual citizenship gives migrants the right to live out their attachments and identities to their country of origin, as they build new ones in the new state.285
In addition to Petrus, as noted earlier, Matteus is another participant who, in his interview, talks about dual citizenship as a help at the beginning of his journey to integrate into Swedish society. Earlier, he has shared that he did the military service (and kept his Turkish citizenship) to be able to visit Turkey whenever he misses the food, the culture, and the climate in Turkey. But the keeping of his Turkish citizenship has also made his integration process, in Sweden, more successful. Below he argues about dual citizenship and its help in his process to naturalize and integrate into the Swedish society:
I was in my 20s… 25 something when I came to Sweden. For me, it felt impossible to get used to the new life that waited for me in Sweden. But I wanted to… well, I had to get used. So I worked. That, I did. I planned to start study at the university. Which I did quite directly when I learned Swedish. But what I did not know back then was that the keeping of my Turkish citizenship, and dual citizenship, would help me integrate and become a part of the Swedish society and welfare. Since I had a type of connection left to Turkey… well, not really to the country, but my roots there. My Turkish citizenship made me feel like being near my ancestors and not abandon them once again. To make them and my family happy, I did everything to start over and succeed as a Swedish citizen. (Matteus)
Naturalization, in recent years, as Faist clarifies, is less dependent on migrants being forced to give up their former citizenship. The tolerance and acceptance of dual citizenship, in Sweden and Turkey, gave Petrus and Matteus the right to keep their roots and simultaneously integrate into Swedish society and become Swedish citizens.286 For Matteus, as stated in the quote above, the feeling of not having to abandon his ancestors once again (since he already had left them when leaving Turkey) gave him the strength to not give up and instead start over, integrate and succeed in Sweden. The knowing of not having to let go of their roots and instead hold dual citizenship, which Spång writes is a tool for immigrants’ integration, made Petrus and Matteus willing and ready to integrate into the new society.287 Because of how dual citizenship encourages immigrants to naturalize and integrate as
285 Faist, Thomas and Gerdes, Jürgen. Dual Citizenship in the Age of Mobility. (2008), p 10 286 Faist, Thomas. Dual Citizenship as Overlapping Membership. (Malmö, 2001), p 11 287 Spång, Mikael. ”Pragmatism All the Way Down? The Politics of Dual Citizenship in Sweden” in Dual Citizenship in Europe: From Nationhood to Societal Integration. (ed.) Faist, Thomas. (Aldershot, 2007), p 109 51
newcomers, the concept is more common than expected. Faist, for example, explains that available empirical surveys regarding the topic argue that immigrants prefer maintaining their former citizenship when wanting to naturalize into another country.288 However, this is not always the case, especially not for Syrians/Assyrians from Turkey.
Petrus and Matteus may be two examples of that it exists Syrians/Assyrians from Turkey who see the positivity of keeping the former citizenship, to increase the possibility to integrate into the new country. But for the other participants, this was rare. No one, except for Petrus and Matteus, argue or even talks about how dual citizenship has helped or could have helped them when moving to Sweden. Instead, as in Tomas case, he shares that the keeping of his Turkish citizenship only made it complicated for him:
Ohhh… my Turkish citizenship only reminds me of how badly I want and wanted to quit it. I came to Sweden to stay and, as I am today, be part of the new society. But in the beginning, it was complicated. We, I came here by force. The last thing you wanted to have on your mind was the fear of, I do not know… but the fear of being forced to move back because of the keeping of Turkish citizenship. With or without dual citizenship, I had my family in Sweden, and it was in this country I was going to live. My Turkish citizenship did not help me to understand and learn the Swedish culture, language, or rules. It is a matter of course. To succeed and be part of a community you have to accept the rules and the lifestyle. And well, that is what many Assyrians and Syrians have done. (Tomas)
According to Tomas, the keeping of his Turkish citizenship did not make him learn how to live or become an integrated citizen in Sweden. Just like the American sociologist Milton Gordon explains, Tomas thinks of integration as active participation.289 To be able to integrate and succeed in the Swedish society, it was a matter of course for Tomas, with or without Turkish citizenship, to start living by their rules and lifestyle. The keeping of his Turkish citizenship only made him fear to someday maybe having to move back to Turkey, and that was it.
