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The article explores the transnational dimension of adhocratic governance through the case study of the Turkmen community in Lebanon, a marginal and seemingly insignificant group, especially from a demographic point of view. It investigates how Turkey’s and Lebanon’s governance of Turkmen communities has evolved over the past few decades and what this reveals about how the Turkmen’s transnational identities operate in practice. Drawing on extensive fieldwork conducted by the authors in both Lebanon and Turkey, the paper contends that in recent years, Turkey has implemented ad hoc strategies towards Turkmen communities, influencing their transnational identification practices. While Lebanon has disengaged from the management of a population living in marginal yet strategically relevant areas, Turkey has framed its foreign policy in terms of cultural-religious kinship and pragmatism. Both political processes are continually characterised by competing bundles of identifications, which temporarily and incompletely acquire a privileged status in (especially foreign policy) decision-making. Keywords: Lebanon, Turkey, Transnational Identities, Adhocracy, Transnational Governance, Kinship

The spread of identity politicisation has revitalised the debate over the nature and transformations of the State and its role in the international arena. This shift has also underscored the importance of identity assumed in international relations (IR) as it offers an alternative to the traditional realist-rationalist vocabulary. Grounded on a counter-substantialist approach to identity the Special Issue moves the gaze from identity to identification processes. Identity as an essential object that explains actions fails to capture the constitutive relationship between actors’ identities and the social contexts in which they emerge. Consequently, the notion of individual or state identity as a foundation for actions is replaced by a process involving multiple acts of identification that occur in specific contexts and periods. How do identities, both as “identities in practice” and as given and abstract objects, influence states’ domestic and foreign governance? To answer this overarching question, the Special Issue draws on two interrelated notions of identity: as bundles of actions of identification that acquire temporarily privileged status in specific discourses and as a causal variable in IR that explains why states act in certain ways. This dual analytical lens allows to examine (1) the centrality of space and time in debates on how identity has contributed to redefining the role of the State domestically and its relationships in the international arena and (2) the extent and ways in which ad hoc measures at the micro-scale of identification processes influence the macro-level identity–legitimacy nexus. This framework aligns identity studies with the concept of “adhocracy”, defined in bureaucracy and policy studies as either an intentional institutional setup or an unintentional outcome of policy implementation. Keywords: State; Adhocratic Governance; Identity; Identification Processes; Space; Time

This article investigates how the fight against Islamophobia both clarifies and shapes the contours of Turkey's diaspora policy. It relies on the literature on political remittances and its value to diaspora studies by highlighting to what extent and how the commitment to tackling Islamophobia plays a role in Turkey's attempt to strengthen the link with 'its' diaspora. In this process, attention is devoted to how Turkish state institutions like the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) have framed Islamophobia as a religion-based problem and an "anti-Islamic project". In so doing, they bolster a dichotomic narrative between secular Europe and Muslim migrants. The empirical discussion also reveals the international dimension of the fight against Islamophobia and examines the Turkish government's motivation to proclaim itself the defender of (Turkish) Muslim communities in Europe. Thus, the official narrative that overlooks any systemic discriminations Turkish minorities are experiencing in everyday life has promoted a tutelary representation that might reinforce a paternalistic view of the diasporas as victims who need saving.

Since the Covid-19 emergency broke out, Turkish state institutions became crucial to govern diaspora communities facing lockdown measures and forced separation from the homeland. Being the first European country strongly affected by COVID-19 and where massive lockdown measures have been put in place, Italy is a relevant case to analyze. Retracing the scope and scale of the online activities organized during the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper investigates how the Turkish state supported Turkey-originated population living in Italy. The analysis draws on interviews with Diyanet religious officers sent from Ankara to serve the Diyanet’s branches (DITIB) in different Italian cities and with the religious attaché employed in the Turkish Consulate in Milan who supervises them. The interviews have been corroborated with the collection of a vast visual material including brochures, videos and posters published on YouTube channel and the Facebook official pages of the DITIB cultural centers in Italy. Our data show that, during COVID-19 pandemic, online seminars enabled to strengthen Turkey's connection with the diaspora using the emergency situation as a starting point for enhancing family programs and fostering a Muslim-Turkish belonging in any aspect of life.

Since the Covid-19 emergency broke out, Turkish state institutions became crucial to govern diaspora communities facing lockdown measures and forced separation from the homeland. Being the first European country strongly affected by COVID-19 and where massive lockdown measures have been put in place, Italy is a relevant case to analyze. Retracing the scope and scale of the online activities organized during the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper investigates how the Turkish state supported Turkey-originated population living in Italy. The analysis draws on interviews with Diyanet religious officers sent from Ankara to serve the Diyanet’s branches (DITIB) in different Italian cities and with the religious attaché employed in the Turkish Consulate in Milan who supervises them. The interviews have been corroborated with the collection of a vast visual material including brochures, videos and posters published on YouTube channel and the Facebook official pages of the DITIB cultural centers in Italy. Our data show that, during COVID-19 pandemic, online seminars enabled to strengthen Turkey's connection with the diaspora using the emergency situation as a starting point for enhancing family programs and fostering a Muslim-Turkish belonging in any aspect of life.

Since the Covid-19 emergency broke out, Turkish state institutions became crucial to govern diaspora communities facing lockdown measures and forced separation from the homeland. Being the first European country strongly affected by COVID-19 and where massive lockdown measures have been put in place, Italy is a relevant case to analyze. Retracing the scope and scale of the online activities organized during the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper investigates how the Turkish state supported Turkey-originated population living in Italy. The analysis draws on interviews with Diyanet religious officers sent from Ankara to serve the Diyanet’s branches (DITIB) in different Italian cities and with the religious attaché employed in the Turkish Consulate in Milan who supervises them. The interviews have been corroborated with the collection of a vast visual material including brochures, videos and posters published on YouTube channel and the Facebook official pages of the DITIB cultural centers in Italy. Our data show that, during COVID-19 pandemic, online seminars enabled to strengthen Turkey's connection with the diaspora using the emergency situation as a starting point for enhancing family programs and fostering a Muslim-Turkish belonging in any aspect of life.

The article investigates the revitalization of the EU-Turkey migration diplomacy in the light of the 2016 EU-Turkey Statement. The Statement, which was aimed at stemming irregular migrations directed to the EU, contributed to strengthen the image of Turkey as a champion in hosting Syrian refugees and a trusted gatekeeper tasked with the control of the EU external borders. How has the management of a humanitarian crisis and massive migration flows affected post 2016 Turkey-EU migration diplomacy? The article contends that Turkey’s claim for moral superiority on the management of refugees despite the material weakness vis-à-vis the West has been employed to galvanize a coercive migration diplomacy and redefine Turkish approach to the EU migration regime. Keywords: Migration Diplomacy, Turkey, EU migration regime, Syrian refugees, transit migration

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