Diaspora of diaspora: Adyge-Abkhaz returnees in the ancestral homeland

Focusing on the diasporic characteristics shown by ancestral return migrants, this case study looks at the Abkhaz-Adyge (Circassian) returnees from Turkey to the Caucasus and how they become the “diaspora of the diaspora.” The next generations of diasporans continue to dream of return, and, with recent developments in communication technologies and cheaper transportation, many find ways to realize this dream. There are many different forms of return, but some “return-migrate” and settle in an unfamiliar ancestral home. The relocation creates new experiences as the homeland turns out to be very different from that which they imagined, and the return migration is transformed into a new form of migrant experience that, in fact, produces renewed diasporic characteristics

Return migration to the Caucasus: the Adyge-Abkhaz diaspora(s), transnationalism and life after return

This thesis investigates the dual transnationalism of ancestral return migrants, that is to say people “returning” to the territory where their ancestors had once migrated from. Dispersed from their homeland in the second half of the 19th century, the Adyge-Abkhaz diaspora has been involved in a variety of transnational practices in relation to their homeland in the Caucasus; and some, with considerable effort, have been settling there especially in the last two decades. The transnational involvement of this diaspora, most of whom live today in Turkey, is motivated by their search for belonging. Many who go back and forth between Turkey and the Caucasus are involved in transnational diaspora associations and take an active role in the formation of a transnational ethno-political-cultural environment for new generations growing up in the diaspora. The majority of those who have “return migrated” to their homeland in the Caucasus, in this study to two republics, Adygeya (an autonomous republic under the Russian Federation) and Abkhazia (a republic with contested independence), develop new transnational links to their diaspora communities in Turkey. This thesis is the product of a multi-sited, multi-method research project that combines theories related to transnationalism, diaspora and return, as well as migrant adaptation. Using life-history interviews, semi-structured interviews and participant observation, fieldwork for the research took place in rural diaspora settlements and urban diaspora organisations in Turkey as well as in the Caucasus, thereby enabling the researcher to study both ends of the migration route. Existing studies on ancestral return migration focus on pull and push factors, which hitherto have focused on sending and receiving countries separately. This thesis argues that their dual transnationalism, both in the diaspora (in Turkey) looking back towards the diasporic homeland, and after return looking back towards the diaspora, turns them into the “diaspora of their diaspora”

The Republic of Adygheia: Perceptions of Rights, Freedoms and Life Chances of Ordinary People

With the region of the Caucasus with its ongoing, and even deteriorating, crisis and instability and its strategic and economic importance increasingly at the front of the world's attention, this volume presents and discusses some of the complexities and problems arising in the region such as Islamic terrorists and al-Qaida. Scholars from different disciplines who specialise in the Caucasus analyze key topics such as: - discussions of grass root perceptions - the influence of informal power structures on ethnic conflicts in the Caucasus - Russian policies towards Islam and their destabilising influence - the influence of Islamic revival on the legal and social situations - nationalism and the revival of pre- and sub-national identities - shifts in identity as reflected in demography - reasons for the Chechen victory in the first Chechen war - the involvement of Islamic volunteers in Chechnya. With the situation in Chechnia likely to spread across the entire North Caucasus, this cutting edge work will be of great value in the near future and will interest political scientists and regional experts of Russia, Central Asia, Caucasus, Middle East and Turkey, as well as NGOs, government agencies and think tanks

Post-Soviet coğrafyasında yaşam kalitesi : Adigey Cumhuriyeti örneği.

This study aimed to describe the life standard in the post-Soviet context taking the Republic of Adygeya, one of the poorest districts of Post-Soviet Russia, as an example. The applicability of the European approach to the life standard (quality of life) was also in question. The survey in Adygeya showed that life standard research is applicable in the post-Soviet context. However, modifications are necessary and not all concepts are comparable to the world outside the ex-Soviet region. The descriptive chapters on the case of Adygeya include income, economic life, settlement, necessities and ownership, the failure of the systems of education and heath, democracy and citizens as well as the general evaluation of the quality of life and satisfaction.M.S. - Master of Scienc

Toplumsal yapı, refah göstergeleri ve toplumsal raporlama

TÜBİTAK SBB01.09.2002Proje, 15 Avrupa ülkesinde objektif toplumsal refah göstergeleri ile bunların sübjektif düzeyde algılanma biçimlerini ortaya koymayı hedefleyen karşılaştırmak bir araştırmanın Türkiye ayağını oluşturmaktadır. Proje, Türkiye'de yaşam kalitesi kavramının toplum ve bireyler tarafından nasıl algılandığını; öznel tanımlamalar ile nesnel tanımlamaların birbirleriyle ne kadar örtüştüğünü ölçmektedir. Proje, yalnızca bugüne dair bilgi üretmekle kalmayıp geleceğe dair çıkarımlar yapılmasına da olanak tanıyan ve olası toplumsal dönüşümlerin toplum üzerinde yaratacağı etkilerin önceden bilinebilmesini sağlayarak gerekli önlemlerin alınabilmesi için gerekli zemini hazırlamaktadır.The primary aim of this research is to measure level of welfare in Turkey in such a standard way that is comparable with welfare measurements of other countries. Project is a part of a larger international project that covers 9 European countries. Welfare which is used as an indication of overall development is traditionally measured by gross national product and has been employed for a long time to compare countries. However, recent evidence indicates that such economically based measures have serious flaws in reflecting social developments and characteristics of social structures in countries. Actually, social structure is much more complex than it is usually envisioned by economists and capturing this complexity reguires well designed measures that encompase various facets of structural characteristics as well as their interplay with the development process. What is proposed here is an alternative way to measure welfare which not only reflects social structural characteristics better but also takes into account perceptions of citizens about the welfare measures in Turkey. In fact, both the objective assessments of the welfare measures and their subjective evaluations by the people are combined in this new approach which is obviously superior to earlier measures that ignores subjective evaluations altogether. By adopting a new approach and being part of a comparative international study, this project provides a unique opportunity to place Turkey among not only in Europe but also other countries in the world where similar measures are available. Findings of the larger project may also contribute considerably to the ongoing discussions in the European Union to select candidate countries for membership by indicating the relative stand of Turkey in comparative terms. The project also carries considerable potential to help Turkish governments to modify the existing or design new welfare policies after locating the place of Turkey in Europe and in the world