Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Towards cosmopolitan citizenship? Women’s rights in divided Turkey

  • Published:
Theory and Society Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Identity politics and citizenship are often envisaged in dichotomous terms, but cosmopolitan theorists believe commitments to “thin” universal values can be generated from divergent “thick” positions. Yet, they often gloss over the ways in which the nexus of thick and thin is negotiated in practice—a weak link in the cosmopolitan argument. To understand this nexus better, we turn to women’s rights organizations (WROs) in polarized Turkey to show that women affiliated with rival camps (e.g., pro-religious/pro-secular, Turkish/Kurdish, liberal/leftist) can mobilize over issues like empowerment, violence against women, and education. However, thick readings of these issues inflect upon collaboration. This has spurred pro-religious and Kurdish women to develop strategies that flag their specific concerns. As such, mutual recognition along cosmopolitan lines appears possible—and is reinforced through iterative encounters—but is not necessarily negotiated between equally empowered agents and entails complex processes of contestation and concession-making.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. They found that both white and black working-class men in the United States invoke market metaphors and socioeconomic success to counter racism, whereas French and North African working class men invoke socialist and republican themes. Minority men in both countries, moreover, employed a wider range of anti-racist discursive strategies.

  2. The data reflect conditions in 2000.

  3. We use the terms “pro-secular” and “pro-religious” to indicate general ways of life; thus a pro-secular person might well be pious in private. Whenever we use the term “secularist” or “Islamic,” we are flagging a stronger and more ideological position.

  4. CIVICUS or the World Alliance for Citizen Participation is a network of civil society organizations committed to enhancing civil society throughout the world. The CSI 2009 project was part of a CIVICUS initiative implemented in Turkey by the Third Sector Foundation of Turkey (TUSEV) as the National Coordinating Organization and Ahmet İcduygu and Deniz Sert of Koc University.

  5. “Hazar” means peace but has theological connotations unlike its more conventional synonym “barış.”

  6. No relation to Lebanese Hizbullah.

  7. Mevlana Celahaddin Rumi, a thirteenth-century Anatolian philosopher, preached a mystic vision of Islam in which human beings, by releasing themselves to love, are universally capable of accessing the divine.

  8. http://www.ihd.org.tr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1066:-baris-icin-surekli-kadin-platformu-cagri-metni&catid=30:ortak-baslamalar&Itemid=80, accessed on 18 August 2011. http://birbirimizesahipcikiyoruz.blogspot.com/, accessed on 18 August 2011.

References

  • Altınay, A. G. (2004). The myth of the military-nation: Militarism, gender, and education in Turkey. London: Palgrave-Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Altınay, A. G., & Arat, Y. (2008). Türkiye’de kadına yönelik şiddet. Available at: www.kadinayoneliksiddet.org.

  • Appiah, K. A. (2005). The ethics of identity. Princeton: Princeton UP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Appiah, K. A. (2006). Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a world of strangers. New York: W.W. Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arat, Y. (2000a). From emancipation to liberation: the changing role of women in Turkey’s public realm. Journal of International Affairs, 54(1), 107–123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arat, Y. (2000b). Gender and citizenship in Turkey. In S. Joseph (Ed.), Gender and citizenship in the Middle East (pp. 275–286). Syracuse: Syracuse UP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arat, Y. (2001). Group-differentiated rights and the liberal democratic state: rethinking the headscarf controversy in Turkey. New Perspectives on Turkey, 25, 31–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arat, Y. (2005). Rethinking Islam and liberal democracy: Islamist women in Turkish politics. Albany: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baban, F. (2006). Living with difference: cosmopolitanism, modernity, and political community. Studies in Political Economy, 77, 105–126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baban F. & Keyman F. (2008). Turkey and post-national Europe: Challenges for the cosmopolitan political community. European Journal of Social Theory, 11(1), 107–124.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barras, A. (2009). A rights-based discourse to contest the boundaries of state secularism? The case of the headscarf bans in France and Turkey. Democratization, 16(6), 1237–1260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beck, U. (2006). The cosmopolitan vision. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, U., & Grande, E. (2007a). Cosmopolitanism: Europe’s way out of a crisis. European Journal of Social Theory, 10(1), 67–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beck, U., & Grande, E. (2007b). Cosmopolitan Europe. Trans. Ciaran Cronin. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, U., & Sznaider, N. (2006). Unpacking cosmopolitanism for the social sciences: a research agenda. The British Journal of Sociology, 57(1), 381–403.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benhabib, S. (2008). Another cosmopolitanism. Oxford: Oxford UP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berktay, F. (Ed.). (2004). Türkiye’de Avrupa Birliğinde kadının konumu. Istanbul: KA-DER.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beşpınar, F. U. (2010). Questioning agency and empowerment: women’s work-related strategies and social class in urban Turkey. Women’s Studies International Forum, 3(6), 523–532.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bora, A., & Günal, A. (Eds.). (2002). 90‘larda Türkiye’de feminizm. Istanbul: İletişim.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calhoun, C. (Ed.). (1994). Social theory and the politics of identity. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calhoun, C. (2002a). Imagining solidarity: cosmpolitanism, constitutional patriotism, and the public sphere. Public Culture, 14(1), 141–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calhoun, C. (2002b). The class consciousness of frequent travelers: towards a critique of actually existing cosmopolitanism. South Atlantic Quarterly, 101(4), 869–897.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Çınar, A. (2005). Modernity, Islam, and secularism in Turkey. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coşar, S., & Onbaşı, F. (2008). Women’s movement in Turkey at a crossroads: from women’s rights advocacy to feminism. South European Society and Politics, 13(3), 325–344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delanty, G. (2005). What does it mean to be a ‘European?’. Innovation, 18(1), 11–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Erskine, T. (2002). ‘Citizen of nowhere’ or ‘the point where circles intersect’? Impartialist and embedded cosmopolitanisms. Review of International Studies, 28, 457–478.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eslen-Ziya, H., & Korkut, U. (2010). Political religion and politicized women in Turkey: hegemonic republicanism revisited. Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions, 11(3), 311–326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • European Stability Initiative. (2007). Sex and power in Turkey: Feminism, Islam, and the maturing of Turkish democracy. Berlin-Istanbul.

