Civil Society and State in Turkey
Civil Society and State in Turkey

Summary/Abstract: Civil society is supposed to be an arena of (at least) potential freedom outside the state, a space for autonomy, voluntary association and durability or even conflict, guaranteed by the kind of formal democracy and law as it has evolved in the West and become a phenomenon around the World in recent decades. The aim of this article is to examine the state-society relations in Turkey. However, studying a western concept in a non-western society is a difficult task. This is because, in the case of Turkey, first one has to clarify the concept, which emerged and developed in a different environment and through an historical experience, which Turkey did not share with West. This is important to overcome any possible misunderstanding around the concept. In Turkey, the concept of civil society is misunderstood one. Many, including the sate apparatuses, some part of Turkish public and elite alike, think that it is just the opposite of a “military society”. However, the meaning of the concept is related to “city life and culture”. It represents “rights and responsibilities” emerging with the rise of the cities. I will try to clarify the concept itself then I will continue elaborate the existence of the civil society in Turkey. As civil society does not exist in Turkey, in the western sense, one can search for civil societal elements in the society. Therefore my aim in studying civil society and the relations between civil society and state relations in Turkey is to discuss the process of the transformation of society and the state apparatus towards more democratic forms where the state is still predominant but not the actual civil society in a western sense.

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