Religion and Discrimination in the Workplace in Turkey: Old and Contemporary Challenges

Date

2013-08-01

Author

TANYERİ ERDEMİR, TUĞBA
Çıtak Aytürk, Zana Ayşe
Weitzhofer, Theresa
Erdem, Muharrem

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Discrimination based on grounds such as gender or disability has been widely studied in recent research, but the issue of discrimination on grounds of religion or belief has proven to be far less traceable, less studied and more ideologically charged. In Turkey, a state discourse stating that 99% of the population is comprised of Muslim citizens conceals religious diversity in the country. Our contribution focuses on two main manifestations of discrimination within this framework: discrimination on the basis of wearing a headscarf in (or outside) the workplace and discrimination based on religious affiliation, specifically beliefs other than the majority Sunni-Hanefite Islam, in particular Alevis and non-Muslim minorities. Since there are a number of recent studies dealing with the issue of the headscarf, our primary focus will be on the latter topic. Our findings suggest that in the Turkish case, while the headscarf has dominated the issue of discrimination on religious grounds, a more egregious discrimination takes place against members of belief groups other than the Sunni-Hanefite majority. The issue of discrimination in the Turkish workplace on grounds of religion or belief presents interesting questions and challenges. Firstly, in a non-litigate society, discrimination on the basis of religious affiliation is hard to track and quantify. Secondly, recognition of difference does not always lead to pluralism.

Subject Keywords

Turkey, Workplace, Religion, Discrimination, Alevi, Headscarf

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/42910

Journal

International Journal of Discrimination and the Law

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1177/1358229113496701

Collections

Department of International Relations, Article

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Citation Formats

T. TANYERİ ERDEMİR, Z. A. Çıtak Aytürk, T. Weitzhofer, and M. Erdem, “Religion and Discrimination in the Workplace in Turkey: Old and Contemporary Challenges,” International Journal of Discrimination and the Law, pp. 214–239, 2013, Accessed: 00, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/42910.