Publication Date
2025
Document Type
Book
Description
The US and EU are often viewed as safe havens for those who are being politically silenced under oppressive governments. Acquiring US/EU citizenship is often considered a solution to the lack of political agency of those escaping these regimes, but if access to citizenship is controlled by the state, to what extent does this new citizenship status solve this problem? This research focuses on Kurdish people who have escaped persecution at the hands of the Turkish government and resettled in one of these host regions. This research will demonstrate how the US/EU use citizenship acquisition as a tool to delimit the political agency of Kurds who have resettled there. Due to international negotiations between Turkey and the US/EU, foreign policy goals, and the individual dynamics of resettlement, resettled Kurds find that their political agency is still limited by the same repressive policies they sought to escape from.
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Recommended Citation
Lodi, Rayaan, "The Passport Paradox: When Citizenship Becomes a Weapon" (2025). Research Days Posters 2025. 105.
https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2025/105