Like another participant, Maria, have told earlier (the first quote in this section), Tomas is well aware about the Syrians/Assyrians’ success in integrating into the Swedish society. As in his condition, Başer and Levin write that due to the forced deportation from Turkey, many Syrians/Assyrians have chosen Sweden as their new home. Today it is said that more Syrians/Assyrians are living in Sweden than in Turkey, and because of their oppressed condition in Turkey, they have been focusing on their
288 Faist, Thomas. Dual Citizenship as Overlapping Membership. (Malmö, 2001), p 13 289 Westin, Charles. ”Reflections on the issue of integration” in Migration from Turkey to Sweden: Integration, Belonging and Transnational Community. (ed.) Başer, Bahar and Levin, Paul. (London, 2017), p 50 52
new lives in Sweden.290 The group is, for example, active in Swedish political circles, and they have been, as Başer and Levin further clarifies, “highly successful when it comes to integration into the Swedish public sphere, with a number of high-profile athletes, artist, columnists and politicians”.291 The willingness to integrate and become one with Sweden is something Syrians/Assyrians, Tomas, and not least the other participants have in common. Like Tomas, Rut explains during her interview that she wanted to learn everything about Sweden when she moved. Without keeping her Turkish citizenship, she was able to take a step back from Turkey and start focusing on her new life in Sweden:
The road to be and feel like a Swedish citizen was not hard for me. I came here, like other Syrians, with the attitude that I would settle down. That was it. Sweden welcomed my people when we had a hard time in Turkey. I will always be thankful for that. Sweden saved me from hell. To thank Sweden, I wanted to learn everything. Everything from the language, culture, to how it was to live as a normal native-born. Without having to leave my own religion and culture behind, but cut the connection between me and Turkey… I took, how can I explain this… but I took a step back from Turkey to start focusing on my life in Sweden. Soon I was educated and had a job. (Rut)
Even if dual citizenship is said, as Schuck explains, to encourage long-term immigrants to naturalize and integrate.292 Ruts statement above shows that migrants can integrate without any attachment to the country of origin. For Rut, it is clear that she is thankful for that Sweden has opened up their country, and saved her from, what she means, hell. Makko himself writes that the kindness, support, and the opportunities that Sweden has given the Syrian/Assyrian people, have left them thankful for being part of the Swedish society.293 Since Sweden has given these people, both as individuals and a group, the opportunity to live out their belief and culture, Rut mean that her way of thanking Sweden has been to integrate and start living like a citizen in the country.
6.4 No loyalty, no genuine citizen
The move from Turkey to Sweden has, as we can see in many of the previous statements, created new attachment and feelings for the participants in the Swedish society. Today, the Syrian/Assyrian people see Sweden as their new home, and with this feeling, new loyalties toward their new home country have arisen. When having the opportunity to hold dual citizenship, as the participants, such as other
290 Başer, Bahar and Levin, Paul (ed.). Migration from Turkey to Sweden: Integration, Belonging and Transnational Community. (London, 2017), p 9 291 Ibid, p 9 292 Schuck, Peter. “Plural citizenship” in Dual nationality, social rights and federal citizenship in the U.S. and Europe: the reinvention of citizenship. (ed.) Hansen, Randall and Weil, Patrick. (New York, 2002), p 76 293 Makko, Aryo. ”In search of a new home: The Assyrian diaspora in Sweden” in Migration from Turkey to Sweden: Integration, Belonging and Transnational Community. (ed.) Başer, Bahar and Levin, Paul. (London, 2017), p 273 53
Syrians/Assyrians from Turkey, Faist, and Gerdes explain that a dual citizen can stay committed to the country of origin, as he/she creates new commitments and loyalties to the country of settlement as well.294 However, after the interviews with the participants, it is clear that the Syrian/Assyrian people do not feel loyal to Turkey, even if they have kept their Turkish citizenship, after the move to Sweden, or not. Three participants who confirm this is among others, Rut, Lea, and Petrus:
Since I did not keep my Turkish citizenship when becoming a Swedish citizen, it became a fact and proof that I am not and will never be loyal to Turkey. The only thing I had in my mind when coming to Sweden was that I wanted to cut my bond to the Turkish state. Turkey has made my people suffer for decades, so my “punishment” towards them was to leave the country and my Turkish citizenship behind. For me, dual citizenship benefits the country, such as tourism does. If I had kept my Turkish citizenship, I had to pay to renew my passport after a few years, and so it would continue. I will never pay the Turkish state anything, and I will never visit Turkey. I mean, why would I? My people lived in Turkey in fear. If we had protection and rights, some of us would probably live as loyal citizens in Turkey now. But well, so is not the case. In Sweden, my people and I are welcome and safe. Therefore we, or if I talk for myself, I owe them my respect and commitment. (Rut)
