Türkiye'deki (Van) sığınmacıların/şartlı mültecilerin kimlik inşası ve müzakeresi: İranlı Baha'iler.

The main question of this research is the identity construction and negotiation process of Iranian Baha'i asylum seekers in transition in Turkey. Baha'is are recognized by their higher economic, social status compared to other asylum seekers in Turkey. Historically, our encounter with Baha'is has roots in the exile of their prophet after emergence of Baha'ism as a reflection of modernity in Muslim Iran, in the midst of the 19th century. Mainly, this research has sought to analyze how Baha'i asylum seekers interpret(ed) their transitory existence in Turkey by taking the perspectives of other actors in the process into consideration and examining their relations with each other. Theoretical approach of the research is mainly the anthropology of migration through interpretive analysis. The basic conceptual framework consists of transnational spaces, liminality and rites of passage, given the paradigms of modernity, post-modernity and globalization in the 19th and 20th centuries. The main fieldwork was carried out in Van in 2011. Visual and digital means of collecting data besides a mixed research method consisting of in-depth interviews, participant observation and direct observation at the sites were applied. Here, I argue that, for Baha'is, there is an ongoing identity construction and negotiation process from a local-global Iranian to an international-global one, which had begun in the home country, continuing in host countries where they are treated as mandatory guests. It is expected to continue changing in the countries of destination. This is an inevitable negotiation and transformation process for all geographies, peoples and institutions taking part in the asylum seeking process. Further, the triggering cause of their forced movement at stake seems to be their Baha'i faith and resulting conflicts as well as persecution they face in a Muslim-majority society, albeit just one justification among many others. While analyzing the meanings behind all these processes created by religious, social-economic and political attitudes of human beings, it is also argued that these processes have roots in the class structure of Iranian society prior to the 1979 Revolution. Findings of this research are thought to have critical potential to make the readers look at themselves from a different perspective, in our imposed co-existence with the people of a neighboring country. Key words: Asylum seekers / conditional refugees, Iranian Baha'is,transnational spaces, liminality, Turkey(Van), identity construction, negotiation.