Browsing by Subject "Ethnicity"

Now showing 1 - 10 of 10

Open Access
Curbing Kurdish ethno-nationalism in Turkey: an empirical assessment of pro-Islamic and socio-economic approaches
(Routledge, 2010) Sarigil, Z.
Within the debates on curbing Kurdish ethno-nationalism in Turkey, the pro-Islamic approach puts emphasis on empowering the notion of 'Islamic brotherhood' between Turks and Kurds. The socio-economic approach, on the other hand, draws attention to improving the socio-economic status of the Kurds. By using World Values Survey data, this study tests these two distinct approaches. Logit estimates provide strong support for the socio-economic approach. Individuals with a better socio-economic status (i.e. higher level of education and income) are less likely to support Kurdish ethno-nationalist formations while religion-related factors do not have a significant impact. Some theoretical and policy implications are also provided. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.
Open Access
Determinants of choosing withdrawal over modern contraceptive methods in Turkey
(Taylor & Francis, 2008) Cindoglu, D.; Sirkeci, I.; Sirkeci, R. F.
Objectives The determinants of the use of withdrawal in Turkey are examined using a multinomial logistic model. Methods Data were drawn from a nation-wide population-based cross-sectional study, the Turkish Demographic Health Surveys that took place in 1998 and 2003. Detailed interviews were conducted with 8576 women aged 15-49 and analysed using SPSS. Results Contextual, cultural and demographic characteristics define women's choice of withdrawal over modern methods. Socio-economic status, education, employment status, and past fertility behaviour are among key determinants. First-ever used contraception method has a very strong impact on later choices. Urban women, the more educated, those with better socioeconomic status, and those living in less crowded households resort less to withdrawal. Experience and empowerment positively linked to modern contraceptive use among women in Turkey. Conclusions The use of contraceptive methods in Turkey differs greatly. Empowerment of women in terms of better socioeconomic status, better education, modern and liberal attitudes towards women and family planning seem to reduce withdrawal use as the main method of contraception. The results suggest the need for education (particularly targeting young women and couples), information and provision of modern contraceptive services particularly for disadvantaged groups.
Open Access
Diversifying feminism in Turkey in the 1990s
(2003) Yüksel, Metin
This thesis attempts to diversify feminism in Turkey with a particular reference to Kurdish women’s relationship with the feminist movement in Turkey in the 1990s. The thesis argues that feminism in Turkey, to a large extent, has been ethnicity-blind as it has been implicitly assumed that all women in Turkey are of Turkish ethnic origin. Yet it is claimed that, of a different ethnic origin, Kurdish women undergo a dual oppression and subordination due both to their gender and ethnic origin. In this context, a relationship will be constructed between Black women’s experience in the West and that of Kurdish women in Turkey. These arguments will be based on a review of the relevant literature in addition to in-depth interviews carried out with nine politically active Kurdish women. Furthermore, it will be argued that Kurdish women’s political activism in the 1990s’ Turkey as ‘Kurdish women’ emanates from the fact that they were not recognized as ‘Kurdish’ women by the feminist movement on the one hand, and not as ‘women’ by Kurdish nationalism on the other. Despite these drawbacks of the two movements under consideration, it will be indicated that, Kurdish women’s political activism might be considered as a consequence of the configuration of these two movements. Moreover, this thesis argues that, among the many strands of the feminist theories, Black feminism has important insights in understanding and explaining the specific form of oppression and subordination of Kurdish women in Turkey.
Open Access
The identity of ‘the other’ for sexual violence victims: is there anything new in sexual violence prosecutions before the International Criminal Court?
(Routledge, 2017) Turan, G.
