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This article uses the public choice perspective to examine the squatter housing transformations in Turkey implemented by the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi, AKP) after 2002. AKP used the discourse of earthquake risk to the public for speeding up and legitimating transformation projects and reducing social opposition. However, in practice the principal purpose of these transformation projects has been to increase voter support for the AKP by increasing economic growth and employment, obtaining revenue, and using this revenue for social housing projects. This paper concludes that transformation projects, where economic goals have priority, stimulate the economy and satisfy the government in the short term but harm the transformation itself and the squatter community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobility is becoming a defining feature of today's globalising society. Individuals move for a variety of reasons, including finding employment or pursuing education. This paper focuses on the interrelationship between two different types of migrants who have all moved out of one specific country to another. It builds on the perceptions of Turkish graduates of German universities who moved cross-border recently to study in German universities, the self-styled 'New Wave Turks', to understand their place within the existing Turkish diaspora there. Although the existing Turkish diaspora in Germany is well researched, as is how diasporas can facilitate further mobility, the interaction between these newcomers and the existing Turkish diaspora in Germany has received little scholarly attention. Through in-depth semi-structured interviews with recent Turkish graduates of German universities, we explored how the existing diaspora provides support but also challenges for the newcomers, complicating their experiences. We argue that international student mobility led to the emergence of a new form of 'total diaspora' in Germany, comprising both the existing Turkish diaspora and newly joined Turkish graduates of German universities. Social media was instrumental for these newcomers in setting themselves apart within the total diaspora, allowing them to create their own community identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper answers the question of what would have been the growth rate of aggregate productivity in Turkey between 2002 and 2007, had it realized China's rates of productivity growth in agriculture, industry, and services. It does this in a three-sector general equilibrium model calibrated to the Turkish economy over the 2002-2007 period. The main findings are: (i) Turkey would have had much higher aggregate productivity growth over this period if it had experienced China's service sector productivity growth; (ii) very low productivity growth rates in finance and in the non-market service sector are the main culprits behind Turkey's weak service-sector performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although higher education in Turkey does not have especially well-advanced systems and resources for addressing graduate employability, two developments are making it particularly important for Turkish geography departments to give increased priority to this agenda. One is the country’s new Higher Education Qualifications Framework and the other is a major increase in geography student numbers, which means that geographers seeking school teaching posts (traditionally seen as the natural career pathway) now hugely outnumber the posts available. Against this background, this paper proceeds to explore the potential of geographic information systems (GIS) to contribute to geographers’ employability in Turkey through a study involving the views and experiences of academic staff, students and employers. The paper reveals a mixed picture of both opportunities and challenges. It ends with a series of employability recommendations for geography and GIS in Turkey, a number of which could also be of wider relevance elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Despite the increasing popularity of international joint ventures and strategic alliances, experiences and observations of businessmen and managers alike suggest that this type of organisation is not complication-free. These complications may cause some distinct disadvantages; such company marriages may even end up with divorce, if they are overlooked or ignored. This research is based on an in-depth study of manufacturing joint ventures with Turkish partners. This article discusses trust/forbearance, cultural distance, inter-partner conflicts, commitment, and their impact on joint venture performance. Through the path analysis, the paper offers a model as to the sequencing of the various component factors and puts them in a usable framework. Thus, the paper develops the notion that trust/forbearance is a key dimension for understanding the performance of international joint ventures and strategic alliances alike. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Whilst the state of precarity negatively impacts Syrian refugees in Turkey, an increasing number of scholars suggest that Syrians are integrating well in that country due to cultural similarities and relatively 'liberal' refugee policies. This paper asks why this discrepancy occurs between studies that depict a positive picture of integration and the reality on the ground that approximately 40% of Syrians in Turkey want to go to a country other than Syria and Turkey. The article explains this contradiction by introducing a new-grounded theory of 'reluctant local integration'. Based on a sequential research design that is composed of a thematic analysis of original fieldwork with 106 participants in the city of Gaziantep and a follow-up theory-guided process tracing in wider Turkey between 2015 and 2021, the article identifies original links between three intertwined themes that lead to reluctant local integration. These are not only a by-product of temporary protection, and unevenly distributed precarity in the economic milieu, but also a result of similar types of ideological, ethnic and religious sectarianism that is deeply rooted in both refugee and host communities in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the relationship between the state and housing financialisation? Much of the literature describes the state playing a role to promote the regulatory, legislative, and financial conditions