The Turkish government plans to enhance its support for diaspora groups abroad, both financially and through other means, with the aim of fostering stronger allegiance to Turkey, navigating legal and administrative challenges in host countries, encouraging active political engagement and forging connections with non-Turkish religious communities.

In its official report titled “Strategic Plan for 2024-2028,” the Turkish government’s diaspora agency, the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (Yurtdışı Türkler ve Akraba Topluluklar Başkanlığı, YTB), outlined its strategy to mobilize approximately 7 million members of the diaspora community to advance Turkish government policies.

The report extensively examined both the threats to and opportunities for the Turkish government’s objectives in harnessing diaspora groups to contribute to Turkey’s ambition of becoming one of the world’s leading powers — a vision articulated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as the “Century of Turkey.”

The YTB lamented that administrative and legal challenges in countries where Turkish diaspora groups are active are hindering the organization from achieving its strategic goals. To overcome these constraints, it recommended several policy actions to the Erdogan government. The YTB urged the government to utilize its diplomatic influence and public diplomacy tools to exert pressure on foreign countries to lift these restrictions on Turkish diaspora groups.

Cooperating with other Muslim religious groups in foreign countries is another recommendation put forward by the YTB to overcome restrictions on the Turkish diaspora. Additionally, the YTB called for more comprehensive analysis of diaspora groups through field studies to gather data and proposed the development of workshops to train selected individuals. These measures aim to enhance the capacity of Turkish diaspora groups to effectively further the objectives of the Turkish government.

The diaspora agency has already been collaborating with numerous groups operating in Europe and other continents, providing them with funding, logistical and technical support to enhance their effectiveness. In fact the YTB recently participated in a program organized by the Union of International Democrats (UID), an organization acting as a foreign interest group representing Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) abroad, in Ankara in early May. The program aimed to enhance the capacity and provide training for the UID, a project funded by the Erdogan government. Abdullah Eren, head of the YTB, was the keynote speaker at the event.

The report categorizes groups critical of the Turkish government’s policies as a threat, branding them as terrorists in accordance with the Erdogan government’s broad labeling of all its critics and opponents as such. The YTB said these opposition groups undermine the Turkish government’s public diplomacy efforts, sow division within the diaspora and pose political and security risks to groups aligned with the Erdogan government.

The YTB concluded that political participation by Turkish diaspora groups in foreign countries is inadequate and advised the Erdogan government to undertake initiatives to encourage Turks to engage more actively in politics. It emphasized the impact of Turkish government scholarships awarded to students from the diaspora and other groups, noting that additional support is necessary to ensure their active involvement in the affairs of their countries upon completing their studies in Turkey and returning home. “Recipients of Turkey scholarships and alumni should aspire to become voluntary Turkish ambassadors,” the YTB stated.

One way to support foreign exchange students is to facilitate connections with Turkish companies engaged in foreign trade and to establish closer ties with Turkish government officials responsible for the economy and trade. According to the YTB, this policy would empower graduates in their own countries by enabling them to become economic actors there.

The report outlined special programs designed for minority diaspora groups aimed at developing human resources to meet the needs in mass media, education and civil society organizations. It called for more financial support for pro-Turkey NGOs to provide education and training to enhance their capabilities.

The YTB claimed that the coverage of diaspora groups in the international and national media poses a threat to its objectives, urging the Erdogan government to combat such coverage more effectively. It alleged that foreign countries have intensified their assimilation policies to weaken the ties of diaspora groups to Turkey and have adopted measures to obstruct the work of the diaspora agency. The YTB suggested that a diversified response is necessary to overcome such policies.

Recognizing that every country has distinct characteristics, the YTB recommended country-specific projects and methods to address the needs of diaspora groups. It emphasized the necessity of developing special communication strategies tailored to benefit priority groups within the diaspora.

YTB president Abdullah Eren, whose family has roots in the Turkish diaspora in Greece, wrote in the preface of the report that the diaspora agency developed the plan with short, medium and long-term perspectives in terms of purpose, objectives and strategy. He added that this approach would significantly accelerate and enhance the activities of the diaspora agency in the coming years.

The YTB actively collaborates with other Turkish government institutions, particularly Turkish intelligence agency MIT (Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı), and also serves as a recruitment source for the spy agency within diaspora communities abroad. This includes exchange students who have studied in Turkey on government scholarships. Turkish embassies are also instructed to help with the work of the YTB in foreign countries with every available means.

The agency’s operations are conducted under various programs, including scholarships, Turkish language courses, academic and cultural exchange programs, study visits, workshops, seminars and campaigns aimed at raising awareness about combating discrimination and Islamophobia.

The YTB’s mandate extends beyond the Turkish diaspora and encompasses non-Turkish groups referred to as “related communities,” which include global Islamist networks such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Hizb ut-Tahrir networks, among others.

The YTB, established in April 2010 with a law passed by the Turkish Parliament, was restructured in July 2018 with more funding from the government budget. It has a budget of 2 billion lira in 2024 and plans to spend 18 billion by 2028. It claims to have reached some 70 percent of its goals set for the 2019 to 2023 period.

It works with approximately 7 million Turks living abroad, with a significant portion residing in Europe. Many of them are part of immigrant communities, with some families now in their fifth generation.

The agency’s work with foreign exchange students from approximately 170 countries is considered a special project and is listed as one of the agency’s three main focus areas. Currently, there are approximately 15,000 foreign students studying in Turkey on government scholarships, with the agency closely monitoring their activities. For this purpose it has allocated 1.5 billion lira for 2024 and is expected to spend 1.8 billion lira next year. Furthermore, the agency coordinates outreach efforts with over 150,000 graduates who have completed their education in Turkey.

The Erdogan government also funds and supports nongovernmental organizations to complement the activities of the YTB, with a total budget of around $3 three billion. One of the main beneficiaries of this program is the UID, President Erdogan’s long arm abroad.

According to a speech by Erdogan on May 6, there are approximately 340,000 foreign students from 198 countries studying in Turkey. Erdogan criticized those who oppose his government’s policy regarding foreign students, stating that this is akin to saying that Turkey’s sphere of influence must not expand. He emphasized that foreign exchange students facilitate Turkish government policies and promote Turkey and that alumni often resolve problems when official government engagement fails.

Erdogan highlighted that countries such as the US, the UK, Germany, France, Canada, Australia and others are reaping the benefits of hosting foreign exchange students. He also expressed pride in Turkey’s increasing share in this by accepting more foreign exchange students in comparison with the past.

It appears that the Erdogan government is determined to use the diaspora agency to aggressively pursue political goals abroad and will not hesitate to use diaspora communities as leverage in disputes with foreign countries.

Abdullah Bozkurt, a Middle East Forum Writing Fellow, is a Sweden-based investigative journalist and analyst who runs the Nordic Research and Monitoring Network and is chairman of the Stockholm Center for Freedom.