LONDON’S KURDISH AND TURKISH COMMUNITIES: HOW DO THEY RELATE TO BRITAIN AND TO TURKEY?’

CENTRE FOR TURKEY STUDIES

WESTMINSTER DEBATE

‘LONDON’S KURDISH AND TURKISH COMMUNITIES: HOW DO THEY RELATE TO BRITAIN AND TO TURKEY?’

4 June 2013

Committee Room 9, House of Commons

Keynote Speakers:

Dr Ipek Demir of University of Leicester

Dr Dogus Simsek of Regents University London

Chair: Andy Love, the Labour and Co-operative Party Member of Parliament for Edmonton

Dr Ipek Demir is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Leicester. Before joining Leicester she taught social sciences at the Universities of Sussex, Cambridge, and Open University. Dr Demir received her BA from Siyasal Bilgiler Fakultesi, University of Ankara. After the completion of her PhD from the University of Sussex, she won an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship and held it at the University of Cambridge. Her work is focused on the translation of ideas, practices, cultures, ethno-political identity, transnationalism and diaspora studies. Currently she is on an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) fellowship, examining how ethno-political identity is represented and translated by Kurds (of Turkey) in London. She has given numerous invited talks and has over ten peer-reviewed international publications. They include ‘Humbling Turkishness: Undoing the Strategies of Exclusion and Inclusion of Turkish Modernity’,Journal of Historical Sociology (forthcoming 2014); ‘Battling with Memleket in London: the Kurdish Diaspora’s Engagement with Turkey’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (2012); ‘Lost in Translation? Try Second Language Learning: Understanding Movements of Ideas and Practices across Time and Space’, Journal of Historical Sociology (2011); ‘On the Representation of ‘Others’ at Europe’s Borders: The Case of Iraqi Kurds’, Journal of Contemporary European Studies (2010) (with Welat Zeydanlioglu); 1968 in Retrospect: History, Theory, Alterity, Palgrave Macmillan (2009)(with Gurminder K. Bhambra).

Dr Dogus Simsek works at Regent’s University London and carries out research on transnational migration at the Regent’s Centre for Transnational Studies. She received her BA in Media and Communication Systems from Istanbul Bilgi University, an MA in Cultural Studies from Goldsmiths College, University of London, and a PhD in Sociology from City University London in 2012. Before coming to Regent’s University London, she lectured in Sociology at City University London and also carried out research on Turkish and Kurdish migrants in London. Her research interests broadly cover transnationalism, diaspora, racism, ethnicity and identity. She has published research papers and presented her research at over 20 international and national conferences. Her publications include ‘Transnational Communities & Conflict Policies’ (2010, with H. Miall and A. Orrnert); The Challenge of Transnationalism to Government Policy in Britain: The Positive Outcomes of Generating Bonding Social Capital’ (2008, with D. Hadjigeorgiou); ‘The Creative Lives of Kurdish, Turkish and Turkish- Cypriot Youth in London’ (2012); “Inclusion’ and ‘Exclusion’: Transnational Experiences of Turkish and Kurdish Youth in London” (forthcoming 2013). She has also published a piece in the Guardian on the 2011 London Riots.

Summary

The Centre for Turkey Studies hosted a Westminster Debate on London’s Kurdish and Turkish Communities. Our keynote speakers Dr Ipek Demir and Dr Dogus Simsek analysed how these communities relate to Turkey and Britain.

Dr Ipek Demir shared some findings of her academic work called ‘Battling with Memleket in London: The Kurdish Diaspora’s Engagement with Turkey’. She began her speech with some facts on the ‘Turkish-speaking’ communities from Turkey and their history of migration to the UK. She stated that majority of the ‘Turkish-speaking’ communities is Kurdish people who migrated from Sivas, Kahramanmaras and the region. However, she pointed out that, the number of Kurdish people living in the UK is generally estimation as census asks participants their country of origin, not their ethnicity. According to Demir, majority of the 61 thousand London-based people who said that they were born in Turkey in the 2011 Census for England and Wales must be of Kurdish ethnicity. Additionally, she argued, debates over Muslim minorities, ethnic groups and public policies regarding diasporas do not seem to acknowledge the large proportion of Turkish and Kurdish communities in London. Hence, these communities are left ‘invisible’ in regards to public policies over migration and integration.

Demir stated that most Kurds come from areas in Turkey where conflict persisted. Hence, she indicated, it would be fair to state that Kurds sought asylum in the UK due to ethnic conflict and consequent economic deprivation. The distinction that is usually applied to political asylum seekers and ‘bogus’ economic asylum seekers fails as Kurds tend to suffer from both of these two factors. Demir analysing Kurds in the UK in relation to Turkey argued that many migrants from Turkey began identifying themselves more as Kurdish instead of British in time. She suggested that this increasing tendency of political identification with Kurdish-ness is due to state policies in Turkey. Hence, second and third generation of Kurds find themselves more in a battle with Turkey especially since the 1990s. And ‘us’ and ‘them’ dichotomy that Kurds experience in Britain and Turkey is more cultural and political than ethnicity oriented.

Dr Dogus Simsek, who has carried out an ethnographic research on second generation Turkish and Kurdish migrants in London since 2009, presented some of the findings from her research. Simsek stated that she analysed how/why these migrants connect with the homeland and the host country, and their relations to North London, London in general and Turkey. She indicated that second generation Turkish and Kurdish migrants feel more connected to homeland culture rather than British culture. However, she said, their connection with the homeland is through their parents who had settled in North London. Therefore, the second generation migrants consider particularly North London as home. Simsek speaking about the migrants’ relation to London in general said that they feel good about the diversity of London although they realise internationality of London when they attend university outside North London.

Dr Dogus Simsek argued that the second generation migrants do not have a direct link with Turkey where they generally go for summer holidays at their parents’ hometowns. She added that they do not feel included in Turkey not only due to being unable to speak mother-tongue well, but also some of them feel that they are perceived as the problematic outsiders whose parents sought asylum abroad. Simsek concluding her talk stated that second generation migrants identify North London and London as home, not Turkey.

Andy Love MP who chaired the event contributed in the discussion with his observations from his constituency, Edmonton where majority of Turks, Kurds and Turkish Cypriots live. Love emphasized the value of finding common grounds in order to create integrated communities in London and in the UK.