Cross-Party Voting in the Turkish Diaspora

• In Event: Diaspora Politics: Transnationalism from Above and from Below

Abstract

Turkish migrants in Europe tend to vote with left parties in Europe and the right (AKP) in
Turkish elections. This apparent paradox raises questions related to migrant political
socialization in migrant receiving countries, and the development-migration nexus in countries of origin. For receiving countries, socialization scholarship has examined migrants’ integration into democratic processes (Finifter and Finifter 1989, Black et al 1987, Yang 1994), skepticism about which can be basis for restrictive immigration policies. For origin countries, transnationalism scholarship has looked at the implications of migration on the transmissions of civic culture and political norms (Levitt 1998), preferences (Merino 2005), behaviors (Perez-Armendariz and Crow 2009), and activism (Moss 2020). The case of Turkish migrants in Europe complicates these narratives, suggesting diaspora politics may both acclimate migrants into receiving democratic processes and reinforce authoritarian processes in origin countries. This study will use public opinion survey data collected by the Center for American Progress to explain the phenomenon of cross-party transnational voting among this migrant population.

Authors

• Gulcan Saglam, University of Georgia

• Michael Ahn Paarlberg, Virginia Commonwealth University