Polarization and the environmental movement in Turkey

ABSTRACT

Environmental civil society organizations in Turkey have been drawn into the deep cultural and religious divide that characterizes Turkish society more broadly. Turkish environmental organizations are viewed by the Islamist leaning government as proxies for secularist opposition forces and not as independent voices truly committed to environmental protection. Interview data from fifty environmental leaders and Turkish state officials are analyzed to demonstrate how effective civil society functioning in the environmental sphere has been undermined by these deep partisan divisions. Local environmental struggles create one area of opportunity where environmental advocates can bridge the divide and work in collaboration with conservative government supporters.

KEYWORDS:

• Environmental civil society
• Turkish politics
• polarization
• Turkey

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 This research was conducted before the attempted coup of 15 July 2016 that furthered partisan divisions even among conservative religious factions. In our research we had seen evidence of internal conflict among different segments of the Islamist base. More research is needed to understand how political changes following the coup have affected the relations examined here, but preliminary evidence suggests that the further concentration of political power in the hands of the AKP has only reinforced the dynamics analyzed in this study.

2 All quotes in this section are selected from personal interviews conducted between 2 February and 16 April 2015.

3 Environmental justice is the term used to refer to all environmental struggles that centre around disadvantaged communities. These issues emerge with low income and minority communities in developed countries in addition to those that commonly occur in the global south (Bullard, 1990; Brulle & Pellow, 2006; Gottlieb, 2001; Taylor, 2000).