reason for this is that Turkey can help mitigate the surge of the far-right AfD.16 Policy experts in Berlin, under anonymity, shared that while the The AKP’s Grip over the Turkish German public is harshly against maintaining Diaspora in Germany close ties with Turkey, the government’s politicians see Ankara as the key to stopping In the past two decades, Turkey’s diaspora in migration.17 President. [...] The organization has organic ties to the religion, and its outreach to Turkey’s diaspora AKP and applies the party’s nationalist framework increased significantly under the AKP’s tenure.29 to the diaspora.34 Since the early 2000s, Turkish bureaucrats and politicians have often travelled In Germany, the Turkish-Islamic Union for to Germany, and with the help of the UID, they Religious Affairs (DITI. [...] In short, the the Diyanet reported to intelligence officers at AKP has managed to centralize and politically the Turkish consulates and embassies about influence the conservative segment of Turkey’s the whereabouts of followers of the Gülen diaspora through state institutions, which has the movement who fled to Western Europe.41 In this potential to shape the public agenda in Germany. [...] This is not to argue described the UID as a “pro-government that Germany should not engage Turkey but organization of the AKP that, in the spirit of its to shed light on the fact that, among other parent organization, lobbies for the interests reasons, the German government uses the of the AKP at a political and social level” in its Turkish diaspora to justify why it does not annual report.48 As a. [...] The Initiative is based on the premise that the acquisition of knowledge and the exchange of people and ideas are preconditions Behind Döner Diplomacy: The Turkish for meeting the challenges of an increasingly Diaspora’s Exaggerated Public Agenda-Shaping globalized world in the 21st century.
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- 11
- Published in
- Türkiye
