Search results

The forced migration movement from Syria, which began in 2011, has brought about significant changes in civil society within Turkey. The already existing complex relationship between the state and civil society, is further diversified in the context of forced migration, presenting the need to focus on the provision of humanitarian assistance, access to services, and integration of Syrian refugees who are legally under temporary protection, without international refugee recognition. Furthermore, state-driven cross-border humanitarian operations and security-oriented state policies also shape this landscape. Therefore, the interplay between civil society actors –existing, government-supported, and newly emerging– and security-oriented state policies contributes to this transformation. Historical and political realities, alongside global-local crises, influence the trajectory of change within civil society, positioning authorities as pivotal decision-makers in managing individuals' movement. Through in-depth interviews in different cities of Turkey with NGOs and refugee-led civil society members in 2018, the article uncovers the formation and progression of relationships between civil society actors and the state, revealing adaptations and adjustments based on contextual circumstances. The article seeks to move beyond comprehensive liberal and developmental perspectives, instead focusing on the evolving dynamics of state control within migration-related civil society.

This study investigates the EU's stance on post-Gezi civic engagement, which is based on alternative alliances and against the anti-democratic extremes of state power. Using a Gramscian perspective, the paper underlines the fact that before the protests, Turkey's civil society had been politically socialized by the help of EU financial assistance as a sign of an ideology of consent. That is, the EU has focused on liberal-democratic cooperation with civic organic intellectuals, based on the conviction that civil society is the engine for social and political transformation. However, even though civil society organizations have strengthened their catalysing role and become a new counter-hegemonic political space since the Gezi protests, it is argued that Turkey's normative distance from the EU and the pragmatic links between the EU and Turkey over refugees have led the EU to reduce its financial relationships with Turkey's rights-based civil society.

İnsan hakları alanında sosyal hareketlerden ve taban örgütlerinden barolara, iş derneklerine ve gayriresmî iletişim ağlarına kadar uzanan çeşitli aktörler bulunmaktadır. İnsan hakları alanında en etkin aktörlerden biri olan sivil toplum kuruluşları (STK) hem ulusal hem de uluslararası düzeylerde insan haklarının tesisi, korunması ve geliştirilmesi için dünya çapında çeşitli işlevler görmektedir. Bu çalışma, insan hakları temelli STK'lar üzerinden, Türkiye'deki sivil toplum faaliyetlerinin ve mobilizasyon stratejilerinin sistematik bir incelemesini yapmayı amaçlamaktadır. Glasius'un sınıflandırmasından yararlan bu çalışmada, Türkiye'deki STK'ların, insan hakları gözlemcisi ve norm-dönüştürücü olarak seslerini duyurabilseler dahi, kanun yapıcı aktörler olarak bu hakların tesisinde ve korunmasında yetersiz kaldıkları savunulmaktadır. İnsan hakları STK'ları izlemede isim zikretme ve utandırma ve yargısal savunuculuk stratejilerini kullanırken, norm dönüşümünde çerçevelemeyi, kanun yapımında ise savunuculuk stratejileri yaygın olarak kullanılmaktadır. Bu çalışma, içerik analiz yöntemini kullanarak STK'ların belgelerine odaklanmakta ve Türkiye'deki insan hakları ve sivil toplum ilişkisini inceleyerek akademik tartışmalara katkı sunmaktadır.

Civil society is one of the most important elements of the democratic order, as a means for citizens to influence the state independently and voluntarily. Non-governmental organizations that are the output of civil society are among the important organizations that ensure the influence of citizens, politicians, the state and other management organizations. The idea of associating nomadic Nomads with a way of life is influenced by political developments in Turkey, but an increase is especially noticeable after the 2000s. In this study, the qualitative research method was used; The relationship between leadership and Yörük associations has been deciphered by explaining the conceptual frameworks of Yörüks, NGOs and leadership. With the help of the study, it was concluded that these associations, whose number has increased especially recently, may face the danger of not being well managed and turning into sign associations that fall into political expectations.

How do non-state actors frame climate change in a region labelled as a climate hotspot? To answer this question, this article explores the climate communication strategies of non-state actors with various country origins. Adopting the quantitative content analysis method, it comparatively analyses differing frame utilizations (e.g. ecological/meteorological, policy, economic and energy interests, culture, science and technology, civil society) of non-state actors in their selected climate change/global warming-related reports (n=89) on the Mediterranean. The findings provide clues on the cosmopolitan framing of non-state actors on the regional level.