Despite the spectacular development in the field of international criminal law, critical feminism stresses the narrow scope of the sex and gender crimes in the Rome Statute establishing the first permanent International Criminal Court. The current international criminal law discourse, as expressed by recent case law, is geared towards the protection of certain groups targeted on account of their distinctiveness within the framework of a conflict situation, and gender is not recognized as one of these group identities. The question whether international criminal law on sexual violence applies only to inter-group conflicts brings to the fore an uneasy likelihood of exclusion of some recently emergent situations where identities of the conflicting parties transcend a particular ethnicity or nationality, and where victims of sexual violence belong to the same group as their perpetrators. The article argues that, rather than the Rome Statute or newly introduced rules and regulations, a significant obstacle in developing gender justice is the narrow interpretation of sexual violence to inter-group hostilities. © 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Restricted
İlçe oluşundan günümüze Araklı
(Bilkent University, 2022) İnci, Deren; Şekerci, Selin; Ataç, Sera; Halil, Zeynep Nisa
Araştırmanın kapsamı Trabzon ilinin bir ilçesi olan Araklı’nın geçmişten günümüze sosyal tarihi üzerine olup, Sürmene’den ayrılarak 1953 tarihinde ilçe oluşundan günümüze Araklı’nın geçirdiği değişimler ve yaşadığı gelişmeler hakkında bilgiler verilecektir. İncelenen konular arasında Araklı ilçesinin geçmişe dayanan yerleşim tarihine yer vererek günümüzdeki etnik ve kültürel yapısı açıklanacaktır. Sonrasında ilçe oluşundan günümüze oluşturduğu nüfus, yaşadığı göç durumları ele alınacaktır. Bunların yanı sıra Araklı’nın başlıca geçim kaynakları, sanayi ve tarım fonksiyonlarının öneminden bahsedilecektir. Son olarak araştırmalarımız sonucunda ulaştığımız Araklı ilçesinin gelişimine katkı sağlayan önemli unsurlardan ve günümüzdeki Araklı’dan bahsedilecektir.
Open Access
“Inside outsiders:” comparing state policies towards citizens of Palestinian and Kurdish descent in Israel and Turkey
(2021-10) Elitsoy, Zeliha Aslı
Israel and Turkey have been regarded as ethnically divided societies where ethnicity represented a fundamental political cleavage between a national majority and ethnic minority. The formation of Israeli and Turkish nation-states simultaneously led to the “minoritization” of those Palestinians and Kurds who constituted the biggest ethnic and linguistic minority by a wide margin in their respective countries. While Israel never considered assimilating its Palestinian citizens into mainstream Israeli national identity, considering Jewishness as its essential and indispensable element, Turkey engaged in assimilation policies visà- vis its Kurdish citizens, which met with limited success. Although the two countries applied different methods of ethnic diversity management, they have converged in maintaining exclusive state identities, Jewish and Turkish, and excluded their Palestinian and Kurdish minorities from political and economic power. Especially in recent decades, both states have been challenged by their Palestinian and Kurdish minorities seeking equal treatment with the Jewish and Turkish majority. Minority demands share common elements: the recognition of their status as a national minority entitled to collective rights and effective inclusion into the political system. However, awarding full citizenship rights has been questioned on accounts of Jewish sovereignty dilution fears in Israel and Kurdish self-determination and partition in Turkey. Failing to distinguish their citizens from their trans-border ethnic kin groups and viewing them as part of trans-national community threatening Israeli and Turkish sovereignty, Israel’s citizens of Palestinian descent and Turkey’s citizens of Kurdish descent have been turned into “inside outsiders.”
Open Access
Neighborhood effects and women's agency regarding poverty and patriarchy in a Turkish slum
(Sage Publications Ltd., 2008) Erman, T.; Türkyilmaz, S.
This paper aims to understand the interplay between the neighborhood (spatial) effects of poverty, ethnicity, kin, and patriarchy, and women's agency in the context of an inner-city slum in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. It is based on a field study that focuses on the experiences of women residents - that is, rural migrants known for their dependency on neighborhood spaces - and their grown-up daughters who were raised in the city. The neighborhood context - namely, the social and physical isolation of the site, the limited access to urban institutions, and the growing risk of crime - has a negative impact on women's lives, restraining but not determining women's agency. Women's struggle for agency in this context is contingent on other factors, including whether they live in ethnic clusters and whether their husbands are working, as well as urban experience and individual biography. © 2008 Pion Ltd and its Licensors.
