Roya Imani Giglou

Turkish diasporic responses to the Taksim Square protests: Legacy media and social media uses in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany

Abstract Based on an offline and online survey of 967 people of Turkish origin living in these countries, we test how legacy and social media have influenced the participation of the members of the Turkish diaspora in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands in the mid-2013 protests in Turkey’s social movement referred to as Gezi Park. This study also investigates how living in Europe can influence the behavior and attitudes of the sampled individuals from the Turkish Diaspora of Germany, Belgium and Netherlands during the period when the Gezi Park demonstration took place. Our results make it clear that social media were used by those who supported the protest movement, while those who opposed the protest movement primarily used or followed traditional sources of media, including Turkish and European television. Furthermore, supporters amongst the diaspora for the Gezi-protests were primarily active in accruing social capital through bonding and social networking among those who belong to the Turkish diaspora under the guise of the Gezi Park protests. Finally, a significant number of the supporters of the protests in the three countries took part in several different means of supporting the movement, including: disseminating awareness about the Gezi protests through social media, engaging in meetings, and in some cases, even severing contact with friends and acquaintances who did not share their support for the protest movement.

The ties that bind the diaspora to Turkey and Europe during the Gezi protests

The Gezi Park demonstrations across Turkey in the early summer of 2013 offered another opportunity to examine the role played by social media in a social movement. This survey of 967 ethnic (Turkish or Kurdish) minorities living in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany focuses on attitudes and behaviors alongside uses of offline and online networks to make connections with others during and after Gezi. We investigate whether the respondents living in the diaspora experienced communication-generated social capital. We also examine whether the social capital already built through lives spent in Europe, where connections to majority populations had been forged, was at least temporarily reversed through a process of re-bonding, as ethnic minorities turned their attention and loyalty to the social movement in Turkey.

Social Media Responses of the Turkish Diaspora to Protests in Turkey: The Impact of Gezi on Attitude and Behavioural Change

The Gezi protests in Turkey in May 2013 involved the European diaspora as well as the Turkish population in Turkey. Ethnic minorities whose roots were in Turkey may have felt torn between their country of residence and the nation where they or members of their family were born as they passively or actively participated in those events. Through an online and offline survey, we focused on activities of Turkish and Kurdish ethnic minorities in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, and their attitudes and behaviours related to the demonstrations taking place in the country of their ethnic origins. A survey of 967 respondents who either actively or passively supported the Gezi movement or opposed it altogether was conducted to determine the nature of diaspora involvement in the demonstrations. We investigated the use of social media to communicate with others about the demonstrations; the relationship between the diaspora and friends and family in Turkey; the attitudes towards Turkey as well as the respondents’ country of residence, and their thoughts about the possible accession of Turkey to Europe in the wake of Gezi.

Challenges of conducting survey research related to a social protest movement: Lessons learned from a study of Gezi protests involving the Turkish diaspora in three European countries

ABSTRACT Research on social protest movements raises many complicated methodological issues. This article systematically explains the methodological quandaries the authors confronted when studying demonstrations and online and offline activism by ethnic Turks in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands in support of the Gezi Park protesters in Turkey. It explains how participants were recruited and surveyed in this complex and extremely sensitive environment. It offers lessons learned that can be applied to other studies involving surveys of ethnic minorities engaged in social protest movements. More generally, they may also apply to surveys of any vulnerable population about sensitive issues.