needed to allow global financial capital to penetrate land and property markets. I build on these arguments to develop in what ways the state is playing an active role in housing financialisation in Turkey. I suggest that the Turkish national state has deliberately, actively, and forcefully pursued housing financialisation by (i) introducing new legislation; (ii) creating financial frameworks to encourage speculation by domestic and international capital on land and housing as assets (iii) enclosing public land and exploiting informal types of tenure; (iv) assetising land and housing by developing revenue-sharing urban regeneration projects; and (v) using coercive legal and penal force to criminalise informal development, and to quell resistance to state-led regeneration. My conclusions add weight to Christophers' contention that the role of the state needs to be reconceptualised to capture its direct involvement in housing financialisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alevi-Sunni relations in Turkey are the result of a relational process constructed from contributions of each side rather than each groups' perceptions of the other. Boundaries between Alevis and Sunnis in Turkey have been constructed relationally with the contributions of many complicated socio-political factors. This article aims to answer the question of what the symbolic boundaries between the two groups are, seeking to understand how Sunnis perceive Alevis. This aim will cast light on the nature of the two groups' relations, help us recognize forms of Alevism and Sunnism specific to Turkey, and advance existing literature on the issue. This paper's findings are based on ninety semi-structured and two focus group interviews with Sunnis living in Istanbul. Results show that the concept of 'two-dimensional symbolic boundary,' which runs along dimensions of not-knowing and not-accepting, is the answer to the question of how Sunnis perceive Alevis. The main components of these dimensions are perceptions, which seem to relate to the interpretations of group norms and values. This study, as a group-based analysis, reveals that perceived group norms – whether religious, cultural, social, or political – determine the perceptions of Sunnis towards Alevis and create dimensions of the boundary between the two groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the destination wedding choice through a diasporic perspective by examining a Turkey wedding chosen by an Iranian diasporic family. The research findings illustrate how searching for certain aspects of an “ideal home” compels a group of people to choose a destination wedding because they are not able to celebrate their wedding in their original homeland or their country of residence. Within this new context, this study provides insight for destination wedding planners in an underresearched niche market with special demands and characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global discourses around English-medium instruction (EMI) have inspired controversy for many years now. A wide range of scholars has espoused multiple opinions exhorting the benefits and disadvantages of using English as a medium of instruction in higher education. Although EMI is certainly relevant to primary and secondary school education, this paper will focus on the impact of EMI on higher education due to its dominance in this sector and the implications for globalisation. In the Turkish context, this has developed into a mainly two-sided debate between those with nationalistic perspectives versus those with a more progressive and liberal approach. As well as considering these perspectives, this paper also evaluates the academic and sociological imperatives for using EMI. This study also examines the ethos surrounding the EMI discussion and considers some of the potentially detrimental effects on Turkish identity, traditions and cultural norms but concludes that the necessity and benefits of EMI are too great to be ignored, therefore the access and implementation should be reviewed to ensure the preservation of Turkish language and culture at the same time as reaping the benefits associated with EMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The debates over contemporary restoration practices in Turkey have become heated in recent years especially after the reopening of the Hagia Sophias in İznik and Trabzon as mosques. Iconic Byzantine churches that functioned as mosques in the Ottoman period, these monuments had been functioning as museums for decades following the museumification of Istanbul's famous Hagia Sophia. Meanwhile, Hagia Sophia in Vize has already been reopened as a mosque without receiving much attention. The repeated statements of Turkish authorities expressing their wish to see Istanbul's famous Hagia Sophia function as a mosque raise further concerns. While Turkish authorities try to justify these transformations through the ownership rights of pious endowments and religious freedom, the multi-layered identity of these monuments and their symbolic associations for different groups are commonly ignored. This paper focuses on the recent transformations of four Hagia Sophias in Turkey, which are regarded as ideological battlegrounds by Turkish authorities. Challenging the most symbolic achievements of the secular Republic, the concept of "restoration" is not only used as an instrument to glorify the Ottoman pasts of these monuments but also suppress their Byzantine and Republican pasts. This paper aims to open up a debate on how to intervene in the past, as well as its limits and effects, through the recent histories of four Hagia Sophias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unpacking the core themes that are discussed in this collection, this article both offers a research agenda to re-analyse Turkey’s ‘authoritarian turn’ and mounts a methodological challenge to the conceptual frameworks that reinforce a strict analytical separation between the ‘economic’ and the ‘political’ factors. The paper problematises the temporal break in scholarly analyses of the AKP period and rejects the argument that the party’s methods of governance have shifted from an earlier ‘democratic’ model - defined by ‘hegemony’ - to an emergent ‘authoritarian’ one. In contrast, by retracing the mechanisms of the state-led reproduction of neoliberalism since 2003, the paper demonstrates that the party’s earlier ‘hegemonic’ activities were also shaped by authoritarian tendencies which manifested