Nationalism and Territoriality: the Conception of Homeland in the Communities of Turkish Origin in Bulgaria and the Netherlands
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NATIONALISM AND TERRITORIALITY: THE CONCEPTION OF HOMELAND IN THE COMMUNITIES OF TURKISH ORIGIN IN BULGARIA AND THE NETHERLANDS A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY AHU ŞENSES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS FEBRUARY 2014 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Meliha Altunışık Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Bağcı Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zana Çitak Supervisor Examining Committee Members Prof. Dr. Nuri Yurdusev (METU, IR) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zana Çitak (METU, IR) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aslı Çırakman Deveci (METU, POLS) Assist. Prof. Dr. İlker Aytürk (BILKENT, POLS) Assist. Prof. Dr. Tuba Ünlü Bilgiç (METU, IR) PLAGIARISM I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last Name: Ahu Şenses Signature : iii ABSTRACT NATIONALISM AND TERRITORIALITY: THE CONCEPTION OF HOMELAND IN THE COMMUNITIES OF TURKISH ORIGIN IN BULGARIA AND THE NETHERLANDS Şenses, Ahu Ph.D., Department of International Relations Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zana Çitak February 2014, 335 pages Territoriality has been a long neglected issue in international relations and nationalism studies. This thesis aims to draw attention to the significance of territorial relations in defining modes of human political organization and identity formation and to help establish linkages between international studies and the disciplines of geography and anthropology that problematize territoriality. It questions how territoriality can be conceptualized within the framework of particularly migrant and minority groups with hyphenated ethno-cultural identities and multiple territorial/homeland ties. In order to address this question, this thesis devises a three-layered model of territoriality. This model differentiates between the cultural, instrumental and normative aspects of territorial identification which denote the local, national and transnational levels of analysis respectively. The thesis applies this model to the communities of Turkish origin in Bulgaria and the Netherlands and attempts to reveal their peculiarities and commonalities with regard to their members’ territorial experiences and homeland attachments, basing its analysis on a field research that involves open-ended and in-depth interviews with selected community members. It argues that, despite certain differences between their iv territorial practices and perceptions, the members of these two communities cannot yet be claimed to have transcended their usually parochial ethno-cultural loyalties or to be moving towards a state in which their embeddedness in their original societies and national territories are being undermined by the allegedly deterritorializing and emancipatory effects of transnationalism. Ethno-cultural and national ties as embodied in homeland identification are still relevant for understanding the political allegiances and practices of individuals and collectivities. Keywords: Territoriality, Homeland, Turks, Bulgaria, Netherlands v ÖZ MİLLİYETÇİLİK VE TERİTORYALİTE: BULGARİSTAN VE HOLLANDA’DAKİ TÜRKİYE KÖKENLİ TOPLULUKLARIN VATAN ALGISI Şenses, Ahu Doktora, Uluslararası İlişkiler Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Doç. Dr. Zana Çitak Şubat 2014, 335 sayfa Teritoryalite, uluslararası ilişkiler ve milliyetçilik çalışmalarında ihmal edilmiş bir meseledir. Bu çalışma, teritoryal ilişkilerin, insanların siyasi örgütlenmeleri ve kimlik oluşum süreçleri açısından öneminin altını çizmek ve bu anlamda uluslararası çalışmalar ile teritoryalite meselesini konu edinen coğrafya ve antropoloji disiplinleri arasındaki bağları geliştirmek amacını taşımaktadır. Bu çalışma çerçevesinde, birden çok etnik-kültürel kimliğe ve teritoryal bağlara sahip göçmen ve azınlık toplulukları bağlamında teritoryalite kavramının nasıl incelenebileceği sorusu üzerinden üç katmanlı bir teorik model tanımlanmıştır. Sırasıyla yerel, ulusal ve ulus-ötesi analiz düzeylerini temsil eden kültürel, araçsal ve normatif katmanlardan oluşan bu model, Bulgaristan ve Hollanda’da yaşayan Türkiye kökenli toplulukların teritoryal ilişkilerini nasıl düzenlediklerini ve vatan kavramını nasıl algıladıklarını inceleyebilmek amacıyla kullanılmıştır. Bu iki ülkede yapılan alan araştırmasında, her iki topluluktan seçilmiş üyelerle ucu açık ve derinlemesine görüşmeler gerçekleştirilmiş ve bu görüşmeler ışığında iki Türkiye kökenli topluluğun