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ABSTRACT
While Turkish faith-based NGOs have been involved in delivering humanitarian aid for two decades, the relations of these organizations with the state have not received adequate scholarly attention. The main purpose of this article is to address this gap by asking what roles NGOs play in Turkey's humanitarian aid policy and practice. Despite the relative isolation of Turkey's administrative structure as a result of a strong state tradition, this paper shows that NGOs attempt to play political roles in Turkish foreign policy. The study relies on an analytical framework derived from constructivism to examine the agenda-setting and information-providing activities of Turkish NGOs between 2004 and 2016. Based on findings from a series of semi-structured interviews with 25 respondents from nine different NGOs and three state institutions, this artilce expands the research agenda on Turkey's foreign aid and shows that NGOs function as knowledge-providers, powerful catalysts for humanitarian aid activities, and influential voices in bringing humanitarian issues to light.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes on contributors
Yunus Turhan is a lecturer in the Department of International Relations at Osmaniye Kokut Ata University. He received his PhD from Middle East Technical University. He was a visiting fellow from 2017–2018 at Oxford University's Department of International Development, where he was involved in Changing Structures of Islamic Authority and Consequences for Social Change: A Transnational Review (CSIA), a five-year research project funded by the European Research Council (ERC). Besides his interest on the state-NGO relations, he also focuses on Turkey-Africa relations, development studies, and peace and conflict studies.
Şerif Onur Bahçecik is an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Relations at Middle East Technical University. His current research focuses on international organizations, international development and human rights in global politics. He has previously published in Ortadogu Etudleri, New Perspectives on Turkey, Third World Quarterly and Global Policy.
Notes
1 Willetts, “Transnational Actors,” 320.
2 Hereafter, ‘Turkish NGOs’ refers to these nine selected Turkish faith-based organizations.’
3 Hausmann, “Turkey as a Donor Country”; Hausmann and Lundsgaarde, “Turkey’s Role”; and Binder, “The Shape and Sustainability.”
4 For a criticism of some aspects of this literature see Baird, “The Geopolitics.”
5 Ozkan, “Does ‘Rising Power’ Mean,” and Zengin and Korkmaz, “Determinants of Turkey's Foreign Aid.”
6 Altunışık, “Turkey as an ‘Emerging Donor,” and Urcan, “Donör Ülke Olarak Türki˙ye.”
7 Siradag, “Benevolence or Selfishness.”
8 Donelli, “The Ankara Consensus,” 66.
9 For a significant exception that looks at state-NGO cooperation from the recipient's perspective, see Apaydin, “Overseas Development Aid.”
10 Çelik and İşeri, “Islamically Oriented Humanitarian NGOs,” and Atalay, “Vernacularization of Liberal Civil Society.”
11 Finnemore and Sikkink, “International Norm Dynamics”; Charnovitz, “Two Centuries of Participation”; and Holzscheiter, “Discourse as Capability,” 723.
12 Keck and Sikkink, Activists, 9. The authors refer to advocacy networks but their point also applies to NGOs.
13 Keck and Sikkink, Activists, 16.
14 Boli and Thomas, Constructing World Culture.
15 Simmons, “Learning to Live with NGOs.”
16 Kim, “How NGOs Influence.”
17 Ahmed and Potter, NGOs in International Politics, 43.
18 Newell, Climate for Change, 7.
19 Finnemore and Sikkink, “International Norm Dynamics,” 895.
20 Murphy, Making of International Trade Policy, 2.
21 Simmons, “Learning to Live with NGOs,” 87.
22 Kent and Paletz, Framing War and Genocide.
23 Heper, The State Tradition in Turkey, and Heper, “The State and Politics in Turkey.”
24 Sasley, “Turkish Leaders,” 555.
25 Oran, Türk Dış Politikası and Gönlübol, Olaylarla Türk Dış Politikası.
26 Cizre, “Disentangling the Threads.”
27 Çarkoğlu, “Who Wants Full Membership?”
28 Görener and Ucal, “The Personality and Leadership Style,” 357.
29 Kesgin and Kaarbo, “When and How Parliaments.”
30 Keyman, “Türkiye’de ve Avrupa’da Sivil Toplum.”
31 Bulut, Akın, and Kahraman, “Kamu Politikalarının Oluşturulmasında Sivil Toplum.”
32 Ateş and Nohutçu, “Kamu Hizmeti Üretimi ve Sunumunda.”
33 Ayata and Karan, Sivil Topluma, and Bullain and Bikmen, “Türkiye’de STK’lar.”
34 Bulut, Akın, and Kahraman, “Kamu Politikalarının Oluşturulmasında,” 28.
35 Bullain and Bikmen, “Türkiye’de STK’lar,” 6.
36 Ibid.
37 It was amended with Decree No. 703 dated 2/7/2018.
38 See law text at http://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/MevzuatMetin/1.5.5018.pdf.
39 English translation of the law available at https://ms.hmb.gov.tr/uploads/2019/01/Public-Financial-Management-and-Control-Law-No.-5018.pdf.
