CONSTRUCTION OF ‘OTHERS’ IN RELATION TO TRANSNATIONAL EXPERIENCES: THE CASE OF STAYERS AND RETURNEES IN THE ASSYRIAN COMMUNITY LIVING IN TURKEY

Abstract

As a result of international developments, many communities had to "migrate" from their own country and tried to protect their existence by living their language and culture and transferring them to the next generations. However, some members of the immigrant communities returned to the land where they were born and migrated years later and tried to maintain this existence. Faced with immigration and Christian communities living in Turkey "Assyrians /Syriac" are also their native lands and those of their ancestors emigrated to European countries. The Assyrians were affected by both cultural changes with the migration phenomenon and the differences with their fellow countrymen who continued their lives by not migrating from the lands they lived in, along with the cultural units and changes they had acquired in the country they went to. In addition, the fact that this community was forced into the migration phenomenon by the Kurds living in the region and that they had to live together on their return was also discussed. With the return of the Assyrians, how the historical ties and cultures are similar among their citizens in the place they came from and what they have contributed to common life, the reflection of the past difficulties with the other ethnic element Kurds in the region, and the fact that they were examined in the light of the results obtained from one-on-one interviews in the field are the essence of this article.