Kemalist Secularist Diaspora’s Competitive Victimhood and Intergroup Emotions

This chapter examines the anxieties, collective victimhood and intergroup emotions of Kemalists/Atatürkists within the Turkey-originated diaspora in Australia. The chapter shows how the Kemalists, previously responsible for shaping Turkish identity as the de jure or de facto rulers of Turkey (1920–2010) and ostracizing and securitizing perceived enemies after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, became the demonized other in Turkey under the Islamist AKP rule. Having established the character of the Kemalist competitive victimhood discourse, the chapter presents the results of semi-structured interviews conducted with Kemalist members of the Turkey-originated diaspora in Melbourne with a focus on their intergroup emotions and competitive victimhood. A key finding is that members of this group retain a strong Kemalist competitive victimhood identity and most of them consider themselves and their group victims as a combination of internal and external enemy forces including the AKP, Kemalist-defined undesired citizens of Turkey, the West and Israel. Hence, the Kemalist anxieties and competitive victimhood narratives have intensified and became stronger. These anxieties contribute to a heightened sense of collective victimization among Kemalist individuals, reinforcing their opposition to the AKP and other perceived threats to Kemalist ideals. Because of their strong competitive victimhood, they tend to disregard the victimhood of other groups.