Uploaded July 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
A BIAA Online Lecture with Umut Parmaksız (British Institute at Ankara) and Discussant: Besim Can Zırh (Middle East Technical University)
In the last two decades, growing social conservativism and certain government policies have been points of grievance amongst a large part of Turkish society. This growing dissatisfaction with the politics of Turkey can in turn be understood to have caused a flow of migrants, mostly from middle class, professional, secular backgrounds with high social and cultural capital, from Turkey into various European countries, including the UK. This talk, drawing on semi-structured interviews, will examine the experiences and motivations of secular Turkish citizens who have migrated from Turkey to the UK in light of this social, political and cultural transformation. I argue that an important motivation for migration has been a reaction to successive Turkish governments’ efforts to deepen and extend the reach of, what I call, the Islamonormative social and cultural order of Turkey.
Find out more on our website: biaa.ac.uk/event/online-lecture-secular-migration-from-turkey-to-the-uk
A BIAA Online Lecture with Umut Parmaksız (British Institute at Ankara) and Discussant: Besim Can Zırh (Middle East Technical University)
In the last two decades, growing social conservativism and certain government policies have been points of grievance amongst a large part of Turkish society. This growing dissatisfaction with the politics of Turkey can in turn be understood to have caused a flow of migrants, mostly from middle class, professional, secular backgrounds with high social and cultural capital, from Turkey into various European countries, including the UK. This talk, drawing on semi-structured interviews, will examine the experiences and motivations of secular Turkish citizens who have migrated from Turkey to the UK in light of this social, political and cultural transformation. I argue that an important motivation for migration has been a reaction to successive Turkish governments’ efforts to deepen and extend the reach of, what I call, the Islamonormative social and cultural order of Turkey.
Find out more on our website: biaa.ac.uk/event/online-lecture-secular-migration-from-turkey-to-the-uk