Open Access
Race, ethnicity, and political behavior
(Oxford University Press, 2017) Just, Aida; Thompson, W. R.
Whether as a consequence of colonialism or more recent international migration, ethnic diversity has become a prominent feature of many contemporary democracies. Given the importance of ethnicity in structuring people’s identities, scholars have sought to incorporate ethnicity in their models of people’s political behavior. Studies focusing on individual support for group interests among ethnic minority members find that higher socioeconomic status generally leads to a reduced emphasis on ethnicity in forming individual political opinions. However, this relationship is often considerably weaker among ethnic minorities with frequent experiences of discrimination, pessimistic assessments of equal opportunities in a country, and social pressures from group members to comply with group norms. Research also shows that, in comparison to majority populations, members of ethnic minorities are generally less active in politics, more likely to use contentious forms of political action, and support left-wing political parties that promote minority interests. Key explanations of differences between ethnic minorities and majorities in Western democracies focus on the importance of individual and group resources as well as political empowerment via representation in policymaking institutions, usually enabled by higher shares of minority populations within electoral districts.
Open Access
Religious divisions and ethnic voting: the case of sunni Kurds in Turkey
(2018-06) Kılıç, Latife Kınay
This study investigates the impact of sectarian identities on ethnic voting behavior by focusing on Sunni Kurds in Turkey. The existing literature focuses on the political implications of the Alevi-Sunni cleavage among Kurds and so assumes Sunni Kurds to be a homogeneous group. However, some recent studies suggest that Hanefi- Shafi distinction among Sunni Kurds appears to generate major differences in terms of political orientations among Sunni Kurds. Thus, the following research questions direct this study: How does Hanefi-Shafi distinction among Sunni Kurds shape their political orientations? More specifically, what factors might explain their different voting preferences? The current study suggests that Hanefilik and Shafilik matter among Sunni Kurds in terms of political orientations: compared to Hanefi Kurds, Shafi Kurds are more likely to vote for anti-systemic pro-Kurdish parties. The study argues that the settlement of Hanefi Kurds in urban areas created an ideational path of prostate attitude. Consequently, they have been less likely to vote for anti-systemic ethnic parties. Although the utilitarian perspective of path dependence provides that power, control, influence, cost of reversal, increasing returns are the mechanisms for path maintenance; ideational path dependence is better suited to this case and it offers that values, ideas, legitimacy, moral concerns are the causal mechanisms to explain the continuity of pro-state or pro-Kurdish voting behavior among Sunni Kurds. The study also touches upon the possibility of a habitual logic of path development. Finally, the implications of this study are discussed in relation to path dependence, constructivism and voting behavior.
Open Access
Who is patriarchal? the correlates of patriarchy in Turkey
(Routledge, 2021-05-25) Özdemir Sarıgil, Burcu; Sarıgil, Zeki
This study provides a comprehensive empirical analysis of patriarchal attitudes and orientations in Turkey, a Muslim-majority country. The following questions direct the current study: What factors account for patriarchal orientations at the mass level? How do social, political, and economic differences relate to individuals’ patriarchal attitudes and orientations? The answers are provided by original data derived from a nationwide survey, Türkiye’de Enformel Kurumlar Anketi (TEKA 2019) [Informal Institutions in Turkey Survey] (Sarigil 2019). Multivariate analyses suggest that religiosity, Sunni sectarian identity, Kurdish ethnic identity, right-oriented ideological orientations, and low socio-economic status are likely to empower patriarchal tendencies. One major implication of the findings is that modernisation processes (e.g. socio-economic development and secularisation) are likely to undermine patriarchal orientations in Muslim-majority countries as well.