When Rut came to Sweden, she talks about how she wanted to cut the bond between her and the Turkish state right away. Since Turkey has made her people suffer for decades in their country of origin, she wanted to, as she states it, “punish” them. By leaving Turkey and her Turkish citizenship behind, when becoming a Swedish citizen, it became clear that she never would be a loyal Turkish citizen. For Rut, it is important to not benefit the Turkish state after everything they have done to the Syrian/Assyrian people. For example, she explains that she will never aid their tourism, and when quitting her Turkish citizenship, it meant for her that she never has to pay the Turkish state when renewing the Turkish passport. But, in her interview, Rut further clarifies that some of her people probably would have been living in Turkey today as loyal citizens if the Turkish state had given them protection and rights. Connected to what Faist writes, Rut means that since Sweden is the country that has welcomed her people and given them safety, it is Sweden she and other Syrians/Assyrians respects and, as Faist states, has undivided loyalty to.295
Just like Rut, Lea tells in the quote below that she has zero loyalty to the Turkish state today. Even if she has, compared to Rut, kept her Turkish citizenship, after the move to Sweden, she has earlier shared that it was all because of the laziness of removing it. According to Lea, the keeping of her
294 Faist, Thomas and Gerdes, Jürgen. Dual Citizenship in an Age of Mobility. (2008), p 10 295 Faist, Thomas (ed.). Dual Citizenship in Europe: From Nationhood to Societal Integration. (Aldershot, 2007), p 37 54
Turkish citizenship does not mean that she is a loyal Turkish citizen. Without, compared to Rut’s statement above, she clarifies that the keeping of her Turkish citizenship shows the Turkish state that she still is a citizen there, but not a loyal one:
Even if I am a Turkish citizen, I am the definition of a disloyal one. I mean, I will never work for the Turkish state or do other stuff a citizen should. My people are victims... victims of genocide in Turkey, and victims of everyday persecution and discrimination in our country of origin because of our Christian belief. So the question is, why should we even bother being loyal to that one country? I have zero loyalty to Turkey, and I think I am talking for the majority of my people. When we moved from Turkey, it was only because of force. I do not think that a person can have loyalty to a country that has made him or her suffer. That person will become disloyal to his or her country of origin. Especially if he or she, such as me and my people, have found a new place to accede to. Since Sweden has saved us, it is Sweden I always will be loyal to as a citizen. (Lea)
In his book, Miller writes that no group, “has any particular reason to accede to the demand of any other, unless it can gain some advantage from doing so”.296 Since the Syrian/Assyrian people have been victims of genocide and still are victims of daily persecution and discrimination in Turkey, Sweden is one of the countries the Christian minority, as Lea state above, have acceded to. By forced migration, Lea means that Sweden is the country that has saved her people from suffering in Turkey. Since being forced to leave Turkey, she has no loyalty to her country of origin today. As Hirschman clarifies, migrants, such as Rut, Lea, and other Syrians/Assyrians, who have faced danger, violence, or oppression in their country of origin are often ending up with undermined loyalty or even disloyalty to that country.297 Despite that Lea holds dual citizenship, she clarifies that she never will do stuff (duties) a citizen should, as, for example, working for the Turkish state. Her loyalty is toward Sweden, which Petrus, another participant, also states in his interview. Like Lea, Petrus talks about his loyalty to Sweden and disloyalty to Turkey. Although he too holds dual citizenship, he only feels attached and committed to the Swedish state and society. According to Petrus, he and his people proved their loyalty to Sweden already when they were permanent residents in the Swedish state:
When I was a permanent resident in Sweden… I always got the feeling that the Swedish state was scared. Scared of me, and other Syrians. Well, I do not mean that they were scared of us as people, but scared of that we, maybe would not be able to leave Turkey behind and be loyal to Sweden. I understand if this is a problem for other migrant groups. But my
296 Miller, David. Citizenship and National Identity. (Cambridge, 2000), p 77 297 Piguet, Etienne. “Theories of voluntary and forced migration” in Routledge Handbook of Environmental Displacement and Migration. (ed.) Gemenne, François and McLeman, Robert. (London, 2018), p 24 55
people, even those few who have kept their Turkish citizenship, like me, proved Sweden early that the country was going to be our new home. Already as permanent residents, we started to establish and integrate into Swedish society. It became clear that we were in Sweden to start over and develop commitments to the Swedish state. Today as a loyal citizen, I could even serve the Swedish military, which I did not in Turkey. Well, I got absolved from the military in Turkey, because of disability. But I would never have served the Turkish military anyway. But if I could, I would definitely have served the Swedish military. In the end, I would say… no loyalty, no genuine citizen. Since I appreciate everything Sweden has done for my people, I would do anything for the country. (Petrus)
By explaining his loyalty to Sweden, Petrus talks about the beginning of his journey as a permanent resident in Sweden. At that time, he had the feeling of the Swedish state being scared of not knowing if he and other Syrians/Assyrians would be able to leave Turkey behind and start living as loyal Swedish citizens. In their paper, Faist and Gerdes write that governments “most pressing problem regarding loyalty concerns those permanent residents who are not willing to renounce their citizenship of origin”,298 even if “many of them probably will not return to their country of origin”.299 Petrus himself understands that this might be a problem for the state. But even if he, like a few other Syrians/Assyrians, have kept their Turkish citizenship, his people came to Sweden to establish and integrate into Swedish society. Some Syrians/Assyrians, such as Rut, have quit their Turkish citizenship, while others, like Lea and Petrus, have kept theirs. Regardless, all three of them, and some other participants, argue the same about being loyal to Sweden and not to Turkey. As a dual citizen, who integrated and naturalized into the Swedish society, Petrus mean, what Martin explains, that this became a proof of his loyalty to Sweden. When dual citizens naturalize into the new country, it is usual that they, such as Petrus, end up fully committed to, for instance, serving the country.300
