Historical Insights into the Women’s Agenda under AKP Rule in Turkey from a Feminist Perspective

Abstract

Turkey, which according to its constitution is still a secular state, has increasingly been subject of Islamisation by the Islamist Justice and Development Party AKP, who have governed the country since 2002. This article examines the development of an Islamist discourse about women’s issues in line with the ideology of the AKP and its continuing social hegemony. For that purpose, it will give an overview of different currents of secular feminisms, mainly Kemalist feminism and the second wave feminist movement, which are in opposition to the AKP. The article also aims to convey the women’s agenda and the debates on women’s issues to feminists of Western societies from an insider’s feminist perspective. It explains how Kemalism has been under attack not only from Islamists but also from Kurdish nationalists and Kurdish feminists due to its affinity to Turkish nationalism. Therefore, feminists in Turkey are able to define their position from a critical distance to nationalist feminisms of all kinds and to the Islamist discourse on women developed and propagated by AKP from its neoliberal perspective. The article tries to show how AKP has built its hegemony by mobilising women’s efforts as members of women’s NGOs in support of AKP governments.