at various levels of governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alevism has been regarded as a contested identity which is difficult to define because of its ‘syncretic’ character. Attempts at definition have been overwhelmed by essentialist approaches as well as different political agendas since the fifteenth-century Ottoman period. This paper aims to trace the history of Alevism with a particular focus on historical sources such as theVelāyetnāmesand the organization ofocaksanddergahs. The paper argues that we shall see Alevism as an ethno-religious identity which is formed under different social conditions and emerged through the complexities of the organization ofocaksin a vast territory encompassing different ethnic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper discusses the Alevi-Sunni social conflict in Turkey through an examination of how the politically engaged youth of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) perceived the rights of the Alevi population around the time of the AKP's 'Democratic Opening'. Based on qualitative fieldwork involving 78 interviews conducted between 2009 and 2011 in seven different cities, the research focuses on the boundaries of AKP identity concerning Alevis' democratic demands and different modes of reconciliation with these. The results show the issue of Alevi politico-religious rights to reveal the religious, institutional and national boundaries of AKP political identity. In addition, the demand for the construction of a museum to commemorate the 1993 Madımak Massacre in Sivas triggered the Sunni memory boundaries of young activists in that city. The AKP youth also presented some approaches that reconciled with Alevi demands, classified as pragmatic, political and subjective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the UAE's security-led foreign policy engagement within the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). I have interpreted the UAE's foreign policy strategy as one that employs Joel Migdal's State in Society model, whereby informal networks and communities are primarily utilised for the implementation of foreign policy engagement. In this paper I discuss the justification for this hypothesis, and then illustrate my argument through case studies of the UAE's engagement with Libya, Yemen, and Somalia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations has undergone significant changes in its organisation since 1948. A new global environment established by the end of Cold War, elevated the Police Division to a more pronounced role in international peace as an essential pillar of UN peacekeeping missions. Nonetheless, despite the increased role of police in international missions, research on police contributions to peacekeeping remains limited. This article addresses this gap in literature by highlighting the case of Turkey's contribution to UN international police peacekeeping missions. The article confirms empirically that the Turkish police contribution has increased since the 2000s by relying on quantitative data offered by the TUBAKOV dataset designed to collect data on international peacekeeping missions of Turkey. The paper contends that, besides global trends, the increased participation of Turkey in UN-led missions reflects its internal political dynamics. First, under the JDP rule, Turkey's Cold War era subtle foreign policy was transformed to a proactive policy in global politics. Second, since the 2000s, the transformation of civil–military relations has ended the system of military tutelage, and this has had a considerable impact on foreign policy. Civilian authority, by abolishing military dominance, has become the primary actor in foreign policy decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant and long-term social implication for economics, education, and employment. This paper aims to analyse the current situation in Turkey from the perspective of disabled and older people. Specific precautions related to the virus were taken for this population. However the precautions were implemented in a disorganized manner and did not necessarily protect the whole group. In some cases the precautions might be detrimental by nature. It was concluded that the governments need to be flexible to support the citizens. This analysis could be beneficial to Turkey and other countries in the case of that disease or a different pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the status of incarcerated women in Turkey's prisons. Data was collected from prison records and interviews with ten former women inmates. Women's institutions are overcrowded, lack sufficient food and sanitation facilities, and are located in remote locations a substantial distance from the women's families. It was also found that there is a sexist approach that underscores the treatment of women prisoners, and women with children are struggling with the separation from their children. However, although Turkey's women's prisons are in need of revision, the institutions do offer much needed educational and work opportunities for incarcerated women. These educational and work opportunities are a bright spot for prisons in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper employs a wavelet approach to investigate the relationship between economic growth and military spending in a time-frequency domain for the case of Turkey. Turkey presents an interesting case for analysis of military spending and economic growth, as its geopolitical position and history of insurgencies and separatist violence oblige the country to devote an unusually large share of the central government budget to national defence. Timescale regression analysis reveals that military expenditures have significant negative effects on growth in per capita GDP at business cycles of 16 years and longer. Timescale Granger causality analysis indicates that per capita GDP growth responds to movements in military expenditures at business cycles of eight years and above and that this result is very significant. Wavelet coherency analysis corroborates these findings, indicating a significant negative long-run co-movement at business cycles of 16 years and longer. Thus, the neoclassical prediction that military spending may promote growth does not hold in the case of Turkey, at least in the long run. