Engaging one’s diaspora to spread nationalist ideology and gain support for conservative political reforms is clearly popular across the world. The methods for doing so, whether it be by bolstering religious organizations or engaging youth through activism, are usually easy to observe as countries target those in their own communities. Unfortunately, not every diaspora member is so persuaded by religious or nationalist rhetoric. On top of this, a desire for regional hegemony requires a nation to curry favor with bordering nations and international actors. In an era of new autocracies, this mission is critically important for any nation with expansionist desires. We have discussed two nations with some of the largest, most influential diaspora communities on earth: India and Turkey. Make no mistake, both nations have found community in the diasporas of other nations, and have been welcomed, often, with open arms.
The efforts of Turkey to expand its nationalist, expansionist ideology across the nations of Central Asia through outreach towards members of the Central Asian diaspora are incredibly clear. Beginning in the 1920s alongside the aftermath of the Young Turk Movement, concepts known as pan-Turkism and pan-Turanism were exported across revolutionary movements throughout Anatolia, Central Asia, and the Caucasus. These ideologies form the basis for modern iterations of neo-Ottomanism, bolstered by the AKP government. As explored in my previous blogposts, the decision by the Erdogan administration to rename its migrant/diaspora outreach agency to the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB) is a prime example of outreach focuses on other nation’s diaspora communities to build an extra-territorial sense of neo-imperial nationalism. To explore this influence further, I’d like to take a closer look at, arguably, the most successful outreach initiative to create a new Ottoman identity: Turkish-Azeri relations.
Linguistically, culturally, and historically, Turkey and Azerbaijan are incredibly similar. An Oguz-Turkish speaking formerly Ottoman occupied state, the Republic of Azerbaijan prizes its relationship with Turkey above all other international alliances. The flags of each country are displayed next to each other in public spaces, the portraits and veneration of the Azeri leader Heydar Aliyev are only slightly more common than the veneration of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and Recep Erdogan receives massive public approval from the citizens of Azerbaijan. Thus, it is logical that Azeri diaspora members still regard their Turkish counterparts as national brethren.
A massive uptick in community building across the Turkish and Azeri diasporas occurred earlier this year, with the breakout of war between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the contested territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Simultaneously, a war over public opinion on the conflict was being conducted across internet message boards, social media, and news outlets by Armenian and Azeri nationals. Armenia received thousands of dollars, volunteers, and political advocacy efforts from its large and politically active diaspora across the world. Since the Armenian Genocide, the Armenian diaspora has been a particularly well-established community in many Western and European nations, with 10-11 million members. The Azeri diaspora, on the other hand, is far smaller, newer, and less established in the political life of nations abroad. By activating and tapping into the Turkish diaspora, however, Azerbaijani activists had the ability to incorporate one of the largest diaspora communities in Europe. The Turkish government and population increased their visible support for the Azerbaijani cause, with the YTB head visiting the Karabakh region to reiterate its support for the Azeris, large protests organized by the ultranationalist Grey Wolves movement in France, and counterprotests to Armenian activists in countries around the world. Azerbaijan’s State Committee on Work with the Diaspora routinely praises its collaboration with the Turkish diaspora and utilizes its affiliated organizations to organize protests and dialogues with international governments. Three days ago, Erdogan attended victory parades and celebrations in Baku, praising the nation and its brotherhood with the nation of Turkey. He also took a moment to recite a poem that calls for the unification of the Republic of Azerbaijan with the South Azerbaijani region of Iran, an action that has prompted outcry in the Islamic Republic.
The efforts to solidify this relationship between the two diaspora organizations began with the birth of diaspora management in Azerbaijan in the World Azerbaijani Congress. Created and convened in 2001 by Heydar Aliyev, it was envisioned to bring together hundreds of Azerbaijanis around the world to advance Azerbaijani issues. Readings of the progress, statements, and achievements of this organizations tell us that their focus was chiefly combatting narratives and organizational advancements by the Armenian diaspora. By the second conference, Heydar’s son Ilham had taken over the country and modified the goals of the organization to build greater ties with Turkey by working with their own diaspora organizations. Other consulate and government affiliated organizations arose in Turkey with these goals, along with energizing the Azeri diaspora in Turkey. One of these organizations is known as the Association for the Struggle Against Unfounded Armenian Claims (ASIMDER). Though a wholly Turkish organization committed to the refutal of the Armenian Genocide, it displays portraits of Aliyev and Ataturk, carries the Azeri Seal of the Republic on its publications, and works alongside committee chairs for the World Azerbaijan Congress. Its work and efforts are supported by both Turkish and Azeri propaganda publications and it’s been praised as a unique collaborative effort to combat Armenian “lies” that deserve attention and commendation. This organization has received particular attention from the Azerbaycan Beynelxalk Diaspor Merkezi (Azerbaijan International Diaspora Center), an affiliate of the World Azerbaijan Congress located in Turkey. Its Facebook page regularly features photos of its directors in front of Turkish flags, portraits of Mustafa Kemal, and quotes from officials praising the unity of the two states. All of this is conducted under the auspices of both Recep Erdogan and Ilham Aliyev’s statements of “two states, one nation.”
