The Crisis of Civil Society in Turkey.

This paper considers the state of civil society in Turkey in order to determine whether the Turkish government is involved in repressing the rights and freedoms of individual Turkish citizens. The paper is divided into six parts that include an introduction and conclusion. Part two discusses the various meanings of "civil society" over time and states that it is the current understanding of civil society, that of institutions and organizations outside of and autonomous of the domain of the state, that is of interest to the authors. As pointed out, if these organizations are able to function properly, then democracy and freedom of speech are enhanced. The next part discusses particular civil society organizations in Turkey and concludes that the state turns a deaf ear to those it does not favor or it discourages alternative ideas to its ideology—its version of secularism. Part four looks at the role of the state in the past in order to understand the legacy influencing the current situation. The authors point to the patrimonial structure inherited from the Ottomans described as a tradition in which the state has priority over civil society in order to prevent opposition and disunity. Bureaucratic centralization resulted. Part five considers the future of civil society in Turkey. The authors see the continuation of "divisiveness anxiety" on the part of the state leading to the demonizing of opposition movements. The paper concludes that Turkey has a long way to go before it achieves greater freedom and democracy and that the state needs to start opening channels of communication and embark on an honest and constructive dialogue with the civil society organizations in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]