This is to announce the Tobunken Seminar featuring Dr. Fuat Dündar of TOBB University of Economics and Technology. The event is open to the public and no registration is required.
Date and time: December 12 (Thu), 2019, 18:00-19:30
Lecture Title： A Historical Reading of the Ottoman-Turkish Open-Door Policy Towards Immigrants and Refugees
Lecturer: Fuat Dündar (TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Turkey)
Chair: Jun Akiba (IASA, University of Tokyo)
Abstract:
Migration is not only a population movement; it is also the main force in the political, social and social transformation. This presentation will analyze the immigration policies of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic, and especially its impact over the politics. Two main reasons for the massive flow of immigrants and refugees were the war (mainly with the Tsarist Russia) and the homogenization policy of the newly founded states. The other reason, which will be my main argument, was that the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish republic had a pro-immigration policy, for special groups and regions. The Ottoman Empire had an open-door policy for Muslims, and Turkey for the population who had Turkish “descent and culture.” From the religious based open-door policy to the ethnic based one, this presentation will demonstrate that the immigration was a main transformative factor in the political system.
*Dr. Fuat Dündar specializes in the politics and history of the late Ottoman Empire and Turkish Republic. His publications include Kahir Ekseriyet: Ermeni Nüfus Meselesi (1878-1923) (Istanbul, 2013), Crime of Numbers: The Role of Statistics in the Armenian Question (New Brunswick, N.J., 2010), Modern Türkiye’nin Şifresi: İttihat ve Terakki’nin Etnisite Mühendisliği 1913-1918 (Istanbul, 2008), and İttihat ve Terakki’nin Müslümanları İskan Politikası 1913-1918 (Istanbul, 2001).
**This event is co-organized by the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the University of Tokyo, and the Supra-disciplinary Studies Group, Contemporary Islamic Studies, Toyo Bunko.