This paper analyses the ‘nationalist movement’ of Ahıska, a forcibly displaced people who have been arriving in Turkey from various parts of the former Soviet Union since the early 1990s. I focus on how members of this community attempt to define the Turkish nation, how they invoke migration to Turkey as a patriotic and nationalist act, how they criticize the state’s responses to this migration as insufficiently nationalist, and how they respond to the movement of non‐Turkish others into the territorial and documentary space that they seek to inhabit. This nationalist movement, albeit small in number, demands our attention because it is born of a phenomenon that is intimately familiar to displaced people and not commonly associated with nationalism – the longing for rest. This longing animates Ahıska efforts to organize themselves and engage with the Turkish state. What possibilities and limitations does this genre of nationalist movement hold for displaced people across the world?
The Bursa Immigration History Museum (BIHM) proudly celebrates the role that migrants have played in building a prosperous city. BIHM's permanent exhibition aims to demonstrate that Bursa and Turkey's multiculturalism has been and continues to be an important element of its strength. At the same time, as a state institution, BIHM creates a definitive version of the "migrant" that aligns with the vision of Turkey's ruling party. In doing so, the museum emphasizes some migrants' experiences, cast aspersions on othersand omits other entirely.
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