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that, in the long run, military spending has been leading rather than lagging economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In January 2016, 1128 predominantly Turkish intellectuals signed an Academics for Peace petition to draw attention to the conflict in southeastern Turkey. Their actions were met with outcry from the government, accusing the signatories of disloyalty to the state, even treason. This paper is an analysis of the responses of 60 of these scholars to a questionnaire sent to the entire Academics for Peace email list. Respondents, including 58 signatories, provided various perspectives on academic freedom in Turkey, as well as their own experiences of signing the petition. We contend that the responses faced by these intellectuals illustrate the homogenizing effects of power to silence criticism and ensure loyalty to the government and its ideas of Turkishness. It reflects a continuation of the suppression of academic freedom in Turkey, an issue that sees little sign of abatement or reform in the light of present challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The economic growth effects of military expenditure have been the subject of a large literature in defence economics. Theories on the economic impacts of military expenditure greatly differ and include arguments that they either enhance economic growth or crowd out productive investments. Empirical literature on defence expenditure and economic growth nexus generally employs linear specifications to investigate the impact of defence expenditures on economic growth. Although it is now well established that many economic variables may have a non-linear data-generating mechanism, it seems that this reality has long been neglected in empirical work on defence–growth nexus. This paper attempts to fill this gap by employing non-linear panel data models to examine the effects of military expenditures on economic growth for Middle Eastern countries and Turkey, for the time period 1988–2012. Results show that the effect of military expenditure on economic growth is nonlinear such that the state of the economy actually determines the effect of the former on the latter. This is important not only in showing asymmetric relationship between these variables but also in revealing the reasons of mixed results of earlier literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of the articles contained in this special issue of the International Journal of Human Resource Management. The theme of this issue is the nature and impact of the human resource management practices of multinational corporations as applied to host-country nationals employed in subsidiaries. The editors first lay out some conceptual and ethical considerations relevant to this topic. We then provide a synopsis of each article and discuss some of the linkages among these. Finally, we lay out implications drawn for these articles, as well as the literature more generally, for future research in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article briefly introduces the rationale and content of a Special Issue of Turkish Studies that reflects on Turkey's past, present, and future in light of the Republic's centenary in 2023. It suggests that while Turkey can celebrate many accomplishments over the last century, the country continues to face a number of pressing political, economic, and social challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how increasing international trade affects the skill wage gap in Turkey. There has been a rapid increase in international trade in Turkey after 2000. As international trade increases, goods produced with higher technologies have a higher share in overall exported products. All these developments raise a question: how does the improvement of technology levels in the Turkish manufacturing industry, together with the increasing demand for skilled workers, change the skill wage gap? To explore this issue, this study utilises the Structure of Earnings Survey Data by the Turkish Statistical Institute. To have more robust results, the quantile regression model is applied to estimate the skill wage gap. One of the most prominent findings of this study is a continuous increase in the skill wage gap even though specific information about firms and workers is controlled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human mobility has been a topic of interest for migration scholars. Despite a growing literature, we are still far from clarity and consensus on motivations and mechanisms of migration. In this paper, we discuss the case of Syrian refugees in Turkey from a perspective of insecurities as proposed by one of the novel approaches to contemporary human mobility. This approach offers a better understanding of Syrian exodus and their experiences with strong references to the links between structural and agency level drivers. The model accounts for key drivers and root causes of migration while also highlighting the role of perception and the moderators in an attempt to cover both mobility and immobility. In this study, we apply this model in an attempt to understand the experiences of Syrian refugees settled in Gaziantep, a city in southern Turkey bordering Syria and with a majority Syrian population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how and why Alevis in Turkey have insisted that they are not a minority community and have been reluctant to formulate their religio-cultural demands in the framework of minority rights, thereby challenging what is often called liberal multiculturalism. Inquiring into the type of minority community Alevis form, alongside Turkey's minority rights history, it explains why the case of Alevis necessitates a certain revaluation of liberal multiculturalism, as well as a reformulation of group-specific minority rights. We argue that the liberal multiculturalist understanding of minority rights may force minorities to lead a socially isolated and apolitical life, with no possibility to participate in a pluralistic reconstruction of the mainstream symbolic framework in society, which is contrary to the aims of Alevis in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study is to analyze the effects of fragmentation of production measured by the parts and components trade on the choice of transportation mode including air, sea and road. The paper attempts to account for the advantages and disadvantages of alternative transportation modes in short-, medium- and long-distance trade. Using a detailed data set (Harmonized System12-digit product level statistics for the period 2006–2014 and 143 countries) of