TRANSNATIONALISM, DIASPORA AND ISLAM AMONG THE TURKS

This paper investigates transnationalism among the Turks as a multifaceted phenomenon that has been engendered by the interconnectivity in the modern world, mass education and the victorious rise of telecommunication technologies, cyberspace media as well as the global transportation systems. With loosening of boundaries between the countries from Germany and the United States as far as Central Asia, the Turks have entered into numerous transnational networks as the important actors. My focus here is on the transnational religious identity of Islam among the Turks, mainly in Germany and Central Asia, that manifests itself through both non-governmental movements and networks (apolitical as well as political, both accommodationist and extremist), and state-based organizations. The identity, that arises out of such a process can be influenced by ethnolinguistic transnationalism, nationalistic transnationalism or political aspirations, too.