Towards a Success Story? Turkish Immigrant Organizations in Norway

Abstract

This article looks at the organizing processes of residents of Norway who have Turkish origins. It describes the distribution of Turkish organizations in Norway and discusses the different organizing processes of ethnic Turks and ethnics Kurds. It pays particular attention to the Turkish Youth Association, which has become politically relevant in Norwegian society.

Notes

1. Karl Henrik Sivesind, “The Nordic Nonprofit Sector in Comparative Perspective—Is There a Nordic Model of Civil Society?” Paper presented at the CINEFOGO Conference on The Role and Organisation of European Civil Society—Its Relationship to State and Business and Its Importance for Welfare Provision and Social Cohesion, Roskilde, November 15–17, 2006, ISF paper 2006:012, p.1.

2. Pakistani immigrants also arrived early.

3. http://www.ssb.no/emner/02/rapp_200729/rapp_200729.pdf.

4. Jon Rogstad, Demokratisk fellesskap. Politisk inkludering og etnisk mobilisering [Democratic Communities. Political Inclusion and Etnic Mobilization] (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 2007), p. 159.

5. Iris Marion Young, Inclusion and Democracy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 17.

6. Jon Horgen Friberg, Ungdom, fritid og deltakelse i det flerkulturelle (Youth, Free time and Participation in the Multicultural Oslo) (Oslo: Fafo‐notat, 2005).

7. Ibid., p.16.

8. The study undertaken is the largest study of engagement and membership in voluntary sector among people living in Norway with a non‐Western background.

9. Åse Strandbu, Idrett, kj⊘nn, kropp og kultur. Minoritetsjenters m⊘te med norsk idrett [Sports, Gender, Body and Culture. Minority Girls’ Meeting with Norwegian Sports] (NOVA Rapport 10/06, Oslo, 2006).

10. Charles Taylor, “The Politics of Recognition,” in Amy Gutman (ed.), Multiculturalism (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1994), p. 21.

11. Ruud Koopmans and Paul Statham, “Migration and Ethnic Relations as Field of Political Contention: An Oppurtunity Structure Approach”, in Ruud Koopmans and Paul Statham (eds.), Challenging Immigration and Ethnic Relations Politics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 32.

12. Robert D. Putnam, Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1993); Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000), p. 19.

13. Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London and New York: Verso, 1981).

14. Nina Glick‐Schiller, Linda Basch and Christina Szanton‐Blanc, Towards a Transnational Perspective on Migration: Race, Class, Ethnicity and Nationalism Reconsidered (New York: New York Academy of Sciences, 1992).

15. Alejandro Portes, Luis E. Guarnizo and Patricia Landolt, “The Study of Transnationalism: Pitfalls and Promise of an Emergent Research Field,” Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 22, No. 2 (1999), pp. 217–37.

16. Sivesind, “The Nordic Nonprofit Sector in Comparative Perspective,” p. 12.

17. Meindert Fennema and Jean Tillie, “Political Participation and Political Trust in Amsterdam: Civic Communities and Ethnic Networks,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Vol. 25, No. 4 (1999), pp. 703–26.

18. Floris Freek Vermeulen, The Immigrant Organising Process: The Emergence and Persistence of Turkish Immigrant Organisations in Amsterdam and Berlin and Surinamese Organisations in Amsterdam, 1960–2000 (Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, 2005).

19. Svein Ingve N⊘dland, “Vedlegg,” [Attachment] in Fritid med mening. Statlig st⊘ttepolitikk for frivillige barne og ungdomsorganisasjoner [Free Time with Meaning. Government Funding Policies for Voluntarily Children’s and Youth Organizations] (NOU 2006), p. 13. Oslo: Kultur og kirkedepartementet

20. Rogstad, Demokratisk fellesskap [Democratic Communities].

21. J⊘rgen Melve, “Innvandrerorganisasjoner i Norge” [Immigrant Associations in Norway], in Invandrerorganisationer i Norden Tema Nord [Immigrant Associations in The Nordic Countries] (K⊘benhavn: Nordisk ministerråd, 2003), p. 21.

22. Ibid.

23. Translation from Norwegian by the author.

24. See previous note.

25. N⊘dland, Fritid med mening [Free Time with Meaning].

26. Translated from Norwegian (Tykisk Kvinneforening Norsk‐tyrkisk Vennskapssamband Den Tyrkisk Islamske Union Tyrkisk barne‐ og ungdomsorganisasjon Islamsk kultursentrum i Oslo Tyrkisk Hjelpe‐ og st⊘tteforening Bærum Tyrkisk Familie Forening Tyrkiske Organisasjoners Landsorganisasjon i Norge).

27. NOU, Fritid med mening. Statlig st⊘ttepolitikk for frivillige barne og ungdomsorganisasjoner (Free Time With Meaning. Government Funding Policies for Voluntary Children’s and Youth Organizations) (NOU, 2006), p.13. Oslo: Kultur og kirkedepartementet

28. See Putnam, Making Democracy Work; Putnam, Bowling Alone.

29. See Putnam, Bowling Alone, p. 19.

30. Dag Wollebæk and Per Selle, “Where Does Social Capital Come From? Socialization and Institutionalization Approaches Compared,” Paper Association for Research on Non‐Profit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), Washington, 2005.

31. See Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Vol 30, 3 (2004).

32. Rogstad, Demokratisk fellesskap, p. 147.

33. NOU, Fritid med mening. Statlig st⊘ttepolitikk for frivillige barne og ungdomsorganisasjoner.[Free Time with Meaning. Government Funding Policies for Voluntarily Children’s and Youth Organizations].

34. J⊘rgen Goul Andersen, Et ganske levende demokrati (Århus: Aarhus universitetsforlag, 2004).

35. Rogstad, Demokratisk fellesskap [Democratic Communities].

36. Vermeulen, The Immigrant Organising Process.

37. Ibid, p. 31.