Further, in his interview, Petrus makes a statement that no loyalty means no genuine citizen. In Turkey, he got absolved from the Turkish military because of disability. But regardless of disability or not, Petrus makes it clear, in the quote above, that he would never have served the Turkish military. However, because of his appreciation and loyalty to Sweden, he would have done the military in Sweden if his disability did not stop him. Another participant, who, like Petrus, talks about the military service in terms of loyalty is Matteus. Compared to Petrus, Matteus has done military service in Turkey. Below he explains why:
298 Faist, Thomas and Gerdes, Jürgen. Dual Citizenship in an Age of Mobility. (2008), p 13 299 Ibid, p 13 300 Martin, David. “New Rules for Dual Nationality” in Dual nationality, social rights and federal citizenship in the U.S. and Europe: the reinvention of citizenship. (ed.) Hansen, Randall and Weil, Patrick. (New York, 2002), p 40 56
As a citizen, I think that it should be a matter of course that you serve and make sacrifices for the country. But there are exceptions… my people’s reason for not having any loyalty to the Turkish state is, according, to me, a matter of course. I think I have told this earlier, but well, yes, I have done military service in Turkey. But the reason, the real reason for that I did the military was because of avoiding problems in Turkey since I wanted to keep my Turkish citizenship when moving to Sweden. But to be honest, I did not do the military to serve the country or help them when needed. I did it for my benefit. I would never sacrifice myself for a country that treats its citizens differently because of their religion. I would sacrifice myself for Sweden... or help them if they need my help as a citizen. (Matteus)
In republican theory, the political community, as Yuval-Davis write, “mediates between the individual citizen and the state, and loyalty to that political community, the nation, and its preservation and promotion are the primary duties of the citizen”.301 When being a member of a political community, citizens should, which Matteus think, and as Gustafson further clarifies, be prepared to make sacrifices for its member state.302 However, there are exceptions, according to Matteus. Since Turkey has treated his people differently because of their Christian belief, Matteus, who is a dual citizen, only talks about his loyalty toward Sweden, a country he would sacrifice himself for. Compared to the other male participants, Matteus has done military service in Turkey. It is a way of serving the country, since citizenship, as Isin and Turner describe, is constructed through a citizen’s duties that are related to, for example, public service (military service).303 But the only reason that Matteus did the military was because of avoiding problems in Turkey when keeping his Turkish citizenship, side by side with his Swedish citizenship. In other words, as Matteus explains, he did the military for his benefit and not because of his loyalty or commitment to the Turkish state. As he states in the quote above, he would never sacrifice his life for Turkey, or even help them if needed.
When speaking of a citizen’s loyalty toward the nation and the sacrifices he/she should be able to make for the state. Two participants, Eva and Jakob, instead talk about the confession and sacrifice their people have waited for the Turkish state to make for its Christian population. In the two interviews below, both Eva and Jakob talk about the Syrian/Assyrian genocide, called Seyfo. For a long time, Eva, Jakob, and other Syrians/Assyrians have been waiting for the Turkish state to recognize the genocide of their people, which, as Barryakoub writes, took place in 1915, in Turkey.304
301 Yuval-Davis, Nira. Belonging and the politics of belonging. (2006), p 206 302 Gustafson, Per. Globalisation, multiculturalism and individualism: the Swedish debate on dual citizenship. (2002), p 464 303 Isin, Engin and Turner, Bryan. Investigating Citizenship: An Agenda for Citizenship Studies. (2007), p 5 304 Barryakoub, Afram. Broking Historia: En bok om Assyrierna från forntid till nu. (2008), p 47 57
For Eva and Jakob, the denial has been a reason that they today have no loyalty to their country of origin. Eva, for example, explains that one reason for not keeping her Turkish citizenship, when becoming a Swedish citizen, was because she knew that Turkey would never admit that the killing of her people during Seyfo was a genocide:
For me, loyalty is something you earn. With that said, I do not think that Turkey deserves my people’s loyalty. Even today, even if I am not a Turkish citizen, I am suffering. My people have waited for a confession from the Turkish state... but they will never admit that the killing of my people in 1915 was a genocide. So well, that is one of the reasons that I did not keep my Turkish citizenship. But if I knew that it existed like, for example, a political party in Turkey who fought for the value of the Christian population, I would probably have kept my Turkish citizenship. I will always do everything for my people. If it meant for me to keep my Turkish citizenship alongside with my Swedish, I would. I would have been a loyal Turkish citizen if they respected us. But they do not. The Turkish state does nothing for us. But Sweden does. Therefore, I am forever loyal to Sweden. (Eva)
