Civil society and non-governmental organizations operating on human rights in Turkey

In the post-1980 period in the world, especially with the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the disappearance of socialist regimes, the stages of transition to democracy paved the way for the formation of civil society. The concept of civil society, which came to the fore in Turkey in this period, has created its current structure by experiencing many changes and transformations in the historical process. With the transition to the multi-party system in 1946 in Turkey, the democratic atmosphere that had just begun to form continued on its way by facing many obstacles. Efforts of democracy to create itself have also created an atmosphere for the self-definition of the civil sphere. The concept of civil society, which progresses in parallel with the development of democracy, has tried to exist by encountering many obstacles in Turkey, where democracy has been shaped according to the political events and mentality. In the 1980s, the concepts of human rights, liberalism, civil society, and democracy gained an important place in Turkey. Human rights violations, which had a great impact on the world, especially at the end of the Second World War, became an important area of influence by taking place on the agenda of both states, national and international organizations and non-governmental organizations. In this study, the concept of civil society and human rights has been tried to be explained by associating them with each other. The historical development of civil society has been evaluated in the perspective of Turkey. In addition, non-governmental organizations operating in the field of human rights in Turkey were discussed. By drawing attention to the importance of human rights, the necessity of non-governmental organizations on rights violations has been tried to be revealed. The study describes the efforts of non-governmental organizations working against violations of rights to make their voices heard on national and international platforms by carrying out activities within the current democratic conditions of Turkey. Keywords: civil society, human rights, non-governmental organizations operating on human rights in Turkey.