Turkey's machinery exports, we show that fragmentation of production plays a significant role in the selection of the transportation mode. In particular, road transportation with good infrastructure is a significant trade facilitating mode of transportation for nearby trade partners when trade involves P&C and bulky products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper advances a contextualized theory concerning the spread of foreign management practices across Turkish business organizations. Drawing on the pertinent empirical literature, we expand acclaimed models of diffusion that typically address early-industrialized source countries and develop propositions that address late-industrializing recipients like Turkey. We argue that foreign practice diffusion across Turkish business organizations is driven by two contextual forces, namely the division between the modernizing elite and the more traditional non-elite business organizations and active engagement of the elite in importing and dissemination of foreign practices, typically those that are already well-established in the source country. This context features particular situational opportunities and constraints, most notably moral, as well as pragmatic and coginitive, legitimacy of foreign practices, that shape diffusion within Turkey. Based on these arguments we reconsider motivational and implementational claims in extant literature. Specifically, we suggest that, relative to the non-elite, the elite are more likely to be earlier adopters, boast stronger moral legitimacy concerns, and engage in high-fidelity implementation. We also predict widespread decoupling across elite and non-elite organizations, suggesting the possibility of deinstitutionalization after diffusion. As we conclude, we offer contingent generalizations to similar other contexts, which we argue are more likely to be observed in particular late-industrializing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hisar District is located within the borders of Osmangazi County. Hisar has a rich historical and cultural heritage and is a valuable historic landscape which carries not only the physical and spatial traces of this heritage but also preserves social and cultural features. With these features, Hisar District should be conserved for a sustainable future. Bursa Metropolitan Municipality considered the Hisar (Citadel) District as an Ottoman and World Heritage site and a research team from Bursa Uludag University has been given the task of preparing a management plan as a project in order to achieve conservation of the site with a sustainable approach. Led by the author of this paper, Dr Çahantimur, Bursa Uludag University Project Team prepared the plan with a place-specific and participatory approach. This study presents both the significance of Hisar heritage site and the participatory process of the site management plan. It also presents a critical review of the actions undertaken by the municipality since then. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explain the key dynamics underlying the Justice and Development Party's (AKP) recent authoritarian consolidation efforts in Turkey from a critical political economy perspective consisting of the Regulation School's framework and Nicos Poulantzas's state theory. The depoliticised mode of regulating money, labour, and macroeconomic management worked in parallel with introducing dependent financialisation as the predominant capital accumulation regime between 2002 and 2013. Since 2013, however, the successive AKP governments have struggled with the structural crisis of Turkey's capitalism, which is a combination of the crisis of accumulation regime and the crisis of the state, leading to two changes: the mode of regulation has re-politicised, and the struggle within the power bloc has intensified. As a result, the AKP implemented more ambitious survival strategies, and deepened authoritarianism by changing the political regime from parliamentary to presidential system in 2018, and initiating further authoritarian consolidation efforts in 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a unique survey conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey to analyze men's and women's time use under lockdown. The study finds that while men's participation in unpaid work increased, particularly for men who switched to working from home, the relative increase for women further widened the gender gap in unpaid work. The gender gap in paid work narrowed due to relatively less employment disruption for women and a relatively higher decrease in men's paid work. The total workload of employed women reached levels that make it hard to sustain a decent work–life balance. Disparities in unpaid work among women by education and employment status decreased, reflecting how purchasing power became somewhat irrelevant under the pandemic measures. These findings unveil simultaneously the fragility of the work–life balance conditions faced by employed women and a window of opportunity created by men's increased participation in unpaid work. HIGHLIGHTS During the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey, women's unpaid work time almost doubled, while men's quadrupled. Women experienced lower employment disruption and less decrease in paid work time than men. Employed women saw an alarming intensification in their overall workload. Men's unpaid work increased substantially due to working from home and lower employment hours. COVID-19 has highlighted the need for work–life balance policies and for investment in social care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Football, as other cultural products, has become a major part of the political field, since there has been an ongoing cultural battle between the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his dissidents. The country is divided into two, not only between social and cultural capital owners; two sets of ideological elements, namely 'doxas' in reference to Bourdieusian sociology, also define the political faultlines in Turkey. Football, imported in the final years of the Ottoman Empire by the modern elite, has been intertwined with Turkish modernism and its core elements, such as nationalism. The Erdoğan regime, while dismantling the old rule, has also tried to create cultural hegemony, which has been met with dissidence. This paper analyses the role of an old military song called the 'Izmir March', sung in the football stands against the Erdoğan regime, discussing the elements of the two doxas in Turkey, old and new. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Telling personal stories of violence has been central to recent advocacy efforts to prevent violence against women around the world. In this paper, we explore the use of personal storytelling as a form of activism to prevent femicide in Turkey. This study is part of a broader storytelling initiative called SHAER (Storytelling for Health: Acknowledgement, Expression and Recovery) to alleviate the psychological and emotional suffering of women who have experienced gender-based violence in high-prevalence settings. Objectives: We conceptually explore personal stories of violence as a form of both distributed agency and activism. This conceptual framework is used to answer the following research question in the Turkish context: How do women use their personal stories of interpersonal violence for their own benefit (support) and that of others (activism)? Methods: Our study is based on 20 in-depth semi-structured interviews with women who have experienced violence and were purposefully recruited by the 'We Will End Femicide' Platform in Istanbul. Interviews were conducted between March and August 2019. We used inductive and deductive thematic analysis to identify instances of personal storytelling at three levels: intrapersonal, relational and collective. Results: Our results show how the use of personal storytelling can provide a means of healing from experiences of violence. However, this process is not linear and is often influenced by the surrounding context including: the listener of the story, their reaction, and what social networks the woman has to support her. In supportive social contexts, personal storytelling can be an effective support for activism against violence: personal stories can provide opportunities for individuals to shape broader discourses about violence against women and the right of women to share their stories. Conclusions: Telling one's personal story of violence can both support women's agency and contribute to the collective struggle against violence against women more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on an analysis of the recent discourse of Turkey's governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) on the European Union, in the context of increasing de-Europeanisation in Turkey and the increasing lack of credibility of Turkey's accession prospects. The analysis is informed by the Discourse Mythological Approach, which combines the analysis of political myth with Critical Discourse Analysis (in this case, the Discourse Historical Approach). On this basis the paper focuses on the interaction of AKP discourse with the EU's own political mythology, most notably its (self) portrayal as an entity founded on so-called 'European' values such as democracy, the rule of law and human rights. Recent AKP discourse, however, attempts to reverse this depiction of a tolerant, liberal and democratic EU by arguing that the EU is unable to escape from the intolerance and xenophobia of the European past. In contrast, Turkey itself is depicted as the true bearer of 'European' values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey's involvement in the European Union has long provoked controversy among Europe's elites. Recently, in the context of the so-called 'migrant crisis', coupled with the mainstreaming of Islamophobia and rising Euroscepticism, the issue of Turkey has acquired renewed significance. While many scholars have linked hostility towards Turkey with the desired construction of a supra-national European identity, few have noted the role it plays in the discourse of parties that explicitly reject the EU. Adopting a mixed-methods approach to Critical Discourse Studies, this paper investigates the contemporary construction of Turkey as a dangerous 'other' by far-right parties in the United Kingdom (UKIP) and France (FN/RN). Drawing on theories of Orientalism, Islamophobia and civilisationism, it exposes the apparent contradiction in the strongly Eurosceptic positions adopted by these parties, while simultaneously rejecting Turkish involvement based on its supposed 'non-Europeanness'. They thus become defenders of Europe while simultaneously undermining the supra-national EU project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP) government supports the Sunniticization of society, which has its roots in the late Ottoman period. The contents of haram and halal in religious education are not open for critique, nor do they consider other Islamic groups as an example, the Alevis. Jihad is described as a pillar of Turkish civilization and as the sixth pillar of Islam. This paper aims to show that the AKP uses social engineering and religious majoritarianism in Islamic religious education at schools to create a pious youth compliant to the Sunni Islamic religion and Turkish fatherland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policies on sustainability of buildings have been progressively gaining importance throughout the world. Turkey is a part of such international movements and is now striving to address its energy performance, by reducing emissions of contaminants derived from energy consumption of buildings, and through the protection of the environment. The present paper links these two elements of development, through the revision of building policies and strategies that take place in Turkey while contextualising worldwide sustainability targets and key trends. This is demonstrated with the aim of identifying the environment and energy goals that underpin the construction sector. As a result, specific actions, regarding policy and implementation arise. These could enable the reduction of energy usage and emission of pollutants, partially through the increase of renewable energy use and the promotion of building certification, as dictated by existing legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the end of the Cold War challenged the classical understanding of national security in Europe, Turkey continued to follow a national securitycentered and confrontational foreign policy during the 1990s due to its internal and external security problems. Although this created important differences in security understandings and policies between Turkey and the European Union (EU), Turkey continued to seek EU membership during the 1990s. The goal of this paper is to answer why Turkey was willing to join the EU in the 1990s despite its