teritoryal ilişkiler ve vatan algısı bakımından farklılıkları ve benzerlikleri tespit edilmeye çalışılmıştır. Bu incelemelere dayanarak, bu iki topluluğun görüşülen üyelerinin, vi teritoryal ilişki biçimleri ve algılarındaki bazı farklara rağmen, kendi dar etnik- kültürel kimliklerini ve köken toplumlarıyla olan milli-teritoryal bağlarını aşarak ulus-ötesi faaliyetlerin ve araçların özgürleştirici ve mekansallıktan bağımsızlaştırıcı etkilerini henüz içselleştiremedikleri sonucuna varılmıştır. Vatan kavramında somutlaşan etnik-kültürel ve milli bağlar, insanların ve toplulukların siyasi mensubiyetlerinin ve eylemlerinin anlamlandırılabilmesi için hâlâ önem teşkil etmektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Teritoryalite, Vatan, Türkler, Bulgaristan, Hollanda vii DEDICATION To Semra and Tuncer Şenses Aileme... viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zana Çitak for her academic guidance and personal support in this process. She has always been patient and understanding, giving me the courage and strength to continue when I felt lost, hopeless and depressed. I would also like to thank the members of the examining committee, Prof. Dr. Nuri Yurdusev, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aslı Çırakman, Assist. Prof. Dr. İlker Aytürk and Assist. Prof. Dr. Tuba Ünlü Bilgiç, who have kindly invested their academic proficiency, time and effort into this study. There are other people who contributed to this study both academically and personally through its different phases. I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Neşe Özgen and Assist. Prof. Dr. Işık Kuşçu for their valuable academic insights, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Işıl Anıl and Ali İhsan Yıldız for providing me with not only useful ideas but also the necessary information and contacts for my field research in the Netherlands, Dr. Sabira Ståhlberg for her academic and organizational assistance and her hospitality during my stay in Bulgaria (thank you too Alex, Hasan Abi and Kadriye Abla!) and Yasemin Atalay for her help and friendship in Amsterdam. Prof. Dr. Meliha Altunışık has always been an inspiration and a role model in every sense of the word. Hocam, thank you for everything. Of course nothing is possible without money nowadays and gratitudes also go to the Middle East Technical University for not only financing my field research, but also making me who I am personally and academically since I was 18 and gently showing me the door when they thought it was the time. I am particularly indebted to the people of the Department of International Relations, the Graduate School of Social Sciences and the Office of Scientific Research Projects Coordination (BAP). I should here mention the names of Mübin Karahan Yerlikaya, Tolunay Turhan, Oben Kuyucu, Yahya Zehir and Güler Barış; no achievement is possible without the ix contributions of great people who do their job with utmost diligence and a smiling face. I am also very much thankful to the Council of Higher Education for its riddling laws and regulations which cost me, just like many other colleagues in various universities, my job as a research assistant twice and condemned me to professional and economic insecurities while struggling with an already tough thesis-writing process. “Whatever you do in this life, it is not legendary unless your friends are there to see it”, as an awesome philosopher once said. I have been away from most of my friends for the last few years, but we always keep an eye on each other no matter what. Despite the distances, two of them have never left me alone in this bizarre place. If there is one person who suffered almost as much as I did in this long long process, it is Ömür Atmaca. Thank you and your lovely family for soothing, aiding and abetting me! Special thanks go to Serkan Atmaca for his kindness, patience and technical support in this process. Bottoms up Xuxu! Mustafa Berke has always been a true friend. Hey Jude! Utku Atahan could not always be there in person but I believe our friendship is timeless. Hakan Mertcan was the deus ex machina of this story. I still owe him tons of exams and some booze. Ahmet Borazan and Gökçe Yiğit; your wit and companionship made my day many times. There is an office room for research assistants in METU International Relations Department which has hosted many interesting people (cevvaller) and dear friends. I would like to express my gratitute to all the extraordinary inhabitants of this legendary room, past and present. The terrible twins Dilaver Arıkan Açar and Şadan İnan Rüma transformed from super advisors to super friends. I still insist that they would