Books by Zeynep Yanasmayan
Cambridge University Press, 2019
This book offers an in-depth account of the failure of popular constitution making in Turkey from... more This book offers an in-depth account of the failure of popular constitution making in Turkey from 2011 to 2013. The aim to include different segments of society and political parties in constitution making makes this process an anomaly in the otherwise authoritarian history of Turkish constitutional politics. In the end, however, long-standing societal divides regarding political, cultural and religious diversity that were amplified in the negotiations led to the failure of the process. Most notably, the ruling AKP’s insistence on establishing a presidential system – supported by neither the other three political parties nor the public – destabilized the process and exacerbated distrust among the drafters. In addition, unfavorable procedures (unrealistic deadline and unanimity principle to adopt articles) prevented consensus and allowed the AKP to hijack the process. The failure of popular constitution making in 2013 was a missed opportunity for democratization before Turkey plunged into full-fledged democratic backsliding.
The increasing global competition of knowledge economies has begun a new era of labour migration,... more The increasing global competition of knowledge economies has begun a new era of labour migration, as economies chase ‘the best and the brightest’: the movement of highly skilled workers. This book examines the experiences of highly educated migrants subjected to two distinct and incompatible public discourses: one that identifies them in terms of nationality and presupposed religion, and another that focuses on their education and employment status, which suggests that they deserve the best treatment from societies engaged in the global 'race for talent'. Presenting new empirical research collected in Amsterdam, Barcelona and London amongst highly educated migrants from Turkey, the author draws on their narratives to address the question of whether such migrants should be apprehended any differently from their predecessors who moved to Europe as 'guestworkers' in the twentieth century. With attention to the reasons for which highly skilled workers choose to migrate and then stay (or not) in their 'host' countries, their connection to their multiple homes and the ways in which they meet the challenges of integration – in part by way of their position in relation to other migrants – and their acquisition of citizenship in the 'host' country, The Migration of Highly Educated Turkish Citizens to Europe offers insights on an under-researched trend in the field of migration. The author develops three nexuses – the mobility/migration nexus, the mobility/citizenship nexus, and the mobility/dwelling nexus – to account for the embedded sense of mobility that underlies these ‘new’ migrants and offers a holistic picture about their trajectory from ‘arrival to settlement’ and all that lies in-between. As such, it will appeal to scholars in the fields of sociology and political science with interests in migration and mobility, ethnicity and integration.
This edited collection gathers together the principal findings of the three-year RELIGARE project... more This edited collection gathers together the principal findings of the three-year RELIGARE project, which dealt with the question of religious and philosophical diversity in European law. Specifically, it covers four spheres of public policy and legislation where the pressure to accommodate religious diversity has been most strongly felt in Europe: employment, family life, use of public space and state support mechanisms. Embracing a forward-looking approach, the final RELIGARE report provides recommendations to governance units at the local, national and European levels regarding issues of religious pluralism and secularism. This volume adds context and critique to those recommendations and more generally opens an intellectual discussion on the topic of religion in the European Union. The book consists of two main parts: the first includes the principal findings of the RELIGARE research project, while the second is a compilation of 28 short contributions from influential scholars, legal practitioners, policy makers and activists who respond to the report and offer their views on the sensitive issue of religious diversity and the law in Europe.
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles by Zeynep Yanasmayan
International Migration, 2023
At the height of the “refugee reception crisis” in 2015, a large number of forced migrants had ... more At the height of the “refugee reception crisis” in 2015, a large number of forced migrants had to be accommodated in Germany, which led to the transformation of old infrastructures and building of new centres. Based on extensive fieldwork in three centres in the same city, this article seeks to highlight the intersecting forms of socio-spatial exclusion in refugee accommodations in Germany. First, we unpack how differential internal and external spatial arrangements intersect to aggravate or alleviate social exclusion of forced migrants. Second, we draw attention to the ways in which the regulation of space and social relations inside the accommodation centres intersect with the dominant gendered notions of the refugee label. Despite the potency of power relations that differentially categorizes, controls and excludes, exclusion remains ambivalent as forced migrants consistently claim ownership over the space in and around the centres and build social relationships to maintain a sense of “normalcy”.