In her interview, Eva means that loyalty is something you earn. Since Turkey has done nothing for her people, she thinks that the Turkish state does not deserve their loyalty. As Eva shares, she is still suffering, even if she today does not hold Turkish citizenship. The killing of her people in 1915 is an ongoing problem for Eva and other Syrians/Assyrians. Until today, they are all waiting for the Turkish state to admit the killing and the violence they made the minority be victims of in their country of origin. Because of denial, Jakob states, in the quote below, that it has been difficult for him and other Syrians/Assyrians to move on and stop being reminded of how the Turkish state did and still are treating them:
As a dual citizen, I can vote in both Sweden and Turkey. But I only vote in Sweden. This is most likely because of my loyalty to Sweden. The country has made my people feel like citizens with value, and what I love about Sweden is how they have let my people bring our problems as Christians in Turkey into Swedish politics. Compared to Turkey, we have a voice in Sweden. Because of the ongoing denial in Turkey, it is difficult for me, and my people, to move on. The denial in Turkey becomes a reminder of how the Turkish state did and still are treating us. As a dual citizen, I would vote in both Sweden and Turkey if the politics benefited everyone… also the Christian population in Turkey. Sweden, on the other hand, has always tried to make our situation in Turkey heard, and for that, I will always be thankful and a loyal Swedish citizen. Sweden supports us, so I support them. (Jakob)
58
Since dual citizenship is accepted, in both Sweden and Turkey, dual citizens, such as Jakob, have the right, as Faist explains, to vote in both of the countries.305 When talking about a citizen’s loyalty toward its member state/states, citizenship and political loyalty to a state, was, as Faist further clarifies, a few decades ago “still considered to form an inseparable unity”.306 In their interviews, both Eva and Jakob talk about their disloyalty to Turkey in terms of politics. Eva, for example, shares that she probably would have kept her Turkish citizenship and been a loyal Turkish citizen if it had benefited the Christian population in her country of origin. If there, for instance, existed a political party in Turkey who fought for the value of the Christian citizens, she would vote in both Sweden and Turkey, something Jakob also clarifies. Since Sweden is a country that, according to Jakob, makes him and his people feel like citizens with a value, it is Sweden he has developed his loyalty to.
Compared to Turkey, Jakob means that his people have a voice in Sweden and the right to engage in Swedish politics. As Levin and Başer write, which Jakob explains, Syrians/Assyrians have been able to bring their homeland problems and “politics to the Swedish political arena and acting on them constantly seeking transnational support”.307 Like other participants have stated, Jakob is thankful for everything Sweden has done for his people. According to Jakob, as Lundgren clarifies, Sweden has made the Syrian/Assyrian peoples exposed position in Turkey heard. In his book, Lundgren writes that in 2010 the Swedish Social Democratic Party actively began to work for the sake of Christian minorities in Turkey. They wanted Sweden, the EU, and the UN to admit that the killing of Syrians/Assyrians during World War I was a genocide.308 The support from the Swedish state is one of the reasons that Eva, Jakob, and other Syrians/Assyrians have ended up loyal to their new home country, Sweden. Some of them would even, as they state it, sacrifice themselves for Sweden. Something they would not do for their country of origin, Turkey.
305 Faist, Thomas. Dual Citizenship as Overlapping Membership. (Malmö, 2001), p 26 306 Faist, Thomas. “Introduction: The Shifting Boundaries of the Political” in Dual citizenship in global perspective: From unitary to multiple citizenship. (ed.) Faist, Thomas and Kivisto, Peter. (Basingstoke, 2007), p 1 307 Başer, Bahar and Levin, Paul (ed.). Migration from Turkey to Sweden: Integration, Belonging and Transnational Community. (London, 2017), p 14 308 Lundgren, Svante. Hundra år av tveksamhet: Osmanska folkmordet på kristna och Sveriges reaktion. (Åbo, 2014), p 25 59
7. CONCLUSION
In this section, I will present and conclude the result from the previous chapter. The thesis has aimed to develop a study about how the Syrian/Assyrian Christian minority from Turkey thinks, feels, reasons and argues about dual citizenship. Since dual citizenship, nowadays, is accepted in both Sweden and their country of origin, Turkey, I wanted to know if Syrians/Assyrians in Sweden prefer holding Turkish citizenship, side by side, with their Swedish citizenship. Because of a history filled with oppression, discrimination, violence and death (Seyfo in 1915) in Turkey, I wanted to understand the minority’s relationship to their country of origin today, and if their feelings for Turkey is a reason for that some of them have kept their Turkish citizenship, while others have not, after the migration to Sweden in the 1970s.
With the use of qualitative interviews, nine Syrians/Assyrians were interviewed for this study. Five of them hold dual citizenship, and four of them (former Turkish citizens) now only hold Swedish citizenship. The analyses are based on the participant’s stories, feelings, knowledge and understandings about dual citizenship, in the sense of security and safety, belonging, naturalization and integration and loyalty. Since the analysis is divided into four different themes (with the help of the used concepts), I will conclude the results theme by theme below.
