Why did They Leave? Perceptions on the Turkish Emigration from Dobrogea to Turkey (1918-1940)

Year 2019, Volume: 7 Issue: 1, 42 - 54, 27.03.2019

Metin Omer

https://doi.org/10.14782/ipsus.539390

Cited By: 1

Abstract

In this paper I try to present the perceptions of a process that marked not only the evolution of the

relations between two countries (Romania and Turkey) but also determined some important social

changes in the Turkish-Tatar community from Dobrogea, Romanian province known as Dobrudja in

the Turkish historiography. In order to obtain an accurate image we used in our research documents

from Romanian and Turkish archives, Romanian press, Turkish press and the press of Turkish-Tatar

community from Dobrogea. In our analysis we consider Dobrogea, the main region of Romania where

Turks and Tatars leave, a “contact zone”, a term used by Mary Louise Pratt (1992: 4) for “social spaces

where disparate cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other”. We also consider the emigration from

Dobrogea to Turkey in the interwar as part of “balkanlaşma göçleri” (Balkanization migration), a term

used by Turkish researcher İlhan Tekeli to designate the emigration from the ex-Ottoman territoires

in the Balkans to Anatolia (or more specifically within the new borders of Ottoman Empire/Turkish

Republic). Tekeli (2013: 44-45) argues that “Balkanization migration” has a direct connection with the

process of formation of the national states in the Balkans.

Keywords

Romania, Turkey, Dobrogea, Turkish community in Romania

References

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