Emigration and Policy in Yugoslavia: Dynamics and Constraints within the Process of Muslim Emigration to Turkey during the 1950s

Abstract

The southern parts of Yugoslavia, especially Macedonia, experienced massive emigration by non-Slavic Muslims in the 1950s after an agreement was concluded between Yugoslavia and Turkey in 1953. The movement raises questions of ethnic belonging and policy towards minorities in socialist Yugoslavia, especially regarding the Albanian population in Kosovo. It also raises questions regarding the entanglement of (migration) policy and emigration and the character of state intervention in an on-going emigration process. Thus, the author’s aim is to analyse the pillars of migration policy, the legal and regulatory framework as well as the extent, causes and consequences of state intervention on emigration processes to Turkey. The author further questions the emigration factors and their ethno-political dimensions, also examining how the mass emigration of Muslims influenced different fields of society in the region of origin as well as the Muslim lifeworld in the region.