7.1 Conclusion: The four themes
7.1.1 Dual citizenship in the sense of security and safety
During the in-depth interviews with the participants, the first question that I asked was: Why did you move, or flee to Sweden? All of them had in common that the move to Sweden was to escape their everyday lives as oppressed Christians in Turkey. With daily harassment and discrimination, the Christian minority lived in their country of origin in fear and without any protection from the Turkish state. Because of lack of security and safety in their former home country, it became, as Mau explains, important to find protection in another country, in this case, in Sweden, for Syrians/Assyrians.309
When talking about the sense of security and safety, all participants, both dual citizens, and former Turkish citizens talk about Turkish citizenship in terms of fear. The participants have lived in Turkey as citizens, and some of them are even today citizens of the Turkish state. Yet, the Turkish state does not offer the group rights and protection. Miller explains that citizenship corresponds to a set of rights and responsibilities enjoyed equally by all citizens. To be a citizen means, therefore, that the person
309 Mau, Steffen. Mobility Citizenship, Inequality, and the Liberal State: The Case of Visa Policies. (2010), p 343 60
has the right to security and safety, regardless of, for example, religion, ethnicity, or color.310 Just like citizens have duties, the state has, as Faist further clarifies, the responsibility to protect its citizens.311 However, because of their Christian belief, Syrians/Assyrians were and are still treated differently, even if they, like the rest of the Turkish population (most likely ethnic Turks), have served the country before. When sharing their experiences as unprotected citizens in Turkey, some of the participants explained that it became a matter of course for the Christian minority to start protecting themselves from discrimination and danger in Turkey. By hiding their identities and protecting their children, some Syrian/Assyrian parents gave their children Turkish names, instead of Christian names. Even today, when visiting Turkey, the minority is aware of their position as unprotected citizens in the country. As Lea, one of the participants, who holds dual citizenship, shares in her interview, she, for example, does not wear her cross necklace when visiting Turkey to avoid problems.
Since the Syrian/Assyrian people continue to be “invisible” and not recognized as a minority by the Turkish state,312 the participants mean that Turkey mistreats them because of their religion. Without security and safety in Turkey, their ID cards are one example for that those Syrians/Assyrians who are still Turkish citizens are treated differently compared to the Muslim population. On their ID cards, it says that they are Christians. Because of the lack of protection and because of their ID cards in Turkey, the ones holding Turkish citizenship are scared of ending up in situations where their lives are in the hands of the Turkish state. When visiting Turkey as dual citizens, the minority belongs to Turkey and not to Sweden. For those who hold dual citizenship in this study, this is a problem when visiting Turkey. Without any trust in the Turkish state, Faist writes that human security means that a country should protect its citizens abroad and at home.313 However, this security cannot be guaranteed if a citizen holds dual citizenship.314 As Gustafson clarifies, Sweden’s “possibilities to help a Swedish citizen who is in trouble in another country where he or she is a citizen are minimal”.315 Because of the limited protection by the Swedish state, some of the participants who hold dual citizenship makes statements of the importance of being careful and stay out of problems when visiting Turkey.
310 Miller, David. Citizenship and National Identity. (Cambridge, 2000), p 82 311 Faist, Thomas. “Introduction: The Shifting Boundaries of the Political” in Dual citizenship in global perspective: From unitary to multiple citizenship. (ed.) Faist, Thomas and Kivisto, Peter. (Basingstoke, 2007), p 9 312 Karimova, Nigar and Deverell, Edward. Minorities in Turkey. (Stockholm, 2001), p 7 & 12 313 Faist, Thomas. “Introduction: The Shifting Boundaries of the Political” in Dual citizenship in global perspective: From unitary to multiple citizenship. (ed.) Faist, Thomas and Kivisto, Peter. (Basingstoke, 2007), p 9 314 Gustafson, Per. Globalisation, multiculturalism and individualism: the Swedish debate on dual citizenship. (2002), p 473 315 Ibid, p 473 61
7.1.2 Dual citizenship in the sense of belonging
Compared to the Turkish state, Sweden has given the Syrian/Assyrian people security and protection. The country allows the group to practice their Christian beliefs without having to be scared of going through daily harassment or discrimination. When talking about dual citizenship in the sense of belonging, the majority of the participants clarified that they do not have any feelings for their country of origin today. Since Turkey has and still is treating its Christian citizens differentially, they do not feel welcomed or as they belong to their former home country. Belonging itself can, as Yuval-Davis explains, be understood in terms of feeling at home.316 Because of their position in Turkey as unprotected citizens, without rights, all of the participants confirm that Sweden is their new and only home. Even if it exists racism in Sweden, Lucas is one of the participants who mean that he rather live in a country where he can be himself than in a country like Turkey, where the system and the state do not want him. Without any feelings for their country of origin, the flight from Turkey to Sweden resulted in some participants cutting their bond to Turkey completely, and today only hold Swedish citizenship.
