ABSTRACT
The Justice and Development Party (AKP), which won the parliamentary elections in Turkey in 2002 and has ruled the country ever since, has transformed Turkey in several visible ways. One of the noteworthy aspects of the AKP’s era has been Turkey’s fundamental revision of its previous diaspora policies through fostering multilayered initiatives aimed at strategic engagement with Turkish communities and organisations abroad. Under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the ruling party has also introduced innovative and institutionalised approaches to the governance of the diaspora. The chapter examines the political and strategic drivers behind the ruling party’s engagement with the diaspora and evaluates the implications of this engagement. The chapter argues that the Justice and Development Party’s revised engagement with the diaspora intended to advance Turkey’s strategic interests in the host countries by using diaspora resources under the watchful gaze of the Turkish state institutions.
