Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
5th International Balkan Studies Congress, Skopje, Makedonya, 5 - 07 Eylül 2025, ss.65, (Özet Bildiri)
Balkan immigrants constitute a significant community with deep-rooted ties to Türkiye’s social fabric and have constructed
multi-layered identities throughout history. Having arrived in Türkiye through various waves of migration since the Ottoman era,
this community has developed a distinctive identity by preserving the cultural heritage of their homelands while also cultivating
a strong sense of belonging to Türkiye. Digital platforms have become critical tools through which individuals and communities
express and reconstruct their identities. Social media platforms, in particular, serve as vital spaces where Balkan migrants can
connect, showcase their cultural memory, and transmit it to future generations—functioning simultaneously as communal archives.
In this context, examining the identity representations of Balkan immigrants in Türkiye through their social media posts offers valuable
insights into the dynamics of post-migration identity construction. This study aims to conduct a descriptive analysis of posts
shared in the Facebook group “Selanik, Rumeli ve Balkan Göçmenleri-Thessaloniki, Rumelia and Balkan Migrants”, which is based
in Türkiye and has the largest membership among similar groups. A total of 517 posts published over the past twelve months were
examined using content analysis technique. The study presents the frequency of specific key themes with quantitative data. The
most common themes were nostalgia and collective memory (32.2%), identity representation (28%) and transnational ties (22.1%). It
is expected to contribute to ongoing discussions on how social media acts as a tool for digital identity construction, particularly in
relation to migrant communities’ social integration, sense of belonging, and the preservation of cultural heritage.