Browsing by Subject "Citizenship--Turkey."

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Open Access
The citizen of the state and the state of the citizen : an analysis of the citizenization process in Turkey
(2000) Soyarık, Nalan
This study deals with the construction and evolution of Turkish citizenship throughout the history of the Turkish Republic. How citizenship was defined, and which model was adopted for Turkish citizenship are the major questions. The state is taken as the major constructive actor as the modernization and citizenization process was from above in the Turkish case. Therefore, the legal documents, parliamentary debates, and studies of the prominent intellectuals on citizenship are analyzed. As the nation building and citizenization process went hand in hand in Turkey, those laws related with the construction of a Turkish national identity are also utilized. By taking the social and political developments into account as a background, the changes and shifts in the understanding of Turkish citizenship are traced. The problems Turkish citizenship encounters today has its roots in the early Republican period, where Turkish citizenship was developed from above and in a republican understanding that emphasized duties towards the state. Today there is a clash between aspirations for a more liberal understanding of citizenship and the republican citizens. In the core of the problems faced today, lies the reluctance of the state to view Turkish citizenship as a notion distinct from the quest for Kemalist modernization and official Turkish national identity.
Open Access
Citizenship, minorities and immigrants : a comparison of Turkey's Jewish minority and Turkish-Jewish immigrants in Israel
(2004) Toktaş, Şule
This study investigated the legal status, identity and civic virtue aspects of citizenship and the interaction between them on the layers of international migration and minority issues with use of a comparative case. A research on the perceptions and experiences of Turkey’s Jewish minority and Turkish-Jewish immigrants in Israel regarding citizenship was conducted. The field research which was carried out in both countries - Turkey and Israel - consisted of key informant interviews, participant observation in commimity institutions and in- depth interviews with a total of 65 respondents from the sample group. The results were analyzed using qualitative data analysis technique. On the layer of minority, research results illustrated that in a society where the population is overwhelmingly Muslim, being a non-Muslim minority played roles in: a) the appropriation of the monist and universal conceptualization of citizenship in the legal status aspect; b) the endeavor to maintain Jewish identity despite the inevitable consequences of integration and assimilation in the identity aspect; and c) the discrepancy between values and actions in the civic virtue aspect. On the layer of international migration, the research pointed out that despite long years of residence in Israel, first generation of Turkish-Jewish immigrants in Israel preseryed their political culture that they cultivated when they were in Turkey. However, experience of international migration as a process seemed to impact on citizenship and played roles in; a) the appropriation of democratic norms defined by majoritarian terms in the legal status aspect; b) efforts to maintain their Turkish identity in the identity aspect; and c) the preference for complying with the general norms of Jewish-Israeli society and conversely excluding a proactive understanding of virtuous citizenship.