All the Syrians/Assyrians who participated in this study indicate that they have nothing left in Turkey. Their families, for example, are now living in Sweden or other counties outside of Turkey. Because of their oppressed position in their former home country, they all, even those holding Turkish citizenship, confirm that Turkey will never be a home for them again. However, two participants, Rut and Eva, understand other migrants who want to maintain their former citizenship when moving. If something is keeping them there, dual citizenship becomes a benefit rather than a problem. As Faist clarifies, dual citizenship makes it easier for dual citizens to take care of their elderly parents who are living abroad.317 But for this particular minority, it is not relevant. Contrary to much research on dual citizenship, then, for Syrians/Assyrians it is not common to continue to want to have a tie or bond to their first home country or country of birth.318 Compared to previous research about dual citizenship, this is where my study differs. Even if five of the participants are dual citizens, only two saw dual citizenship as a benefit. One participant said that she kept her Turkish citizenship because she has been too lazy the laziness to get rid of it. Tomas, on the other hand, a participant whose story stood out in this thesis, shares how he has tried to get rid of his Turkish citizenship for years. Unfortunately,
316 Yuval-Davis, Nira. Belonging and the politics of belonging. (2006), p 197 317 Faist, Thomas. Dual Citizenship as Overlapping Membership. (2001), p 24 318 Ibid, p 24 62
he has not managed to do so. But with the acceptance of dual citizenship, he still has the chance, as Simonsen writes, to feel like belonging to the new place, in this case, to Sweden.319
Although this study, as said, diverges from most previous research about dual citizenship - in the sense that Syrians/Assyrians compared to other migrant groups, do not want to maintain their bond to their country of origin after moving, there is an exception amongst my informants. Despite that the Turkish state has made his people suffer for decades, Matteus can, as he shares in his interview, make differences between the state, the country, and its culture. With the possibility to hold dual citizenship, Matteus and other Syrians/Assyrians can live, serve and belong to Sweden but still, when missing the food, the culture, or the climate, visit Turkey as citizens, and as Spiro writes, “enjoy the best of both worlds” as dual citizens.320
7.1.3 Dual citizenship in the sense of naturalization and integration
As discussed in the previous, it is clear that all of the participants feel unprotected, not welcomed, and not at home in Turkey. The minority has, as they have shared, nothing left in their former home country, and therefore it became a matter of course for all of them to create new lives in Sweden as Swedish citizens.
Already when migrating to Sweden, the reason for leaving Turkey was, as the majority of the participant’s mean, to stay and establish themselves in Sweden. None of them has thoughts about moving back, and today they are all thankful for being part of a country that saved and welcomed their people when having a hard time living as Christians in their country of origin. However, as Maria shares in her interview, the road to feeling one with the Swedish society and its native citizens has not come by itself. According to Maria, Syrians/Assyrians have earned the Swedish societies acceptance. As Isin and Turner define citizenship, Maria clarifies, connected to her self-image, that her people carry out their duties as citizens and, by that, have earned their place in Sweden as accepted citizens, with rights.321 To feel part of the Swedish society, Westin writes that the Swedish state encourages people (migrants) who plan to stay in Sweden to naturalize. For Syrians/Assyrians, naturalization has been an opportunity to start over and live as integrated citizens, side by side, with the rest of the Swedish population.322 Today, all of the participants clarify that they live like native
319 Simonsen, Kristina Bakkær. Does citizenship always further Immigrants’ feeling of belonging to the host nation? A study of policies and public attitudes in 14 Western democracies. (2017), p 4 320 Spiro, Peter. “Postnational and Transnational Citizenship” in Dual citizenship in global perspective: From unitary to multiple citizenship. (ed.) Faist, Thomas and Kivisto, Peter. (Basingstoke, 2007), p 193 321 Isin, Engin and Turner, Bryan. Investigating Citizenship: An Agenda for Citizenship Studies. (2007), p 5 322 Westin, Charles. ”Reflections on the issue of integration” in Migration from Turkey to Sweden: Integration, Belonging and Transnational Community. (ed.) Başer, Bahar and Levin, Paul. (London, 2017), p 51 63
Swedes, and as a group, some of them even mean that they have succeeded in integrating into Swedish society. Something Başer and Levin further illustrate in their book.
As Başer and Levin explain, Syrians/Assyrians have been “highly successful when it comes to integration into the Swedish public sphere”.323 However, as Makko clarifies, they have gone through one and another failure before starting to succeed in Swedish society.324 In Sweden, the minority is not only known for its success. As Makko further writes, the group is also known for gang violence and organized crime.325 But because of the willingness to leave Turkey behind and start living on equal footing with the native population, this research is proof that migrants do not have to maintain their former citizenship to be able to naturalize and integrate into their new county of settlement. Compared to the previous research used in this study, and as Schuck explains, dual citizenship is said to encourage long-term immigrants to naturalize and integrate into the new society.326 However, no one, except for Petrus and Matteus, talks about how dual citizenship has helped or could have helped them when moving to Sweden. Even if Petrus shares that his Turkish citizenship means nothing for him today. It had another attachment to him when he first moved to Sweden. The possibility to hold dual citizenship gave Petrus and Matteus, as Faist writes, the right to keep their roots and simultaneously integrate into Swedish society and become Swedish citizens.327 But for Tomas, his Turkish citizenship did not help him learn how to live or become an integrated citizen in Sweden. As Gordon clarifies, Tomas thinks of integration as active participation.328 To be able to integrate and succeed in the Swedish society, it was a matter of course for Tomas, with or without dual citizenship, to start living by their rules and lifestyle.
