Migration Trajectories and Differentiated Transnational Political Belonging: Evidence from Turkish Citizens Abroad

Research on transnational political participation has shown that migrants maintain political ties across borders. However, less attention has been paid to how different migration trajectories shape distinct forms of transnational political belonging. This article examines how Turkish citizens living abroad interpreted the 2018 and 2023 presidential elections through diverse forms of political attachment to the homeland. Drawing on 35 semi-structured interviews with Turkish migrants and expatriates residing in Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Asia, the study combines thematic qualitative analysis with contextual overseas electoral data from the Turkish Supreme Election Council (YSK). The findings reveal clear differences between long-settled migrants and highly skilled expatriates. Migrants predominantly framed political participation through collective memory, homeland loyalty, religion, nationalism, and cultural continuity, whereas expatriates interpreted homeland politics through comparative evaluations of governance, democracy, institutional accountability, and civic rights shaped by their experiences abroad. These contrasting orientations suggest that overseas elections function not only as mechanisms of democratic participation but also as transnational spaces where identity, memory, and belonging are continuously negotiated. The study argues that migration trajectories generate distinct forms of social embeddedness, producing differentiated patterns of transnational political belonging. By conceptualizing diaspora political participation as internally heterogeneous rather than uniform, the article contributes to debates on transnationalism, diaspora politics, and external citizenship.