| This study investigates the extent to which Islamic and secular civil society organizations contribute to consolidation of democracy in Turkey. I analyze a sample of civil society organizations founded in the post-1983 democratic era and ask following questions: What kind of relationship do these organizations have with the state? How do these organizations react to issues such as the headscarf ban and Kurdish question, which are considered the fault-lines of Turkish democracy? To answer these and other related questions, I analyze the discourse of the organizations using their press releases. I also conduct semi-structured, in-depth interviews with the directors of the organizations.;The findings of this study are as follows: First, the state tradition of seeing the state apparatus as the sole significant factor in shaping socio-political life generally limits the civil society organizations' efficiency and effectiveness. Second, by declaring the headscarf as anti-secular, anti-modern, and oppressive, and the Kurdish question as a problem produced by the 'external powers,' secularist organizations reproduce official state ideology. These organizations sometimes produce less democratic values and create an atmosphere of conflict and tension. Islamic organizations, on the other hand, are critical of the ban and see the Kurdish question as a problem of democracy. The various ways in which Islamic organizations frame their stance on these two issues challenge the incorrectly generalized argument that the Islamic movement has a unified ideology that endangers the universally accepted democratic norms and values. This further suggests that Islamic organizations could be just as democratic as many other secular movements. Furthermore, the fact that secular but moderate organizations are critical of the headscarf ban and see Kurdish question as a problem of democracy makes them much closer to Islamic organizations. Therefore, these findings imply that Turkey's civil society organizations have no unified understanding of secularism. This creates a juxtaposition of ideologically different civil society organizations over certain issues that create, in turn, a more democratic civil sphere. |