  • Ferrara, A. (2007). ‘Political’ cosmopolitanism and judgment. European Journal of Social Theory, 10, 53–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferry, J.-M. (2006). Cosmopolitanism and nationalism. In A. Dieckhoff & C. Jaffrelot (Eds.), Revisiting nationalism: Theories and processes. New York: Palgrave-Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fine, R., & Boon, V. (2007). Cosmopolitanism: between past and future. European Journal of Social Theory, 10(5), 5–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher Onar, N. (2009). Transcending the ‘West’/’Islam’ binary: Turkey and the post-Ottoman Mediterranean. In D. Bechev & K. Nicolaidis (Eds.), Mediterranean frontiers: Borders, conflict, and memory (pp. 57–68). London: I.B. Tauris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher Onar, N. (2011). “Europe”, “Womanhood”, and “Islam:” Re-aligning contested concepts via the headscarf debate? Reconstituting Democracy in Europe (RECON) Working Paper. Oslo: Arena.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher Onar, N., & Müftüler-Baç, M. (2011). The adultery and headscarf debates in Turkey: Fusing “EU-niversal” and “alternative” modernities? Women’s Studies International Forum, 34(5), 378–389.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraser, N. (2000). Rethinking recognition. New Left Review, 3, 107–120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gökarıksel, B., & Mitchell, K. (2005). Veiling, secularism, and the neoliberal subject: national narratives and supranational desires in Turkey and France. Global Networks, 5(2), 147–165.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Göle, N. (1996). The forbidden modern: Civilization and veiling. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Göle, N. (1997). Secularism and Islamism in Turkey: the making of elites and counter-elites. Middle East Journal, 51(1), 46–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Göle, N. (2003). The voluntary adoption of Islamic stigma symbols. Social Research, 70(3), 809–828.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gregg B. (2010) Anti-imperialism: Generating universal human rights out of local norms. Ratio Juris, 23(3), 289–310.

    Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, J. (1984; 1987). Theory of communicative action. Vols. I&II. Boston: Beacon.

  • Hayden, P. (2005). Cosmopolitan global politics. Aldershot: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hidayet Tuksal’dan Prof. Ceker’e tepki (2011). Iktibas, 23 February. Available at: http://www.iktibasdergisi.com/news_detail.php?id=2926 23/02/2011.

  • İlkkaracan, P. (2003). Türkiye’de kadın hareketleri ve feminism. In L. Sanlı (Ed.), Toplumsal hareketler konuşuyor (pp. 157–191). Istanbul: Alan.

    Google Scholar 

  • İlkkaracan, P. (2008). How adultery almost derailed Turkey’s aspirations to join the European Union. In P. İlkkaracan (Ed.), De-constructing sexuality in the Middle East: Challenges and discourses (pp. 41–64). Aldershot: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • İlkkaracan, I., & İlkkaracan, P. (1998). Kuldan yurttaşa: Kadınlar neresinde?. In Bilanço 98, 75 Yılda Tebaa’dan yurttaşa doğru (pp. 77–90). Istanbul: Türkiye Ekonomik ve Toplumsal Tarih Vakfı.

