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)