Mapping the Varieties of Perspectives on Civic and Political
Participation of Youth, Women and Minorities/Immigrants in
Turkey
Mapping the Varieties of Perspectives on Civic and Political
Participation of Youth, Women and Minorities/Immigrants in
Turkey
ok F.; Bozkurt .; ener T.
Paper presented at the Surrey PIDOP Conference on Political and
Civic Participation, April 16th-17th, 2012, University of Surrey,
Guildford, UK
General framework and overviewThe aim of this paper is to map
discourses on civic and political participation in Turkey in
relation to women, youth and minority/immigrant groups.
Dominant paradigms embodied in the perspectives of public
authorities and NGOs, and the counter arguments and recent public
agenda/media coverage are tried to be underlined.
2General framework and overviewThis analysis is based on an
examination of the policy documents/reports produced between 2004
and 2011 by the public institutions and NGOs working in the fields
of youth, women and minorities/migrants in Turkey. In total 34
documents were reviewed, the distributions are shown in Table.1,
are incorporated in the study.
Distribution of Reviewed Documents by Target
Groupsyouthwomenmigrant/minorityTotalPublic68317NGO67417Total1215734Representation
of Women issues in the documentsMain Focus of Documents
(Governmental)Protection of the family unity, social solidarity,
struggle against poverty and social exclusionHuman rights, gender
equalityPrevention of domestic violencePrevention of honour
killings
agenda of public institutions and media on womenLegal
improvements in juridical procedures in favour of victim women.
Public institutions concern with women mainly if they are
victims.
Restricted participation of women in the parliament and the
government (higher representation of women in the main opponent
party, new %30 quota? in implementation, there are problems.)
Existence of a few influential women parliamentarians recently
in the parliamentMore media coverage of victim women (domestic
violence, women murders, sexual harressment/abuse)More media
coverage of successful women (successes of key women figures)
agenda of Civil society organisations/NGOS on womenIncrease in
number and representation in the public NGOs have contributed to
the politicization of formerly domestic/private issues such as
sexual harressment and violence againt womenNGOs have been
increasingly interested in womens conventional forms of
participation (such as their more representation in the parliament,
encouragement for voting) NGOs have increasingly stressed the
prevention of discrimination against women in the educational and
economic spheresRepresentation of youth issues in the documentsHuge
population and youth population (about 11-12 million)
Youth unemploymentYouth unemployment rate
(%)19851990199520002001200220032004200520062007200820092010Greece24,223,327,929,52826,826,826,92625,22322,125,832,9Italy33,931,531,929,72726,326,323,52421,620,321,325,427,8Portugal199,615,78,69,411,614,515,316,116,216,616,52027,7Spain43,830,240,425,320,822,222,72219,717,918,224,637,941,6Turkey...1615,613,116,219,220,520,619,919,12020,525,319,7EU15......20,314,914,314,815,516,216,916,215,215,719,920,4EU27.........17,417,418,118,318,718,917,515,715,820,121,1Huge
Youth Unemployment (app. %20-25) Youth unemployment and related
problemsYoung women and unemploymentUnregistered/informal
employment and lack of social security Mismatch of training and
work life Compulsory military service Representation of youth
issues in the Governmental documentsLack of a comprehensive youth
policydespite the existence of huge youth population and the
presense of a Ministry for Sports and Youth Lack of a policy
concerning youth participationLack of policies/priorities/practices
concerning different youth categories such as ethnic and cultural
groups, sexual orientation and disabled youthagenda of public
institutions on youthDiscourses on youth which tend to polarise
them in relation to their religious identitiesPrime Ministers
declaration of governments aim to raise a conservative/religious
youthImplicit prioritization of religion in educational system
(assignment of religious teachers as school principles, compulsory
religion courses)
agenda of public institutions on youth regarding educationMany
more young people in the higher education in spite of low quality
of educational institutions Promotion of distance education
Establishement of more youth centres and sport facilities More
budget for youth sport competitions and sports training Agenda of
parents and schools for youth participationDiscouragement (even
banning) of active forms of civic and political participation due
to protective parental attitudes and political polarization among
the youth in the recent past, 1960, 1971, 1980 military
interventions contributed to the avoidance of being very
active.
agenda of Civil society organisations/NGOs on youthUN-related
organisations attempt for promoting sexual health of different
youth categories including youth in education and out of education
youth. Public campaigns for increasing schooling of girls
especially from disadvanted backgroundsSlight increase in the
numbers of youth organizations and activities promoting especially
civic engagement of young individuals
Representation of minority/immigrant issues in the documents
The conception of minority in Turkey implies differences from
most of the European countries. According to the Turkish
Constitution, the concept of citizenship does not include any
reference to ones ethnic and/or religious identity. It is estimated
that there are about 50 different ethnic groups in the current
nation of Turkey.
Legally all citizens without reference to their ethnic or
religious backgrounds have equal rights and obligations. Since the
foundation of the Turkish Republic, the only protection for
minorities has been that set out in the 1923 with the Treaty of
Lausanne. In the Treaty only the non-Muslim populations are defined
as minorities (Minority Rights Group International, 2007).
Representation of minority/immigrant issues in the documentsIn the
process of creation of a nation state ideology by Atatrk on the
basis of single national identity had been emphasized.
Representation of minority/immigrant issues The conception of
immigration has quite different meanings in Turkey stemming from
rich cultural heritage, consisting of a variety of cultural
populations and transition from Ottoman Empire to Turkish
RepublicMost of the Turkish citizens have trans-generational
immigration storyImmigrants in Turkey are not visible as they are
in Europe and they do not have a strong immigration identity except
from recent immigrants from Middle Eastern and European countries.
High ratios of illegal immigration to Turkey recently
Representation of minority/immigrant issues in the Governmental
documentsLack of a comprehensive strategy for minority/immigrant
issues.Lack of registered data on ethnic minorities and
immigrants.The project team choose working with Roma and Bulgarian
resettlers as minority groups which have different characteristics
and problems in the participation processes. agenda of public
institutions and NGOs on minorities and immigrantsSlight coverage
of promotion of life standards of Roma peopleRecent projects of
NGOs for the imrovement of living conditions of Bulgarian
resettlers Focus on Kurdish issue more than before and more than
other ethnic and cultural populations.If Kurdish people are
minority is a controversial issue due to their high ratio.Alevi
issue has been central in terms of religious minority for years but
they still have problems in relation to their religious rights
General ConclusionLimited number of available documents regarding
policies for youth, women and minorities/immigrants.Slight increase
of attention and promotion of participation of women in civil and
political lifeDespite huge youth population and the existance of a
Ministry for Youth and Sports, there is almost no long term
policies and strategies for youth participationAlmost no
comprehensive policies for minorities/immigrants The PIDOP project
is supported by a grant received from the European Commission 7th
Framework Programme, FP7- SSH-2007-1, Grant Agreement no: 225282,
Processes Influencing Democratic Ownership and Participation
(PIDOP) awarded to the University of Surrey (UK), University of
Liege (Belgium), Masaryk University (Czech Republic), University of
Jena (Germany), University of Bologna (Italy), University of Porto
(Portugal), Orebro University (Sweden), Ankara University (Turkey)
and Queens University Belfast (UK)