ABSTRACT
Introduction The general elections in Turkey held on 22 July 2007 resulted in the landslide victory of AKP (the Justice and Development Party) (Turkish Supreme Electoral Board 2007), and started a second four-year ruling period for the Party. 7KH 3DUW\ ZDV IRUPHG E\ SROLWLFLDQV ZKR ZHUH DFWLYHO\ DI¿OLDWHG ZLWK WKH Islamist movement in Turkey previously; therefore, the victory of the Party UDLVHG VXVSLFLRQ DPRQJ7XUNLVK VHFXODULVWV LQFOXGLQJ WKHPLOLWDU\ ,Q LWV ¿UVW SHULRG WKH 3DUW\ KDG VHULRXV FRQÀLFWV ZLWK WKH PLOLWDU\ WR WKH H[WHQW WKDW D ZDUQLQJZDVUHOHDVHGRQWKHPLOLWDU\¶VRI¿FLDOZHEVLWHGXEEHGDQµHFRXS¶LQ WKH QHZVSDSHUV %RODQG ,Q WKLV FRQWH[W WKH RXWFRPH RI WKH HOHFWLRQV which were held just a few months later, has been interpreted by some commentators as the reaction of civil society to the intervention of the military in SROLWLFVøÀD]R÷OX
Interpretation of the elections as such, indeed, reveals one of the mainstream evaluations of civil society in Turkey. The debate over civil society, which has ÀRXULVKHGSDUWLFXODUO\VLQFHWKHODWHVDQGHDUO\VSUHGRPLQDQWO\FRQceptualises civil society as a democratisation mechanism against the military’s persistence in politics, identifying the military as the prominent representative of WKH7XUNLVKVWDWHWUDGLWLRQ6XFKIRUPXODWLRQVRIµFLYLO¶VRFLHW\DVRSSRVHGWRWKH µPLOLWDU\¶ DQG WKXV WR WKH µVWDWH¶ KDYHEHHQ LQWURGXFHGE\SXEOLFDWLRQV IURP the Turkish Left such as Birikim, Zemin and Yeni GündemdXEXNoX However, today, this kind of conceptualisation is mostly embraced by liberals, OLEHUDOOHIWLVWVQHRFRQVHUYDWLYHVDQG,VODPLVWV(UFDQ
This chapter acknowledges that the interactions in civil society might lead to IXUWKHU GHPRFUDWLVDWLRQ +RZHYHU LW FULWLFLVHV WKH UHDG\ LGHQWL¿FDWLRQ RI FLYLO society as a counter-hegemonic force in the Turkish case from a Gramscian perspective. It argues that civil society is rather a site for hegemonic struggles and that these struggles determine the outcome which might not necessarily result in any further democratisation of domestic politics. The chapter begins with an evaluation of Antonio Gramsci’s views on civil society. The study then turns to the state tradition and emergence of civil society in Turkey in its historical FRQWH[WERWKDVDQDWWHPSWWRXQGHUVWDQGZK\FLYLOVRFLHW\LVFRQFHSWXDOLVHGDV
opposed to the military and the state, and to reveal the dialectical relations between Turkish civil society and political society. The main aim of the study is to interpret the interactions between civil society and state in Turkey from a Gramscian perspective.
