The associational life of first-generation Turkish migrants in the Netherlands represented the whole spectrum of homeland political parties and movements. Several decades later, most of these organisations still exist. Though ties with homeland political parties have remained remarkably stable, they are now used for very different ends. This chapter addresses this tension between organisational form and political content in the historical development of transnational party politics. In general terms, it asks how involvement in transnational party politics among Turkish migrants emerged, developed and waned over time. Central to the story are the motivations and strategies of political parties in Turkey and in European exile as well as those of the Turkish state.

This chapter consists of four main sections in which different actors play leading roles. The first introduces the political parties and factions in Turkey that had the greatest influence on migrants in the Netherlands. The second describes the evolution of ties between these actors in Turkey and Turkish migrant organisations and elites in the Netherlands. The third more specifically examines the interests of the Turkish state in migrant transnational activities. In the final section, I examine the meaning of ‘dual orientation’ for political participation in the Netherlands, specifically for Dutch politicians of Turkish origin and the Dutch political parties they represent.

The political landscape

Turkish migrants have been organised in associations since 1964; the first guest worker organisation with a clear tie to a Turkish political party was founded in 1974. To understand the transnational ties of these organisations in the context of political opportunities in Turkey, the description of political parties and movements in Turkey and the political climate they encountered starts in the 1960s – prior to the coup d’état of 1971 – and stretches until 2005. This section introduces ideologically based parties and movements from the far left to the far right as well as the role of religion for some of them.

The ‘wilderness years’

Turkish politics in the 1970s was turbulent; Pope and Pope (1997: 126-140) have called this period, not without reason, the ‘wilderness years’. The political radicalism of the 1970s was fuelled by the growth of the militant left (the right had already mobilised in the 1960s).