7.1.4 Dual citizenship in the sense of loyalty
When having the opportunity to hold dual citizenship, dual citizens can stay committed to their former home country, as they create new loyalties to their new home country.329 However, in the case of the Syrians/Assyrians participating in this study, they all have in common that they only are committed to Sweden today. All of them, regardless of holding Turkish citizenship or not, see themselves as
323 Başer, Bahar and Levin, Paul (ed.). Migration from Turkey to Sweden: Integration, Belonging and Transnational Community. (London, 2017), p 9 324 Makko, Aryo. ”In search of a new home: The Assyrian diaspora in Sweden” in Migration from Turkey to Sweden: Integration, Belonging and Transnational Community. (ed.) Başer, Bahar and Levin, Paul. (London, 2017), p 277 325 Ibid, p 262 326 Schuck, Peter. “Plural citizenship” in Dual nationality, social rights and federal citizenship in the U.S. and Europe: the reinvention of citizenship. (ed.) Hansen, Randall and Weil, Patrick. (New York, 2002), p 76 327 Faist, Thomas. Dual Citizenship as Overlapping Membership. (Malmö, 2001), p 11 328 Westin, Charles. ”Reflections on the issue of integration” in Migration from Turkey to Sweden: Integration, Belonging and Transnational Community. (ed.) Başer, Bahar and Levin, Paul. (London, 2017), p 50 329 Faist, Thomas and Gerdes, Jürgen. Dual Citizenship in an Age of Mobility. (2008), p 10 64
loyal Swedish citizens and disloyal Turkish citizens. According to Eva, loyalty is something you earn. With that said, she and some other participants mean that Turkey does not deserve the minority’s loyalty. Since Turkey has made the Christian group suffer for decades, Rut gave up her Turkish citizenship to “punish” the Turkish state. Compared to their country of origin, Sweden has, as said, welcomed the Syrian/Assyrian people and given them protection. Because of this, they have, what Faist writes, developed undivided loyalty toward the Swedish state and its society.330
Even if some of the participants hold dual citizenship, all of them came to Sweden by force. As Hirschman clarifies, migrants who have faced danger, violence, or oppression in their country of origin are often ending up with undermined loyalty or even disloyalty to that country.331 Matteus, for example, is the only male participant who has done military service in Turkey. It is a way of serving the country, since citizenship, as Isin and Turner describe, is constructed through a citizen’s duties that are related to, for example, public service.332 However, as Matteus states in his interview, he only did the military to avoid problems in Turkey when keeping his Turkish citizenship, and not to show his loyalty or commitment to the Turkish state. He would only sacrifice himself for Sweden, a country where the group, according to Jakob, have a voice and right to engage in politics. Like Matteus, Jakob is a dual citizen and has the right, as Faist explains, to vote in both Sweden and Turkey.333 But since the Turkish state still denies the Christian genocide (Seyfo) which took place in 1915,334 Jakob would never benefit the Turkish politics. Both Jacob and Eva states in their interviews that the killing of the minority in 1915 is an ongoing problem for Syrians/Assyrians. Eva, for example, explains that she probably would have kept her Turkish citizenship and been a loyal Turkish citizen if it existed a political party in Turkey who fought for the value of the Christian population. Compared to their country of origin, Jakob, Eva, and all of the other participants are thankful for everything Sweden has done for their people. Sweden has not only welcomed the minority. Their new home country has also, as Lundgren clarifies, made the Syrian/Assyrian peoples exposed position in Turkey heard.335 Because of the support and sacrifices Sweden has done for the Christian minority, the group will always be thankful for being part of the Swedish society. Turkey may be their country of origin, but Sweden is the country Syrians/Assyrians are proud to call their new home.
330 Faist, Thomas (ed.). Dual Citizenship in Europe: From Nationhood to Societal Integration. (Aldershot, 2007), p 37 331 Piguet, Etienne. “Theories of voluntary and forced migration” in Routledge Handbook of Environmental Displacement and Migration. (ed.) Gemenne, François and McLeman, Robert. (London, 2018), p 24 332 Isin, Engin and Turner, Bryan. Investigating Citizenship: An Agenda for Citizenship Studies. (2007), p 5 333 Faist, Thomas. Dual Citizenship as Overlapping Membership. (Malmö, 2001), p 26 334 Barryakoub, Afram. Broking Historia: En bok om Assyrierna från forntid till nu. (2008), p 47 335 Lundgren, Svante. Hundra år av tveksamhet: Osmanska folkmordet på kristna och Sveriges reaktion. (Åbo, 2014), p 25 65
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