This idea of two states, one nation is not unique tp Turkish/Azeri diaspora relations. This idea guides expansionist policy of many nations around the world, as it is an easily billable rhetoric piece that easily engages national pride. It is a way to demonstrate to the world that one’s community is deserving of international recognition, regardless of its size or scope of influence.
However, in comparing Turkey’s pursuit of diaspora nationalism with that of India’s there remains a problem: India’s nationalist identity is not as aggressively expansionist as that of Turkey. Though much of the activism that drives support of Indian nationalism among diaspora members is that of reclaiming the Jammu-Kashmir region, there are few Hindu nations around it that would presently desire to rejoin a massive Indian empire. However, there are a few diaspora groups that are keen to “rejoin” the nation of India, and an Indian government more than willing to accept them in order to grow the idea of a Hindu nation. I would encourage you to look up the nations of Tobago, Mauritius, Suriname, and Fiji to see real application of the two states, one nation ideal. However, for the purposes of this blog, I want to touch on a nation that has no state, no borders, and is a constantly migratory people. It is a prime example of how to engage with an international diaspora to build nationalist support because it only exists as a diaspora.
The last conferences my family attended hosted by Hindu nationalist Sangh Parivar organizations were those of the World Hindu Congress in Chicago (WHC). I was unable to attend due to conflicts with classes and was in no mood to seek excused absences to go to an RSS conference. Upon my family’s return, however, they told me about a panel they attended on the Romani people. I was confused, I had not known the Roma as major followers of Hinduism. They told me that representatives of both Hindu and Roma organizations spoke about the shared history between their peoples, that Roma struggles should be known and advocated for by Hindus around the world, and that they represented a kin community to the Indian nation. I initially thought this was just rhetoric and an effort to appeal to Indian activists (similar to what I discussed in my previous post). However, upon diving further down this rabbit hole, I discovered an effort to extend Hindu nationalism to the ever mobile, established, but stateless Romani people that even predates the ideology’s recent growth in the BJP government.
Studies on the origin of the Romani people (colloquially known by the pejorative term Gypsies) have concerned researchers for decades. Due to a lack of written historical sources and the incredibly diverse nature of their community, pinning down their history has mainly fallen to linguists in exploring how the Romani language evolved. Studies indicated that they were linguistically tied to the Indian subcontinent. Recent haplogroup and mitochondrial DNA studies of the Romani community have demonstrated genetic links between them and the communities that currently inhabit the regions of Punjab, Rajasthan, and Kashmir. However, though this corresponds with long-held theories of the Indian origin of the Roma, they would have exited the region over 1,000 years ago making ties to the modern state extremely small. In fact, the Roma have prized their lack of homeland as a core part of their culture and values. According to a study of Romani groups in the UK, they only see themselves as members of their own nation. Their eternal migratory status makes them who they are.
So why the sudden rise in Indian alignment? How is it that the Modi government’s campaign of diaspora nationalism is now choosing to target this practically separate group with no immediate ties to the country?
The First World Romani Congress, held in 1971, created the first unifying symbols of the Romani people. The flag of the Romani was created, notably with a large chakra (or wheel) in the center. This design was proposed by Indian Romanologist Weer Rajendra Rishi in order to demonstrate their historical links with India. It is easy to see the similarities between the two flags when compared side by side. Many Roma felt that this symbol was thrust upon them rather than adopted unanimously by their community and lasting concerns about its partiality to Indian national identity still exist. Nevertheless, it is the accepted flag of the greater Romani community.
