Mehmet Köse (Ed.), Türk Diasporasının Siyasal Katılım Gündemi 2023 Seçimleri ve Diaspora (Political Participation Agenda of the Turkish Diaspora 2023 Elections and Diaspora); GAV Perspektif Yayınları, Ankara, 2023, pp. 188, 149.50₺, ISBN 978- 605-71985-6-3

Abstract

For more than 60 years, Turkish citizens have been emigrating from Türkiye to different parts of the world. These people have resided in these locations for a long time, becoming permanent residents, reaching the third and even fourth generations. Today, this community abroad is called the Turkish diaspora. The participation of this growing number of Turkish diaspora in Turkish elections and their political participation agenda are an issue that has been analyzed more and more over time. There are various examples of political participation abroad throughout the world. For example, in many countries, such as Italy, Mexico, and Bolivia, the overseas vote influences the fate of elections. In Türkiye, participation has increased in every election since the first overseas election in 2014, reaching 56 percent in the last election. In particular, it should be noted that in the parliamentary and presidential elections of 2023, 3 percent of the total number of valid votes were cast from abroad. Moreover, in the parliamentary elections, 3 parliamentary seats were transferred to different parties with the addition of overseas votes. In light of this information, voting and political participation abroad is a very important issue both in academic studies and in politics itself. In this context, the book entitled “Political Participation Agenda of the Turkish Diaspora”, prepared with the contributions of researchers from the Migration Research Foundation, and edited by Mehmet Köse, and published in 2023 is noteworthy. Köse and his team of researchers, through surveys and in-depth interview studies, reveal in a simple way the interest of the Turkish diaspora in Turkish politics, the participation process, and the participation agenda.

Keywords

• Turkish citizens
• Türkiye
• presidential elections