Ayhan Kaya

Islamisation of Turkey under the AKP Rule: Empowering Family, Faith and Charity

Referring to the linkages between neoliberal social policies and religious forms of governmentality, this article analyses the Islamisation of Turkey under the rule of the AKP (Justice and Development Party) since 2002. It discusses the strategies, discourses, and policies deployed by the AKP to take control of the state, with a particular focus on the changing environment of social policies. The focus is on the growing importance of the family, faith-based voluntary organisations, charities, education, and Islam for AKP rule. It concludes with brief reference to the #Occupygezi movement, which was partly a response to the Islamisation pursued by the AKP government.

Cultural reification in circassian diaspora: stereotypes, prejudices and ethnic relations

Contemporary diaspora identities differ to a certain extent from conventional forms of diasporic formations in the sense that the former are no longer characterised by the overwhelming wish to return. Contemporary diasporas are built upon two principal pillars: modern communicative circuitry, and acts of exclusion by receiving societies. Deported by the Russians from their homeland in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Circassian tribes were welcomed by the Ottoman Empire for practical reasons. Since then they have been subject to several acts of both inclusion and exclusion by the Turkish Republic. They were also treated differently by their local neighbour groups. This paper claims that Circassian groups in diaspora have generated distinct ethnic and cultural identities depending on how they were recognised, or unrecognised, both by their neighbours and by the Turkish state. Cultural reification, or essentialisation, becomes common practice among diaspora groups, providing them with a safe haven against misrepresentation, prejudice, exclusion and discrimination. Cultural reification not only adds to the construction of a sense of communality, but also serves as a way of doing politics for the Circassians in diaspora. Culture, then, not only remains a heritage, but also becomes a political strategy.

Ethno-religious narratives of citizenship in Turkey: Fabricating citizens through national education

This article aims to explore the ways in which national education curricula have impacted national citizenship in Turkey. It will be argued that the Kemalist pillars of Turkish citizenship have started to be challenged by means of globalization, identity politics, religious revival and European integration since the 1980s. Turkey has been going through a process of social and political change since the late 1990s, especially with regard to the political recognition of ethno-cultural and religious diversity, as well as to the transformation of the debates about national citizenship. It is obvious that national education is one of the leading institutions deployed by the state to construct national citizens favouring its dominant perspectives with regard to the management of ethno-cultural and religious diversity. Shedding light on the historical evaluation of national citizenship in Turkey, this article will claim that the Turkish national citizenship regime still bears strong ethno-cultural and ethno-religious elements originating from the Ottoman millet system despite the on-going processes of Europeanization in different spheres of social and political life.

Tolerance and Cultural Diversity Discourses in Turkey

Tolerance and cultural diversity as a discourse has gained momentum in the last decade, distinguished by the societal and official attempts to join the EU. At first glance, it seems that the shift from the ‘homogenization discourse’ to the ‘diversity discourse’ has resulted from external factors, such as the EU. But a comprehensive analysis of the issue may prompt us to reach another conclusion, that is, the alliance of internal and external factors leading to the revitalization of the discourse of diversity. One can observe that the Kemalist ideology encountered various challenges originating from ethnocultural and religious groups in the aftermath of the 1980 military coup. This was the time when the Kemalist rhetoric of homogenizing nationalism, which was based on a retrospective narrative holding the Muslim-origin nation together against the syndrome of the common enemy of imperialist European powers, was challenged by its major taboos: Islam, Kurds and Alevis, as well as globalization, liberalization and Europeanization. In what follows, the discursive shift from homogenization to multicultural diversity will be described with the interplay of both internal and external dynamics in the background..

Euro-Turks as a Force in EU–Turkey Relations

This study focuses on the ways in which Euro-Turks affiliate themselves both with their countries of destination in the European Union and with their country of origin, Turkey. Using the institutional channelling theory, this study claims that Euro-Turks are more likely to comply with the political, economic, legal and cultural structure of their countries of settlement. The study also claims that Euro-Turks have recently become actively engaged in political participation processes at a time defined by rising Islamophobia. However, official lobbying activities of the Turkish state among Euro-Turks are likely to be more destructive than constructive in the way in which they make the Euro-Turks compete with each other on ideological grounds.

Youth and active citizenship in Turkey: engagement, participation and emancipation

Abstract This article critically discusses the establishment of active citizenship in Turkey with a specific focus on young people. In particular, we concentrate on the emergence of different strategies regarding civic and political participation in Turkey, by looking at their relationship with civic and political engagement. The scope is to focus on the influence that various factors have in determining patterns of participation. The research and relative results are based on the narratives inherent to two opposite scenarios – that we defined constraints to engagement and participation and patterns of emancipation – that emerged during the interviews with youth activists of NGOs in Turkey.

The Circassian Diaspora In and Outside Turkey

Modern communications technologies and transportation methods have lessened the distance between Circassians at home and abroad while increasing their self-esteem and activism.

Europeanization of civil society in Turkey: legacy of the #Occupygezi movement

ABSTRACT As a clear depiction of unconventional forms of civic and political participation, the Occupygezi movement has revealed that a more comprehensive approach is needed to understand the deep socio-political drives underpinning the Turkish bid for EU membership. Focusing on three different framings, namely Euro-enthusiastic, Euro-sceptic and critical Europeanist frames, developed by civil society organizations in Turkey since the 1999 Helsinki Summit, this article will analyze the transformative effect of the Occupygezi movement on various civil society groups which had previously been Euro-sceptic. Subsequently, the article will claim that the critical Europeanist frame has recently become stronger. Methodologically, the article will be based on a literature survey on the civil society actors, as well as discourse analysis of some particular associations, trade unions and the media organizations in relation to their changing perception of the EU before and after the Occupygezi movement.

A Tale of Two Cities: Aleppo and Istanbul

There are 7.6 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Syria, and an additional 5 million people have taken refuge in Syria’s immediate neighbourhood: Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. Among these countries, due to its open border policy, Turkey has received the largest number of Syrian refugees. As of 31 August 2016, there are more than 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey. This article will concentrate on the findings of a recent qualitative and quantitative study conducted among Syrian refugees in Istanbul, with a particular focus on their strong attachment to this city. I shall claim that historical, cultural and religious forms of affinity are likely to particularly attach the Sunni-Muslim-Arab-Syrians originating from Aleppo province to Istanbul. This article is expected to contribute to the discipline of Refugee Studies by shedding light on the historical and human elements, which are often the missing elements in such analysis.

Conventional versus non-conventional political participation in Turkey: dimensions, means, and consequences

This special issue focuses on the emergence of different forms of civic and political activism in Turkey. In doing so, we have taken into account different components of active citizenship and look...