Making of a Culture Repertoire: Turkish Migrants Perception in Europe through Movies

With the culture and identity-related events in Europe such as the Charlie Hebdo case, the need to reconsider the situation of Turkish people in Europe and their Muslim identity has (re)emerged. As it has been long acknowledged, culture is a socially and historically constructed term, which has been shaped by a number of common components including a shared history, language, and religion. During the construction process of culture, certain factors play initial roles to construct and maintain a culture repertoire to be presented to the society. Itamar-Even Zohar terms this process of choosing what to be presented to the society as “making of a culture repertoire”. By referring to his theory, this paper aims to discuss the perception/identity of being Turkish in Europe as a part of the process of constructing a specific “culture repertoire”. Within this brief background, the movies directed by European directors such as Die Fremde by Feo Aladag and Takiye: Allah Yolunda by Ben Verbong; and the movies directed by Turkish directors, namely Kuma by Umut Dağ and Gegen die Wand by Fatih Akın dealing with Turkish migrants in Europe are interpreted. It is possible to argue that deliberate actions, choices, and bias play crucial roles in representing and narrating a specific culture to another cultural majority and shape the perception regarding the represented culture. Moreover, when the tragic events overlap with fiction, the “culture repertoire” presented to a target audience becomes reinforced through repeated narratives