difficulty in balancing its relations with the EU with its security problems. The main conclusion of the paper is that Turkey's eagerness to join the EU during the 1990s can be explained by both the perception of EU membership as the most appropriate and desired policy for Turkey and Turkey's eagerness to ensure its political and security objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkish defence industries have significantly improved their production capabilities since the 1980s. According to the official documents, Turkey reached 54% local production level in 2011. Encouraged by this impressive defence industrial development, the government of Turkey declared that defence industrial autarky, the country’s main goal since the 1980s, would be reached by 2023. This paper evaluates the possibility of Turkey’s defence autarky. Contrary to the existing approaches in the literature that assess technological capabilities and cost-effectiveness, this paper argues that Turkey’s search for defence autarky is hindered by the interplay of institutional deficiencies, dependency on foreign inputs, and the United States’ continuing influence over Turkish politics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

International survey results reveal that Turkey is an extreme example of a distrustful society. A very high level of distrust in the country is not only a bottleneck for its socio-economic development but also for a healthy dialogue between different groups in the society. This paper studies micro-level survey data from 2012 to analyze the determinants of different trust types – namely, interpersonal, group and political trust, with respect to various individual characteristics, identity preferences, ethnic background and voting behaviors of respondents. The analysis suggests that political behavior has an impact in polarizing the society. Moreover, ‘citizenship of Turkey’ is seen as not a proper overarching identity, as it does not have a positive impact on either group or interpersonal trust. When the effects of other individual characteristics are analyzed, it is observed that the level of income and education are significant factors in determining all types of trust discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper explores the hitherto neglected issue of how religious beliefs influence the work ethic of Turkish SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) owner-managers. We draw on Weber’s notion ofLebensführung, which captures the manner of living one’s life, as a theoretical and explanatory lens and use this lens to explore how religious beliefs impact international HRM. The research is conducted among religious Muslim entrepreneurs, who show strong diaspora characteristics in their early emergence in 1990s. Based on qualitative research on Turkish entrepreneurs (SME owner-managers), we find that a new Islamic discourse – appearing as more liberal and pro market oriented – together with the Muslim work ethic, drive entrepreneurialism in Turkey. We demonstrate that the contemporary Muslim work ethic comprises a ‘moral energy’, which manifests itself variously as rational/secular, shared/communicated, and action-oriented driver for Muslim entrepreneurs, helping to sustain their entrepreneurial activities in the Turkish context. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This special section provides a timely reflection on current debates that are of extreme relevance in order to gain a better understanding of the concepts of citizenship and active citizenship in Turkey, by looking at the determinants of civic and political participation, at the patterns of political and civic mobilization and at the orientations of political behaviour. Its originality stands on the specific focus on young people in comparison to other age groups. The different papers remark upon the importance that the reframing of the notions of citizenship and active citizenship have in the Turkish context along with the determinants that make this remark more relevant than ever. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Over the past few decades there has been a great deal of interest in the academic literature on the relationship between civil society organizations (CSOs) and the state, and the impact of state power on CSOs in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region. Yet, despite this interest, very few detailed empirical explorations of these issues have been conducted to date. Of the detailed empirical work that does exist, none has focused on state–CSO relations in a democratic context in the MENA. This paper contributes to filling this gap by examining these relations and their implications in the Turkish context. More specifically, this paper explores the democratizing role of independent women’s organizations in Turkey and the ways in which the state has sought to exert power over and control these organizations. The methodology consists of a series of 38 in-depth interviews with both registered and unregistered women’s organizations from across the seven administrative regions of Turkey. The findings show that while CSOs do challenge the state in some regards, the state is by far the more powerful actor and very effective at moderating and de-radicalizing civil society. The state does this by controlling the areas in which CSOs can operate and be effective, and through the use of repressive measures. The results show that these measures have the effect of tempering the demands of CSOs and reducing their capacity to challenge and counterbalance state power. