ABSTRACT

Before concluding this discussion, some caveats need to be spelled out. The first caveat is about Turkeys relations with Europe. The role migrant communities play in Turkish politics is in good part framed by Turkeys interaction with the European Union. This may make the generalization of Turkeys experiences onto other cases more difficult. A somewhat specific set of circumstances makes up the contextual framework that enables Turkey to be more sensitive and even vulnerable to Western influences. But this does not have to mean that transnational influences on states are only possible in such contexts. Similar activities of migrants in the United States, from different national, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, toward their lands of origin would demonstrate that case specificity in this sense may not handicap comparable future studies.