A Short Introduction to the Second Volume

The second volume of our book is devoted to the last two categories of the new-exile, which we have analysed in four categories: Politicians and Artists. The history of political exiles in Germany, in the current political diaspora, or the diversity of new-exile—with its class, gender, race and belief components—points both to the periodic crises of democracy and the transformation of politics in Turkey and to the diversity and dynamism in the nature of new-exile. Political exiles constitute a specificity in itself when compared to the academics, journalists and writers we categorise as new exile: Continuity in exile. On the other hand, there is also a novelty and a mediocrity in the scope of exile or displacement. The novelty stems from the Turkish state government’s marginalisation and criminalisation of one part of society as other—‘enemy’, ‘marauder’, ‘terrorist’ or ‘slut’—in order to sustain the material and social reproduction of another part of the society. The source of mediocrity is that anyone who opposes the current government has the potential to be the target of this marginalisation and criminalisation. As such, the subjects of the new-exile are as diverse and ordinary as possible. Whereas the old-wave political exiles were largely driven by political activism associated with the Kurdish movement and Leftist movements, the new political exiles include—in addition to these—defenders of democracy, fundamental rights and freedoms and human rights. From this point of view, everyone who participated in the Gezi movement, the peaceful resolution of the Kurdish question, the women’s movement and the struggle for the rights of labourers is an interlocutor of this mediocrity. These are the people who came together in the Gezi uprising and shared the struggles for ecology, gender, LGBTI+, Kurds, Armenians and labourers’ rights.