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes an alternative form of conflict resolution to analyze ethnic conflict and Kurdish dissent in the polarized and divided society of Turkey. It does so by employing Mouffe’s concept of agonism and radical democracy, in conjunction with Laclau’s model of populism. Through an analysis of the role of the Kurdish-led, left-leaning populist party, the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), and its approach to Turkish-Kurdish reconciliation, the paper makes the case for the political and theoretical effectiveness of an agonistic approach, illustrating the possibility of dispute resolution by taking conflict into the centre of the peace building process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper compares the regimes of Turkey and Russia and how state capacity has facilitated authoritarian regime building at the expense of democratic consolidation. It begins by considering how best to conceptualize the Putin and Erdoğan regimes. Whilst recognizing significant differences between the two cases, we argue that the concepts of electoral authoritarianism and neopatrimonialism are particularly helpful in better understanding how both systems operate. The paper then discusses the concept of state capacity, arguing that for conceptual clarity a parsimonious understanding of the concept based on the state’s extractive, administrative and coercive capacities, provides the most useful framework for the comparative analysis. The paper concludes that in Turkey the shift towards electoral authoritarianism since 2010/11 has happened in a much shorter time span, is more conflictual and characterized by more elite and social contention than in Russia under Putin. The Putinist regime was more capable of harnessing the infrastructural and coercive capacity of the Russian state to institute a stable neopatrimonial authoritarian regime that functions in a setting of electoral authoritarianism. In both cases, authoritarian regime building came at the expense of or supplanted efforts to improve and expand state capacity for effective democratic governance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Context:Human beings have long utilized plants for medicinal purposes. Investigation of these plants has led to the discovery of several modern drugs. Objective:This paper documents and evaluates traditional knowledge on medicinal plants used by the local people of Mihalgazi district of Eskişehir, Turkey. Materials and methods:Six villages of the study area were visited between February 2014 and April 2015 to collect the data. One hundred and eighty-nine informants were interviewed by the survey method and face to face semi-structured interviews. Taxonomic identification, the most commonly used plant parts, preparation and administration methods were evaluated. Ethnomedicinal data were analyzed quantitatively with relative importance (RI) and the informant consensus factor (FIC). Results:This paper reported a total of 52 medicinal plants (37 wild, 15 cultivated) belonging to 34 families. Some uses of 22 plants were not found in the literature and are reported for the first time in this study. Furthermore, one of the plants,Calamagrostis arundinacea(L.) Roth (Poaceae), was reported for the first time as being used within the scope of traditional therapies. Discussion and conclusion:This study recorded traditional knowledge on medicinal plants used in Mihalgazi, Turkey. This paper provides a basis for further investigations to discover efficient pharmaceuticals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Turkish accession process has proved to be asui generiscase of EU enlargement as it has so far been dominated by a vicious cycle of ebbs and flows. This paper explores the impact of the EU’s member states on the construction of Turkey’s crooked EU path by focusing on both the pre-negotiation phase and the official negotiation phase. It traces interstate interaction among member states, and their interaction with relevant EU institutions and Turkish authorities, prior to and during the processes of decision-making regarding Turkey’s EU membership during 1999–March 2016 within two EU institutions of particular importance to EU enlargement: the European Council and the Council. A close look is taken at the preferences and actions of the largest member states in the EU, the so-called ‘Big Three’ (Germany, France and the UK), and at those of Greece and Cyprus, two small states that have paid particular attention to the progression of the Turkish accession process in the light of distinct bilateral disputes. The paper concludes that member states matter in the formation of EU enlargement politics vis-à-vis Turkey, while the scope and particulars of member states’ influence significantly evolved during 1999–March 2016. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the absence of formal employment opportunities and with increasing urban and rural poverty, the informal recycling sector has become a means of survival for the past two decades in Turkey. In the capital city, Ankara, the large majority of waste pickers constitute former dispossessed Kurdish farmers who migrated to the city with their families from the southeastern regions as a result of forced migration, and seasonal Kurdish workers who alternate between rural and urban employment. The introduction of new waste management regulations in 2004 made the recycling market a significant area of struggle between local authorities, recycling companies and waste pickers. Local authorities have used these regulations to force waste pickers to sell their waste to certain recycling companies at a price lower than the market price. Waste pickers have reclaimed their right to work in the streets against the violence executed by the municipal police. This paper investigates the ways in which waste pickers should be considered wage labourers and what kind of a moral discourse they have used in making their demands vis-à-vis local governments during the process of intense conflict and negotiation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the impact of detailed tourism expenditure on the long-run economic growth by employing Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach and causality test for data set of 2003:1 to 2012:4 in Turkey. The detailed tourism expenditure data are firstly employed for the causality of tourism expenditure on economic growth. The results of the bounds test show that there is a stable long-run relationship between accommodation expenses, transport expenditure, expenditure of sporting activities, sightseeing tour expenditure, clothing–footwear expenditure, gift expenditure and economic growth. The results of the causality test, on the other hand, show that there is a bidirectional causality between accommodation expenses, expenditure of sporting activities, gift expenditure and economic growth and a causal flow from transport expenditure to economic growth which is verified growth-led tourism hypothesis. Results reveal that sightseeing tour expenditure and expenditure of sporting activities are more successful on explaining the long-run growth in Turkey in terms of ARDL coefficients size. This result implies a policy that Turkey needs to invest tourism to gain more especially by focusing accommodation, sightseeing tours, sporting activities and transport infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]