Recent advances in citizenship and migration studies have demonstrated the need to explore noncit... more Recent advances in citizenship and migration studies have demonstrated the need to explore noncitizens’ social, political and legal relationships to the state in their own right. Such a rethinking inevitably requires analysing how both ‘citizenship’ and ‘the state’ are enacted and performed in the negotiation of substantive rights. This special issue follows an unexplored path by scrutinizing these interactions between ‘citizenship’ and ‘stateness’ in the domain of procedural law, procedural safeguards, and perceptions of procedural justice among a variety of actors. The contributions explore empirically how procedural rules are invoked, altered, disregarded, or reinvented in different sites of interaction, ranging from asylum determination and adjudication to immigration and municipal registration offices. This interactionist approach not only recasts procedural rules as an integral part of citizenship struggles, thereby shedding light on the co-constitution of state and noncitizenship, but also stresses the importance of nuanced analyses of the nexus between procedural and substantive rights.
Law & Social Inquiry, 2019
Over the past decade, controversies over Muslim women’s face veiling have become increasingly wid... more Over the past decade, controversies over Muslim women’s face veiling have become increasingly widespread in societies across Europe. This article comparatively explores the socio-legal dynamics of claims making by proponents and opponents of prohibiting full-face coverings in Belgium and Spain. In Belgium, a federal ban of full-face coverings was adopted in July 2011 and, after intensive judicial struggles, received judicial validation by the Constitutional Court in 2012. In Spain, local burqa controversies led to municipal bans in the region of Catalonia in 2010, which were annulled by the Supreme Court in 2013 after effective legal counter-mobilizations. In spite of the diverging legal outcomes, we argue that justificatory repertoires have become increasingly standardized as burqa controversies are transposed from locally embedded political fields to transnationally structured judicial fields. We suggest that this standardization of justificatory repertoires in the long run facilitates the rapid spread of burqa bans across Europe.
New Diversities, 2019
This article explores the extent and limits of anti-immigration discourse in recent political deb... more This article explores the extent and limits of anti-immigration discourse in recent political debates in Turkey. Anti-immigrant discourses have been at the heart of exclusionary populisms, where right-wing political actors present immigrants as economic, social and security threats. It is remarkable that this is not yet the case in Turkey, one of the world's major refugee-receiving countries. Using an original dataset, composed of party programmes, parliamentary records and public statements by presidential candidates in the last two rounds of general and presidential elections between 2014 and 2018, we argue that politicians from both incumbent and opposition parties in Turkey have used the 'refugee card' to appeal to the growing social, economic and cultural grievances of their voters but in a rather limited and divergent manner. Debates over migration have oscillated between the Western European right-wing populist perception of 'threat' and the pro-Syrian and civilizationist populism of the ruling party that relies on a transnational notion of 'ummah'.
Political Geography, 2019
Diaspora policies have recently become prominent for an increasing number of states. While the gr... more Diaspora policies have recently become prominent for an increasing number of states. While the growing body of literature on new diaspora policies and institutions has shown these as a sign of a state's willingness to include populations from abroad into the polity, an equally new adjacent literature has emphasised the exclusive and controlling aspect of extra-territorial power of authoritarian states. This article argues that a consideration of co-occurrence of positive and negative diaspora politics is needed for a holistic understanding of state-led transnationalism and its contested relationship to national territory and popular sovereignty. In this article, we build on the example of Turkish policies, which on the one hand took considerable steps to include its citizens abroad and on the other continued the exclusion of the ‘enemies of the state’ and re-defined the limits of political membership at home and abroad. By analysing the new diasporic institutional practices, the enfranchisement of external citizens and the right to exit along with loss of citizenship provisions, we show that Turkish state policy disrupts the assumed holy trinity of nation-state-territory forging a de-territorialised unity between internal and external citizens, as well as a de-territorialised division along the lines of party loyalty. Looking at diasporic engagements in all three dimensions - institutional, political and legal-through the lens of citizenship, we demonstrate that they are neither the extension of a heavy handed extra-territorial state power nor of an all-inclusive diaspora policy but a more complex combination of the two.
Turkish Studies, 2017
The European Union has traditionally played an anchoring role in Turkey,
pushing the Republic to... more The European Union has traditionally played an anchoring role in Turkey,
pushing the Republic towards the enhancement of fundamental rights and
freedoms. However, the decreasing credibility of the project for EU
membership after 2005 has gradually led to selective reforms being
introduced, and most recently to de-Europeanization. Against this quickly
changing background, this paper seeks to investigate the usages of
Europeanization by domestic political actors during the discussions on the
recently failed constitution-making process (2011-2013). It specifically focuses
on deliberations over religious freedom, and argues that Europeanization has
continued to serve as the normative context in constitution-writing.
Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2016
Inspired by a super-diversity approach, this paper seeks to explore the influence of the ‘ethnic ... more Inspired by a super-diversity approach, this paper seeks to explore the influence of the ‘ethnic hierarchy’ of ‘old’ minority groups over the way ‘new’ migrants from Turkey negotiate their interaction in the daily life in three settings: Amsterdam, London and Barcelona. By focusing on highly educated migrants from Turkey who by virtue of their country of origin or religion are positioned at the bottom of ‘ethnic hierarchies’, it strives to understand the significance of these different sources of diversity in daily interaction. Applying boundary-drawing strategies developed for ethnic boundaries, this paper argues that education does not necessarily ‘trump’ nationality, but allows for substantial claims of difference. New migrants from Turkey carve out a space for themselves by on the one hand homogenizing Turkish or other Muslim communities through attributing ‘unwanted’ behaviours and on the other re-defining the boundaries of their individual identity with emphasis on different sources of diversity.
Citizenship Studies, 2015
This article seeks to promote an integrated approach to the study of citizenship policies, which ... more This article seeks to promote an integrated approach to the study of citizenship policies, which pays due attention to their potential impact on migrants whose self-recognition are formally delimited by legal definitions. Through a novel approach that makes use of naturalisation processes as an empirical entry point into the narratives of citizenship embraced by Turkish migrants, this article investigates the role of dual citizenship policies in three European countries: Spain, the Netherlands and the UK. The evidence from the sample group displays a process of ‘self-bargaining’ prior to the naturalisation decision, which calls into question the link established between legal and emotional bonds of citizenship. The Dutch example demonstrates how Turkish migrants cope with the ban on dual citizenship by downplaying the identity-conferring role of citizenship status. This leads to a decoupling of legal and emotional aspects of citizenship and thereby to the adoption of a thin sense of citizenship. While Spain represents an in-between case that has a tolerant implementation despite a de jure ban, the British example shows how the process of ‘self-bargaining’ can result in the widening of emotional landscape, when dual citizenship is allowed. A thick sense of citizenship is therefore not only preserved but it can also be extended to the citizenship of the country of residence.
This article examines transnational organizations of Turkish origin that gained major support and... more This article examines transnational organizations of Turkish origin that gained major support and membership in the European societies. Drawing upon a case study on Turks in Belgium, it shows that in the last four decades these organizations went through various transformations depending on the dynamics in their respective immigrant communities, host societies and countries of origin. This essay captures the role and self- adaptation process of Turkish Islamic organizations vis-à-vis the changing environment both in their host countries and countries of origin.
Conference Presentations by Zeynep Yanasmayan
CALL FOR PAPERS
Workshop on “Forced Migration, Exclusion, and Social Class” (23-24 May 2019, Max... more CALL FOR PAPERS
Workshop on “Forced Migration, Exclusion, and Social Class” (23-24 May 2019, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle, Germany)
Current research on migration to Germany often emphasizes the integration of recently arrived ref... more Current research on migration to Germany often emphasizes the integration of recently arrived refugees as well of the children of immigrants. By contrast, the processes and mechanisms of exclusion that continue to shape the lives of refugees and migrants at different levels are strikingly less studied. As part of a wider project, this panel aims to bring into the spotlight the exclusionary practices by state and non-state actors that hinder migrants' access to territory, rights and resources as well as full participation in society. Contributions can address normative questions such as the limits of the (il)legitimacy of selection mechanisms, designing of just policies in an era of global mobilities or the debate on migrant categorisations that offer different opportunities for inclusion and exclusion. Alternatively, contributions can also focus on empirically documenting the wide range of exclusionary practices that migrants face. This may include, but is not limited to, the everyday lives and survival strategies of migrants with precarious legal statuses, the human costs of the externalization of border regimes, the memories of exclusion as well as the socioeconomic and health consequences of exclusion. Multidisciplinary in nature, the panel welcomes the participation from a wide range of disciplinary and methodological approaches. Please send your 250-word abstracts to yanasmayan@eth.mpg.de latest by March 25, 2018.
