Turkish diaspora policy in the eyes of Turkish immigrants: Social problems and expactations. Example of Austria

Diaspora policies that are increasingly widespread in the world and shaped by the transformation introduced by the developments in the areas of globalization, capitalism and democracy and by the discovery of diaspora groups as political, economic and cultural instruments by sending countries, has become one of the policy fields that Turkey also emphasizes in the recent years. It can be observed that the diaspora policies gained a significant momentum during the AKP government in which the concept of diaspora is often employed in the political rhetoric, new institutions and instruments are created for his policy, and the Turkish immigrants became a subject of public diplomacy besides political relations. While these policies are pursued, they have an increasing effect on Turkish immigrants year by year, and what is highlighted in this political rhetoric is providing solutions to the problems that these immigrants are experiencing in the societies that they have settled. Within this scope, the basic endeavor of this study is to understand the potential of contemporary Turkish diaspora policies in prioritizing the immigrants' problems, its will and capability to provide efficient interventions to these problems and its main motivations. This study is based on field research since the functionality of a policy can be understood better by receiving the views of its addressees, rather than the official political discourse. Within this scope, this study employs detailed interviews with 34 participants in Vienna, Austria and with 4 experts in Turkey. Through the abovementioned field research, this study attempts to understand the possibilities and limitations that the Turkish diaspora policies offer within the scope of the social problems of immigrants, personally from the eyes of the Turkish immigrants. This study that allows for taking into account the structure of the host country, the diaspora and cyclical conditions for each diaspora group, employing a bottom-up approach towards diaspora policies. With this understanding, it also aims to offer contributions to the revision attempts in the diaspora policies towards Turkish immigrants that live in Austria. The findings of the study demonstrate that the expectations regarding the role of Turkey in both the experienced social problems and the solution of these problems have change shape and increased. In the conclusion part, this study offers a set of proposals towards the policies and practices to be implemented in Austria, based on the views and the expectations of Turkish immigrants regarding the Turkish diaspora policies.