Interestingly, Romani leaders have been quick to adopt language expressing a desire to label themselves as an Indian community. Indian news outlets have been quick to label them as “the first Indian diaspora” despite the lack of a unified Indian state when the exodus would have taken place. Though publications linking the two peoples has existed for decades, this relationship received a massive uptick in support upon the election of Narendra Modi.
In 2016, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs hosted the International Roma Conference and Cultural Festival alongside an organization known as the World Roma Organization. At this time, there was a massive fracturing of Romani organizations with four separate groups vying to be the representative of the Romani people. The oldest of these organizations was the International Romani Union, which enjoyed endorsement and recognition from the Council of Europe. The World Roma Organization was formed in the early 2000s with the split of several IRU secretaries from the original organization. I can’t speak to the nature of this split due to a lack of research on the topic but some sources from Romani organizations indicate that the Belgrade-based WRO had support from right-wing politicians in Serbia and India. After the 2016 conference, the WRO expanded its support and visibility greatly.
The Indian organization charged with the creation, organization, and logistical support for the 2016 conference was the Antar Rashtriya Sahyog Parishad (ARSP) or the Indian Council for International Cooperation. This organization maintains significant ties to RSS hindu nationalist ideologies and has organized several other conferences on Roma-India ties.
The Indian Minister of External Affairs attended and addressed the Roma attendees of the conference, stating that “You are the children of India who migrated and lived in challenging circumstances in foreign lands for centuries. Yet you maintained your Indian identity… You are an example of peaceful co-existence in challenging foreign conditions and are indeed the first flag bearers of the Indian culture overseas. We, in India, are proud of you.” If this is not a government endorsement of the Roma people as an Indian diaspora, I do not know what is.
You might be thinking back to my previous point that the Roma wish to see themselves as solely Romani. Indeed, their regional governance structures would indicate that they focus only on localized councils. However, WRO Secretary General Bajram Haliti implored the Indian government to raise the issue of the political identity of the Romani people to the United Nations, stating that “If it is a prerequisite to change our name from Roma to Hindu, I suggest we do so. Because one of the conditions to solve the Roma issue is, as per international laws, that a minority should have a distinctive home country.”
This is an incredible claim, but not one that is completely unfounded. As evident from fractured representation and a lack of a centralized organizational structure, advocating for Romani issues falls to a group of disjointed, and often unaligned, advocacy organizations. With the support and voice of a strong government, such as that of India, the Romani people can find a legitimized voice in world government without sacrificing their culture of migration and nomadic past. The 2016 conference was designed to explore the Indian roots of their people and lend evidence to the RSS-BJP effort to incorporate their community into the larger Indian diaspora and receive greater ideological and international support for a strong, Hindu India. If the Romani capitulate to the advances of an emboldened Modi government to accept this narrative of incorporation as a recognized national minority, they may achieve a longtime goal of international recognition which could solve a centuries-long issue of systemic abuses, human rights violations, and genocides. They would receive, like Azerbaijan receives from Turkey, support from a network of NGOs, diaspora organizations, and private citizens around the world with longstanding, robust ties to government and society.
One of the things that I found during my research was the depth of horrifying vitriol against the Roma in Europe. I was sick to my stomach reading comments on blogs and social media that compared the Roma to cockroaches and vermin. It reminded me of the abuse received by Kurds in Turkey: another stateless people, though with the benefit of more robust movements for international recognition. It also reminded me of the plight of migrants everywhere, becoming aliens in another land, sustaining abuse from bureaucratic governments, police forces, and organized crime without robust protection systems to turn to when backed into a corner. Some migrants can find support from embassies of their home country, diplomats, and government supported organizations. We’ve recognized and discussed many of these in Turkish and Indian contexts. However, the Romani have no embassies, no consulates, and no centralized, easily identifiable support system in their international communities. If it means sacrificing their historical place as a stateless people and adopting the cultures and identities of another, it might be a glimmer of hope in a time where nationhood and national identity means everything.
The largest population of Romani people on earth today can be found in the Republic of Turkey. Indians have increased their interest and financial ties to Turkey in recent years and both Modi and Erdogan have embraced each other, physically and ideologically. Maybe someday, a more emboldened government will bridge the ties between the Turkish and Indian peoples. Perhaps these two expansionist, nationalists states will fulfill that Turkish creed to create a more massive empire, built by the relationships and management of their diaspora populations: becoming two states, but one nation.
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