Cfp by Zeynep Yanasmayan
Workshop on "Forced Migration, Exclusion, and Social Class" taking place at the Max Planck Instit... more Workshop on "Forced Migration, Exclusion, and Social Class" taking place at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology (Halle, Germany), 23/24 May 2019
Working Papers, Blogs, Reports by Zeynep Yanasmayan
In the Belgian context citizenship usually implies voting rights associated mainly with European ... more In the Belgian context citizenship usually implies voting rights associated mainly with European citizenship. In this report, however, we use the term ‘citizenship’ in a broader sense. We refer to a system that encompasses not only nationality legislation but also the philosophy and political discussions behind it. Generally speaking, five basic principles are underpinned in the Belgian nationality law: 1) the use of ius soli alongside ius sanguinis; 2) enabling broad access to citizenship in order to facilitate the integration of foreigners into society; 3) respect for equality between all nationals, including between sexes; 4) combating fraud; 5) avoiding statelessness.
The first two principles have particularly dominated the Belgian Act of 1 March 2000 which significantly amended the Nationality Code. Currently, the Belgian citizenship regime is one of the most flexible systems in Europe. The two striking examples of this flexibility are the removal of the integration condition for naturalisation and the possibility of becoming Belgian by mere declaration after seven years of residence. At a time when integration tests are proliferating across Europe, the 2000 amendments abolished the provision relating to proof of ‘willingness to integrate’ from the legislation. These amendments can be explained by a combination of factors which are embedded in the Belgian context. The particular federal system generates different political dynamics for the adoption of such measures facilitating nationality acquisition. Therefore, we can claim that Belgium provides an intriguing case for citizenship studies not least due to its complex federal system.
The Turkish parliament has recently passed constitutional amendments that will, pending the publi... more The Turkish parliament has recently passed constitutional amendments that will, pending the public referendum in spring 2017, set aside decades of parliamentary system tradition. 1) A translation of the amendments can be found on our Blog Politics and Law in Turkey. Presumably aimed to repair the dysfunctions of the current regime and to respond to the need of a " stronger Turkey " , the proposed draft does not only eradicate the principle of separation of powers but rebuilds the state according to the interests of ruling groups, without much consideration being paid to the overall integrity of the system and long term implications. These amendments constitute the final trick the AKP government plays in pursuing their agenda of system-change. Call it sultanism, presidentialism a la Turca or absolute presidentialism, one thing is clear: the state is increasingly centralized into a political regime that can be controlled rather easily bypassing important constitutional counterweights.
This working paper aims to present the common research framework elaborated in the context of the... more This working paper aims to present the common research framework elaborated in the context of the research initiative ‘The Challenges of Migration, Integration and Exclusion’ (WiMi) that gathers researchers from the Max Planck Institutes for Comparative Public Law and International Law (Heidelberg), Demographic Research (Rostock), Social Law and Social Policy (Munich), Human Development (Berlin), Social Anthropology (Halle), and the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity (Göttingen). The working paper starts with the presentation of our mapping of recent research projects on migration in the social sciences and in law. The mapping reveals the multidisciplinarity of migration research, its responsiveness to public debates, and its fragmentation along different categories of migrants, which usually correspond to their nationality/ethnicity or legal status. In the second part, the working paper explains the guiding principles of the WiMi initiative, namely commitment to multidisciplinarity, avoidance of groupist designs and use of the concept of ‘exclusion’ as an analytical lens which sheds light on the multifaceted dimensions, which cross and co-constitute each other. Following a brief overview of how exclusion has been studied thus far in the migration literature, the working paper lays out the analytical framework we have developed to study exclusion in its continuum with inclusion. The aim is to arrive at a more sophisticated understanding of exclusion mechanisms and bring to the fore the interdependencies and interactions among the many facets of this comparatively understudied phenomenon. With this intention in mind, the working paper elaborates a multi-dimensional research framework that rests on analytically separating the exclusion of migrants into six constitutive elements: actors, acts, moments, representations, areas of exclusion, and reactions against exclusion. We contend that there are a variety of state and non-state actors that engage in exclusionary acts in specific areas at certain moments. Such exclusionary acts are produced and reproduced by representations of exclusion and contested by reactions against exclusion.
