Civil society in Turkey: the experience of civil society organizations

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2002
Tabakoğlu, Bahar
This study concentrates its attention on civil society organizations (CSOs) - associations, foundations, chambers and unions- with a view to comprehending the existing situation of civil society in present-day Turkey. The research endeavors to catch the relationship between the state and CSOs and the relationship among the CSOs through the perspectives of the actors of civil society (the administrators and members of CSOs) and to describe the main social and political orientations of these actors. The study tries to explore the extent to which the increase -both qualitatively and quantitatively- of CSOs in Turkey starting with the beginning of 1990s can be evaluated in an agonistic climate in which differences are recognized and the cohabitation of consensus and conflict exists. Besides having a general look at the formations of CSO in Turkey the study also focuses on the examples of Association of Atatiirkist Thought - Association of Support for Contemporary Life and Human Rights Organization - Organization of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed People which mrepresent the main tensions of Turkish social and political sphere with their Kemalist, leftist and Islamist tendencies.

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Citation Formats
B. Tabakoğlu, “Civil society in Turkey: the experience of civil society organizations,” Middle East Technical University, 2002.