  • Ingelhardt, R., & Norris, P. (2003). The true clash of civilizations. Foreign Policy, 135, 62–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Işın, E., & Wood, P. (1999). Citizenship and identity. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kadıoğlu, A. (1994). Women’s subordination in Turkey: is Islam really the villain? Middle East Journal, 48(4), 645–660.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kandiyoti, D. (2000). Forward: Gender and citizenship in the Middle East. In S. Joseph (Ed.), Gender and citizenship in the Middle East (pp. xiii–xv). Syracuse: Syrcause UP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kandiyoti, D. (2007). Cariyeler, bacılar, yurttaşlar: Kimlikler ve toplumsal dönüşümler (2nd ed.). Istanbul: Metis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kardam F and Ecevit Y (2002). 1990'larin sonunda bir kadin iletisim kurulusu. Ucan superge. In A. Bora & A. Gunal (Eds.), 90'larda Turkiye'de Feminizm. Istanbul: Iletisim.

  • Keskin-Kozat, B. (2003). Entangled in secular nationalism, feminism, and Islamism: the life of Konca Kuris. Cultural Dynamics, 15(2), 183–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kymlicka, W. (2007). Multicultural odysseys, Navigating the new international politics of diversity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamont, M., & Aksartova, S. (2002). Ordinary cosmopolitanisms: strategies for racial boundaries among working-class men. Theory, Culture, & Society, 19(4), 1–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moscovici, C. (2002). Double dialectics: Between universalism and relativism in Enlightenment and postmodern thought. Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Müftüler-Baç, M. (1999). Turkish women’s predicament. Women Studies International Forum, 22(3), 303–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nava, M. (2007). Visceral cosmopolitanism: Gender, culture, and the normalization of difference. Oxford: Bert.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paker, H., Baykan, B. G., & Özoğuz, S. (2008). Türkiye’de kadın ve sivil toplum: Örgütlenme ve son eğilimler. BETAM, Research Note 15, 11 June.

  • Phillips, A. (2004). Identity politics. In J. Andersen & B. Siim (Eds.), Politics of inclusion and empowerment: Gender, class and citizenship (pp. 36–48). London: Palgrave-Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robbins, B. (1998). Actually existing cosmopolitanism. In B. Robbins & P. Cheah (Eds.), Cosmopolitics: Thinking and feeling beyond the nation (pp. 1–19). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saktanber, A. (2002). Living Islam: Women, religion & the politicization of culture in Turkey. London: I.B. Tauris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saktanber, A., & Çorbacioğlu, G. (2008). Veiling and headscarf-skepticism in Turkey. Social Politics, 15(4), 514–538.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholte, J. A. (2005). Globalization: A critical introduction. London: Palgrave-Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soysal, Y. N. (1999). Changing parameters of citizenship and claims-making: organized Islam in European public spheres. Theory and Society, 26, 509–552.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soysal, Y. N. (2001). Postnational citizenship: Reconfiguring the familiar terrain. In K. Nash & A. Scott (Eds.), Blackwell companion to political sociology (pp. 333–341). Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tekeli, Ş. (1998). Birinci ve ikinci dalga feminist hareketlerin karşılaştırmalı incelemesi üzerine bir deneme. In Bilanço ‘98, 75 yılda kadınlar ve erkekler (pp. 337–346). Istanbul: Türkiye Ekonomik ve Toplumsal Tarih Vakfı.

  • Toulmin, S. (1990). Cosmopolis: The hidden agenda of modernity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vojdik, V. K. (2010). Politics of the headscarf in Turkey: masculinities, feminism, and the construction of collective identities. Harvard Journal of Law and Gender, 33(2), 661–685.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yeğenoğlu, M. (2012). Staging secularism and fantasies of Islamic identity in Turkey. In J. Barablet, A. Possamai, and B. Turner (Eds.), Religion and the state: A comparative sociology. London: Anthem.

Download references

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the Theory and Society reviewers for their feedback and research participants for generously sharing their time and views.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science and International Relations, Bahçeşehir University, Çirağan Cad. No. 4, Beşiktaş, Istanbul, 34353, Turkey

    Nora Fisher Onar & Hande Paker

Authors
  1. Nora Fisher Onar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hande Paker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nora Fisher Onar.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fisher Onar, N., Paker, H. Towards cosmopolitan citizenship? Women’s rights in divided Turkey. Theor Soc 41, 375–394 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-012-9171-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-012-9171-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation