Citizenship Rights of Gypsies in Turkey: Cases of Roma and Dom Communities
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CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS OF GYPSIES IN TURKEY: CASES OF ROMA AND DOM COMMUNITIES A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY SELİN ÖNEN IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY FEBRUARY 2011 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. Ayşe Saktanber 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. Ayşe Gündüz-Hoşgör Supervisor Examining Committee Members Prof. Dr. Yakın Ertürk (METU,SOC) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ayşe Gündüz-Hoşgör (METU,SOC) Prof. Dr. Mesut Yeğen (İŞU,SOC) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Emine Onaran İncirlioğlu (KHU,FA) Assist. Prof. Dr. F. Umut Beşpınar (METU,SOC) 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 : Selin Önen Signature : iii ABSTRACT CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS OF GYPSIES IN TURKEY: CASES OF ROMA AND DOM COMMUNITIES Önen, Selin Ph.D., Department of Sociology Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ayşe Gündüz-Hoşgör February 2011, 330 pages This study aims to compare Roma community in Edirne and Dom community in Diyarbakır with regard to their integration levels to different majorities (respectively Turks in Edirne and Kurds in Diyarbakır) and belonging to the political body (state), access to citizenship rights (civil, social, political and cultural) and the affect of transnational citizenship on Roma and Dom communities. The main argument of this study asserts that Roma community can have more access to citizenship rights than Dom community. This is related with the fact that Roma community lives with Turks, who are the ethnic majority in Edirne and in Turkey, whereas Dom community lives mostly with Kurds, who are the majority in Diyarbakır but minority in Turkey. Foremost, Roma community has closer connections with state and transnational space than Dom community. The study has found that ethnicity appears as a common barrier for both communities in benefiting from full citizenship. However, it is noted that they experienced different historical, social and economic transformations. Social exclusion is observed at different levels for the two communities. Hence, the iv study tries to explain why the equality principle of citizenship is ruptured for both communities. While forced migration in 1990s and the gradual loss of musician craft were key factors for the exclusion of Dom community in the labor market, Roma community with affect of agricultural modernization, has repositioned themselves in terms of ethnicity and class formation in last 40-50 years owing mainly to urbanization and modernization. The study has found that Dom community has very limited citizenship rights compared to Roma community. The differences can be obviously seen with regard to impact of poverty and their integration levels to the majority. Key Words: Roma, Dom, Kurds, Citizenship Rights, Social Exclusion. v ÖZ TÜRKİYE’DEKİ ÇİNGENELERİN VATANDAŞLIK HAKLARI: ROMAN VE DOM TOPLULUKLARININ ÇALIŞMALARI Önen, Selin Doktora, Sosyoloji Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Doç. Dr. Ayşe Gündüz-Hoşgör Şubat 2011, 330 sayfa Bu çalışma, Edirne’deki Roman topluluğu ile Diyarbakır’daki Dom topluluğunun farklı çoğunluklar ile (sırasıyla Edirne’deki Türkler ve Diyarbakır’daki Kürtler) entegrasyon seviyeleri ve siyasi topluluğa aidiyetlerini, vatandaşlık haklarından (sivil, sosyal, siyasi ve kültürel) yararlanma seviyelerini ve ulus ötesi vatandaşlığın Roman ve Dom derneklerine etkilerini karşılaştırmayı amaçlamaktadır. Bu çalışma aynı zamanda iki topluluğun sosyal entegrasyonunu, modern vatandaşlığın eşitlik ilkesine dayanarak tam vatandaşlık haklarından ne ölçüde yararlanabildiklerini açığa çıkarmaya çalışmaktadır. Çalışmanın temel argümanı, Roman topluluğunun Dom topluluğuna göre vatandaşlık haklarına daha fazla erişebildiğini ileri sürmektedir. Bu durum, Roman topluluğunun Edirne ve Türkiye’de etnik çoğunluk olan Türklerle; öte yandan Dom topluluğunun Diyarbakır’da çoğunluk olup Türkiye’de azınlık olan Kürtlerle yaşamasıyla ilgilidir. En önemlisi, Roman topluluğunun devlet ve ulusötesi alanla Dom topluluğuna göre yakın ilişkileri bulunmaktadır. vi Bu çalışmada, etnisitenin iki topluluğun tam vatandaşlık haklarından yararlanmasında ortak bir engel olduğu; fakat iki topluluğun farklı tarihsel, sosyal ve ekonomik dönüşümler geçirdiği ileri sürülmektedir. Sosyal dışlanma iki toplulukta da farklı seviyelerde görülmektedir. Dolayısıyla bu çalışma, vatandaşlığın eşitlik ilkesinin iki topluluk için de neden bozulduğunu ortaya çıkarmaya çalışmaktadır. 