BLACK SEA TURKS IN KYRGYZSTAN AND TÜRKİYE

Authors : Cemil Doğaç İpek

Pages : 179-189

View : 37 | Download : 229

Publication Date : 2025-12-31

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :The community living in Kyrgyzstan, known as the Black Sea Turks, is descended from Laz families who migrated from the Artvin, Rize, and Trabzon regions of the Eastern Black Sea to Batum, particularly in the early 1900s, during the final period of the Ottoman Empire, a Turkic empire. The families mentioned here were also affected by Stalin\\\'s 1944 deportation campaign targeting ethnic Turkic peoples. Although their names did not appear directly as a community in the decree on the deportation, they were included in the deportation because they spoke the Turkic language and had Turkish names. This distinction and these events are essential for understanding the community\\\'s traumas throughout history and today, as well as its ongoing struggle for identity. This article draws on concepts from transnational studies and the notions of the kinship state/kinship society. The community maintains its relationship with Türkiye through its relatives and media organizations. This situation exemplifies the preservation of the diaspora and its transnational status. The perspective of atayurt/ancestral homeland shapes Türkiye\\\'s relationship with Turkistan/Central Asia. This perspective is framed by the principles of supporting and developing cooperation with brotherly peoples/ethnic relatives of the exact origin. Still, the experience of the Black Sea Turks presents another problem. The Black Sea Turks have been considered both during the Exile and today as part of the Ahiska Turks. This experience of the Black Sea Turks has created certain disadvantages for them. This study discusses whether considering one diaspora within another diaspora marginalizes them politically and institutionally. The Black Sea Turks in Kyrgyzstan constitute a marginal micro-diaspora due to the two-fold restriction on their desire to return to Türkiye, which they consider their homeland: The main reasons for this are their structurally secondary position within the Ahiska Turks and the bureaucratic politics of the Republic of Türkiye, which may fall short in resolving this problem.
Keywords : Kırgızistan, Karadeniz Türkleri, Türkiye, Türk Dış Politikası

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