Émigré, Exile, Diaspora, and Transnational Movements of the Crimean Tatars

Preserving the Eternal Flame of Crimea

verfasst von: Filiz Tutku Aydın

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buchreihe : Palgrave Studies in Citizenship Transitions

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" , Springer Professional "Technik"

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Über dieses Buch

This book explains the unexpected mobilization of the Crimean Tatar diaspora in recent decades through an exploration of the exile experiences of the Crimean Tatars in Central Asia, Middle East, Eastern Europe, and North America. This book adds to the growing literature on diaspora case studies and is essential reading for researchers and students of diasporas, migration, ethnicity, nationalism, transnationalism, identity formation and social movements. Moreover, this book is relevant both for specialists in Crimean Tatar Studies and for the larger fields of Communist, Post-Communist, Middle Eastern, European, and American studies.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. Introduction

Abstract

This chapter presents an overview of the main topic of investigation, main and sub-arguments, methods of investigation, literature review, and historical background of the case of the Crimean Tatar diaspora. Why did the Crimean Tatar diaspora rise beginning from the late 1980s? Through a longuee-duree case study of four cases of Crimean Tatar extra-territorial communities, and within-case comparisons, this book develops the generalization that diasporas mobilize as a consequence of a combination of political and discursive opportunity structures and a specific mobilization frame that was created by movement activists. The book also explains recent rejuvenation in Crimean Tatar diasporas with increasing transnationalism of ideational processes in parallel to globalization. Finally, the variation in forms and consequences of diaspora mobilization is explained through a typology of forms of long-distance nationalism.

Filiz Tutku Aydın

Chapter 2. Explaining Long-Distance Nationalism

Abstract

This chapter offers a theoretical framework that allows for a systematic comparison of identity movements of extra-territorial communities across time. Regarding diaspora as an ethnonational phenomenon as opposed to transcendence of ethnicity and nation, the social movement theory is brought into explain the dynamics of diaspora mobilization. The framing processes approach along with political and discursive opportunity structures is utilized to explain the movement emergence and development in the diaspora. This chapter also problematizes mobilization through the concept of frame resonance and suggests examining the quality and quantity of participation among each stratum of constituents. Variation in movement consequences is explained with movement missions epitomized in persistent movement frames and thereby different forms movements take. Finally, movement forms such as émigré, exile, diaspora, and transnational nationalism are organized into a typology of long-distance nationalism. How this typology illuminates the cases of the Crimean Tatar diaspora is also discussed.

Filiz Tutku Aydın

Chapter 3. Crimean Tatar Community in the Former Soviet Union (1944–1991): A Case in Exile Nationalism

Abstract

The Crimean Tatars initiated a collective return movement shortly after their exile in Central Asia because of their return-oriented movement frames. Their struggle for return went through mainly three phases as a response to changes in the political and discursive opportunities in the regime and international arena: alignment with the communist master frame, alignment with the democracy and human rights master frame, the emergence of a fit between Crimean Tatar frame and democratizing regime frame. How movement activists increased movement resonance among the Crimean Tatar people, and how they sustained such widespread and active participation over fifty years is studied in detail. Eventually, the Crimean Tatars did not return because the Soviet Union collapsed, but because they consistently, assertively but not violently demanded a return. Taking it in their hands to organize their collective return to their homeland before the Soviet Union collapsed, the Crimean Tatars reached their movement goals.

Filiz Tutku Aydın

Chapter 4. Crimean Tatar Community in Romania (1900–): From Exile to Diaspora Nationalism

Abstract

In this chapter, the nationalist movements among the Crimean Tatars, who have immigrated Ottoman Dobruca region throughout the nineteenth century, will be examined. The long-distance nationalism in Dobruca between 1900 and 1945 forms the first mini-case. The emergence of nationalism is prompted by intelligentsia’s re-interpretation of pan-Turkist ideology to fit the structural problems the Crimean Tatar minority faced during the modernization and nationalization of Romania. This movement is qualified as exile nationalism because it became quite resonant among people and planned a collective return, which failed to realize only due to the outbreak of the Second World War. The territorially rooted nationalism developed under communist policies form the second mini-case, and a smaller number of communist-educated intelligentsia could preserve Crimean Tatar cultural identity without referring to the homeland. The post-communist period is the last mini-case of diaspora mobilization and demonstrates a rejuvenation of identity despite the Crimean Tatars no more aim to return to the homeland. This forms the diaspora nationalism .

Filiz Tutku Aydın

Chapter 5. Crimean Tatar Community in Turkey (1908–): From Émigré to Diaspora Nationalism

Abstract

This chapter will examine the long-distance nationalism that emerged among the Crimean Tatar diaspora in Turkey at the beginning of the twentieth century. Even the declaration of the first Crimean Tatar Republic was largely prepared in Turkey, utilizing resources of the host land. The first mini-case corresponds to the émigré movement organized in Turkey and Europe after the Bolsheviks took over Crimea, and its particular influential activity during the Second World War in saving lives. The second mini-case concerns the relative stagnation of the émigré movement between 1945 and 1980 due to shrinking political and discursive opportunities, and the inability to construct appealing and effective frames. The third mini-case marks the rejuvenation of the Crimean Tatar diaspora in 1980 as participation level and range of activities proliferate. The revival can be explained with openings in the political sphere of Turkey and the Soviet Union and new interpretations of diaspora as having the capacity to play a political role in the homeland’s future, forming diaspora nationalism , and even attempting to form a transnational nation.

Filiz Tutku Aydın

Chapter 6. Crimean Tatar Community in the United States (1960–): From Émigré to Diaspora Nationalism

Abstract

This chapter examines the movements of Crimean Tatar refugees of the Second World War, who settled in the United States, usually after a short stay in Turkey. The first mini-case features the period between 1960 and 1990, in which the refugee movement was divided into political and apolitical branches. A small number engaged in émigré nationalism, by advocating for the contemporary Crimean Tatar collective return movement in the USSR due to the legacy of their earlier frames carried over from nationalist movement in wartime Crimea. The larger group preferred to de-emphasize links to Crimea as they perceived the political and discursive opportunities in the United States were not apt for diasporic activity and bridged frames with the “stagnant” frame of the community in Turkey at the time. After the end of the Cold War, these two movements largely converged to form diaspora nationalism, in the same manner as the simultaneous transformations in Turkey and Romania.

Filiz Tutku Aydın

Chapter 7. Comparison of Cases and Conclusion: Toward a Crimean Tatar Transnational Nation?

Abstract

In this final chapter, the Crimean Tatar cases are classified into émigré, exile, diaspora, and transnational nationalism as a way of explaining the variation in mobilization and consequences of these identity movements. Generalizations about the emergence and development of the extra-territorial communities are drawn. Instead of studying each community in isolation, the benefits of paying attention to transnational relations among communities are noted. The chapter also predicts a development toward constructing a transnational nation, as there are significant attempts emerged in his direction recently. The move can potentially empower the Crimean Tatars to fight the Russian occupation of Crimea that continues since 2014. The chapter concludes by suggesting that future transnational The Crimean Tatar nation must be better conceived in multiculturalist terms rather than essentialist.

Filiz Tutku Aydın

Backmatter

Titel: Émigré, Exile, Diaspora, and Transnational Movements of the Crimean Tatars
verfasst von: Filiz Tutku Aydın
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-74124-2
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-74123-5
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74124-2