Book Chapters by Zeynep Yanasmayan
Were we to believe alarmist reports on Islam in Belgium, a major terrorist attack against Brussel... more Were we to believe alarmist reports on Islam in Belgium, a major terrorist attack against Brussels is only "a matter of time", and there is a broad perception of the 'Muslim community' of Belgium as being increasingly radicalised. In this paper, we discuss a number of different types of radicalisation that have been observed among persons of Islamic faith or culture in Belgium, highlighting the conflicts it has caused or it could become the cause of. Our research suggests that the majority of Muslim Belgians seem to have embraced the spirit of compromise and moderation prevalent in the country's political scene. Whilst a number of the groups and movements discussed have indeed represented a challenge to the peaceful coexistence between Belgian society's cultural components, it is important to note the considerable antithesis between the visibility and mediatisation of radical movements and the very poor results they have obtained every time they have tried to transform their alleged popularity into electoral gains.
This paper takes as its departure point the need for further EU involvement and thus focuses on E... more This paper takes as its departure point the need for further EU involvement and thus focuses on European citizenship as an integration tool. It attempts to analyse the extent to which European citizenship can effectively contribute to the process of integration of Turkish immigrants. It deals with the construction of European citizenship through the interplay of domestic integration policies. The examples of the Netherlands and Germany demonstrate how Turkish immigrants have lost out compared to the EU nationals.
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Books by Zeynep Yanasmayan
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles by Zeynep Yanasmayan
pushing the Republic towards the enhancement of fundamental rights and
freedoms. However, the decreasing credibility of the project for EU
membership after 2005 has gradually led to selective reforms being
introduced, and most recently to de-Europeanization. Against this quickly
changing background, this paper seeks to investigate the usages of
Europeanization by domestic political actors during the discussions on the
recently failed constitution-making process (2011-2013). It specifically focuses
on deliberations over religious freedom, and argues that Europeanization has
continued to serve as the normative context in constitution-writing.
Conference Presentations by Zeynep Yanasmayan
Workshop on “Forced Migration, Exclusion, and Social Class” (23-24 May 2019, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle, Germany)
Cfp by Zeynep Yanasmayan
Working Papers, Blogs, Reports by Zeynep Yanasmayan
The first two principles have particularly dominated the Belgian Act of 1 March 2000 which significantly amended the Nationality Code. Currently, the Belgian citizenship regime is one of the most flexible systems in Europe. The two striking examples of this flexibility are the removal of the integration condition for naturalisation and the possibility of becoming Belgian by mere declaration after seven years of residence. At a time when integration tests are proliferating across Europe, the 2000 amendments abolished the provision relating to proof of ‘willingness to integrate’ from the legislation. These amendments can be explained by a combination of factors which are embedded in the Belgian context. The particular federal system generates different political dynamics for the adoption of such measures facilitating nationality acquisition. Therefore, we can claim that Belgium provides an intriguing case for citizenship studies not least due to its complex federal system.
Book Chapters by Zeynep Yanasmayan
pushing the Republic towards the enhancement of fundamental rights and
freedoms. However, the decreasing credibility of the project for EU
membership after 2005 has gradually led to selective reforms being
introduced, and most recently to de-Europeanization. Against this quickly
changing background, this paper seeks to investigate the usages of
Europeanization by domestic political actors during the discussions on the
recently failed constitution-making process (2011-2013). It specifically focuses
on deliberations over religious freedom, and argues that Europeanization has
continued to serve as the normative context in constitution-writing.
Workshop on “Forced Migration, Exclusion, and Social Class” (23-24 May 2019, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle, Germany)
The first two principles have particularly dominated the Belgian Act of 1 March 2000 which significantly amended the Nationality Code. Currently, the Belgian citizenship regime is one of the most flexible systems in Europe. The two striking examples of this flexibility are the removal of the integration condition for naturalisation and the possibility of becoming Belgian by mere declaration after seven years of residence. At a time when integration tests are proliferating across Europe, the 2000 amendments abolished the provision relating to proof of ‘willingness to integrate’ from the legislation. These amendments can be explained by a combination of factors which are embedded in the Belgian context. The particular federal system generates different political dynamics for the adoption of such measures facilitating nationality acquisition. Therefore, we can claim that Belgium provides an intriguing case for citizenship studies not least due to its complex federal system.