40 Article 21: “Dernekler mülkî idare amirliğine önceden bildirimde bulunmak şartıyla yurt dışındaki kişi, kurum ve kuruluşlardan aynî ve nakdî yardım alabilirler. Bildirimin şekli ve içeriği yönetmelikte düzenlenir. Nakdî yardımların bankalar aracılığıyla alınması zorunludur.” https://www.dernekler.gov.tr/tr/ebulten/duyurular/5253-sayili-yardim-toplama-kanunu-degisiklik.aspx.
41 Law 5253 on Associations, http://www.lawsturkey.com/law/law-on-associations-5253 (accessed October 15, 2019).
42 Full text of the regulation: http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2006/02/20060217-4.htm.
43 Article 6(2) states that ‘Taslaklar hakkında konuyla ilgili mahallî idareler, üniversiteler, sendikalar, kamu kurumu niteliğindeki meslek kuruluşları ile sivil toplum kuruluşlarının görüşlerinden de faydalanılır.’
44 ‘(2) Kamu kurumu niteliğindeki meslek kuruluşları ile sivil toplum kuruluşları da taslaklara ilişkin görüşünü otuz gün içinde bildirir. Süresinde görüş verilmezse olumlu görüş verilmiş sayılır. (3) Bakanlıklar, kamu kurum ve kuruluşları, kamu kurumu niteliğindeki meslek kuruluşları ile sivil toplum kuruluşları taslakları öncelikle kendi görevleri açısından inceler ve düzenleyici etki analizinde belirtilen hususların yerinde olup olmadığını değerlendirir.’
45 Madde 263 (h): ‘Sivil toplum kuruluşları, ilgili kuramlar, üniversiteler ve diğer araştırma kuruluşlarıyla işbirliği içerisinde, görev alanına giren konularda araştırma-geliştirme çalışmalarında bulunmak, orta ve uzun vadeli stratejileri belirlemek.’ http://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/MevzuatMetin/19.5.1.pdf.
46 Ipek, “Ideas and Change.”
47 Diyanet Vakfı Mali Bilgiler, https://tdv.org/tr-TR/kurumsal/mali-bilgiler/ (accessed Janurary 18, 2020).
48 İHH Gelir-Gider Tablosu, https://www.ihh.org.tr/gelir-gider-tablosu (accessed January 18, 2020).
49 Deniz Feneri Mali Tablolar, https://www.denizfeneri.org.tr/kurumsal/mali-tablolar-2016_175/ (accessed January 18, 2020).
50 Yeryüzü Doktorları Faaliyet Raporu, 2017, 7, https://www.yyd.org.tr/faaliyet-raporlari/ (accessed January 20, 2020).
51 Interviewee 1 at Deniz Feneri, September 12, 2018, Ankara.
52 Interviewee 1 at Kızılay, September 10, 2018, Ankara.
53 Interviewee 1 at Yeryüzü Doktorları, September 18, 2018, İstanbul.
54 https://www.takvim.com.tr/dunya/2011/08/12/canli-yayinda-afrikaya-25-milyon-tl-bagis (accessed May 23, 2019).
55 Deutsche Welle, “Erdoğan’ın Somali ziyareti.”
56 Christie-Miller, “Turkey Takes Lead.”
57 Ozkan, “Does ‘Rising Power’ Mean.” For criticisms of this initiative, see Yardımcı, “An Emerging Donor in Retrospect.”
58 Interviewee 1 at İHH, September 19, 2018, İstanbul.
59 Interview with Fehmi Bülent Yıldırım, cited in Sabancı, “Türkiye-Afrika İlişkilerinde Sivil Toplum,” 80.
60 Özkan and Akgün, “Turkey's Opening,” 542.
61 Aras and Akpinar, “The Role of Humanitarian NGOs,” 240.
62 Hürriyet, March 31, 2011.
63 Vizyonumuz ve Misyonumuz, http://hudayivakfi.org/vizyonumuz-misyon-ve-degerlerimiz.html (accessed August 17, 2018).
64 Interviewee 2 at TİKA, September 27, 2018, Ankara.
65 Interviewee 1 at AFAD, September 27, 2018, Ankara.
66 Ibid.
67 Interviewee 2 at Diyanet Foundation, September 25, 2018, Ankara.
68 Interviewee 1 at Cansuyu Association, September 13, 2018, Ankara.
69 Interviewee 2 at İHH, September 19, 2018, İstanbul.
70 Interviewee 1 at Beşir Association, September 24, 2018, Ankara.
71 However, the first author has not found sufficient documents regarding Yeryüzü Doktorları's activities in Gaza in 2018. Only brief information on its actions in the region from March 2018 is available on the official web-page, https://www.yyd.org.tr/yeryuzunden-haberler/gazze/ (accessed November 28, 2018).
72 Interviewee 1 at TİKA, September 24, 2018, Ankara.