1990’larda uygulanan zorunlu göç pratiği ve müzisyenlik mesleğinin kaybolmaya yüz tutması Dom topluluğu için emek pazarındaki sosyal dışlanmanın temel etkenlerini oluştururken, Roman topluluğu tarımsal modernizasyonun etkileri ile birlikte temel olarak kentleşme ve modernleşme ekseninde son 40–50 yıl içerisinde etnisite ve sınıf oluşumu açısından kendilerini yeniden konumlandırmışlardır. Bu çalışma, Dom topluluğunun Roman topluluğuna göre daha sınırlı vatandaşlık haklarına sahip olduklarını öne sürmektedir. Bu farklılık yoksulluğun etkileri ve çoğunluğa entegrasyon seviyeleri ile bağlantılı olarak açıkça görülebilir. Anahtar kelimeler: Roman, Dom, Kürtler, Vatandaşlık Hakları, Sosyal Dışlanma vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study was only possible with aid and support of many people. It is a pleasure now to convey my gratitude to them all. First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ayşe Gündüz Hoşgör, who is more than a supervisor for me. I will forever be thankful and be indebted to her for her encouragement, inspiration, critical feedbacks in every stage of the study, teaching me the details of the qualitative study and for her guidance from the very early stages of this study. I would never forget her who reminds me the importance of paradigm. I am also very grateful to Prof. Dr. Mesut Yeğen for reading my all papers I wrote throughout my dissertation writing period and advices to me. By his critical evaluation, I reconsidered my data in terms of the theoretical consideration. I would also like to thank him for his enthusiasm for the study that has motivated and encouraged me. Special thanks also go to the members of my jury, Prof. Dr. Yakın Ertürk, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Emine Onaran İncirlioğlu and Assist. Prof. F. Umut Beşpınar, for their invaluable critiques and suggestions which helped me improve my study and clarify my arguments. I also thank to Assoc. Prof. Nilay Çabuk who was the former member of my thesis monitoring committee. She gave valuable comments that guided me through my study. I also would like to thank, secretary of the Department of Sociology, Sündüs Aydın for her voluntary support and patience. I am also grateful to the Marie Curie grant for training course called “Multi-Disciplinary and Cross-National Approaches to Romany Studies-A Model viii for Europe” held in Budapest and Romania between 2007 and 2009. By this course, I had a great opportunity to meet the professors and Ph.D students studying Romani studies in multi-disciplines. I am thankful to all my colleagues in this course providing critical comments and suggestions to my Ph. D research proposal. I convey special thank to Assoc. Prof. Alexey Pamporov for his valuable suggestions. I would also like to thank the doctorate exchange student scholarship given by Join EU-SEE. By this scholarship, I have been to University of Belgrade and met Prof. Dr. Jovo Bakić. I owe to thank him for his time, interest and helpful comments which extended my study. I would like to thank METU Scientific Research Projects Coordination Center (BAP) that funded the research. I thank all the members of Edirne Roma Association (EDROM) and Dom Association, who helped me in conducting my research and conveyed their experiences. I would like to thank Edirne Municipality and Abdullah Demirbaş who is mayor of Suriçi Municipality in Diyarbakır for their hospitality and for their contributions to the research. I would like to thank all organizations and persons to whom I interviewed with in this research. I wish to thank Lokman Bakır, Ayşegül Özbek and Gül Çorbacıoğlu for their supports in the study. I am grateful to my dear husband Burhanettin Önen for his endless patience, support and companionship. I am deeply grateful to my father Erdal Ceyhan who always motivated me and was with me with his love. I wish to thank also my best friend and colleague Meral Salman for all her friendship, support and suggestions. Finally and most importantly, I would like to express my unique gratitude to the members of Roma and Dom communities for sharing their experiences and welcoming me so warmly. This study would not have been possible without their voices. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM……………………………………………………………………….iii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ iv ÖZ ............................................................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………...…viii