Paper short abstract:

Because of the rapid and significant changes occurring in the international system, there is an ever-increasing need for discussions about the topic of Turkish diaspora; however, the basic questions regarding this issue do not receive the attention it deserves from the bureaucracy and the academia.

Paper long abstract:

Because of the rapid and significant changes occurring in the international system, there is an ever-increasing need for studies and discussions about the topic of Turkish diaspora; however, the basic questions regarding this issue do not receive the attention it actually deserves from the bureaucracy and the academia.

Despite its thousands of years of migration culture resulting in a population dispersed within a geography from the Central Asia to the Balkans, from the Middle East to the Caucasus; and especially considering its last sixty years during which it turned into a country which has now millions of citizens scattered around the world from European countries (Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, etc.) to the USA, from Canada to Australia, Turkey -against her qualitatively, quantitatively and historically deep-rooted migration history- has scarcely any background information, knowledge, experience, legal regulation, academic research or policy regarding the migration phenomenon and its natural consequence i.e. diaspora. However, this unique experience in migration that Turkey possesses has the potential to bear a value and meaning for the theoretical and conceptual discussions globally. One of the primary intentions of this study is to attract attention to this potential and to constitute a source for new discussions and researches.

In addition to these discussions, Turkey tries to implement new diaspora policies with recently established national and regional institutions such as (i) Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (2010), (ii) Turkic Speaking Council (2009).

This study rejects the extensive interpretation that maintains that Turkish Diaspora is so large that it covers nearly everyone on earth, as well as the approaches that explain the diaspora, based on aforementioned terms.