ABSTRACT
This discussion can be approached from many directions. Given the limited size of this chapter I will only focus on the conditions under which the idea of civil society is discussed in Turkey. Also, I will be looking at the specific background conditions that are mobilized by various actors when they are threatened. I call this mechanism the sociocultural reflex. The concept of ‘civil society’ has an interesting resonance for Turkey. The adjective ‘civil’ is translated into Turkish as sivil, that which is not related to military. In this context civil society, sivil toplum, has represented until very recently a debate and a mobilization for democratic politics and their establishment due to the several military interventions that occurred between 1961 to 1980. The actors in this debate included politicians, trade unions and numerous sectoral associations or clubs (dernekler). These actors contested the position of the military in assuming the ruling of the country from the view of democratic freedoms and democratic solutions. After the last military intervention in September 1980, military generals in 1984 transferred the governing powers to the elected parliament (under a number of restrictions on electoral rights). Civil society actors were among those who pushed the military authority for this end. Since this, the system seems to have moved on to a position where the importance of political process and democratic procedures are recognized by the military. The voice of civil society in this process has been contributing to the change. In this sense civil society has a particularly political nature in the Turkish context.
