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Bir mahallede iki dünyanın buluşması: İstanbul, Yenimahalle'de göç alan toplum üyeleri ve Afgan işçilerin ilişkileri
This study aims to contribute to the issue of undocumented Afghan labor immigration in Turkey by looking at the intergroup relations between immigrants and receiving society members with a sociological perspective. A squatter neighborhood in Istanbul, Yenimahalle, is selected as the research field because of the increasing number of undocumented Afghan labor immigrants in this neighborhood. The perceptions, attitudes, and interactions of the groups are analyzed to understand the intergroup relations. Data of the study is obtained from a total of 24 semi-structured and face-to-face interviews conducted in Yenimahalle neighborhood; 12 with the receiving society members and 12 with the Afghan immigrants. The findings of the study suggest that the receiving society members and Afghan immigrants perceive each other as two distinct groups, which are positioned in social hierarchy asymmetrically. While receiving society members feel pity towards immigrants and commonly commit violence against them, immigrants feel gratitude towards receiving society members and generally stay silent as a survival strategy. As a shared feeling, it is observed that these groups feel fear and anxiety toward each other. Other findings of the study suggest that there is limited social interaction between groups, and the social distance between groups has emerged as the consequence of the temporality of the immigrants, perceived cultural differences between groups, and singlehood and gender of the immigrants.
İslami aktörlerin Türkiye'deki barış sürecine ilişkin olarak barış algılarını ve barışa ulaşmak için önerdikleri normatif değerleri anlamak
The literature on religious norms and actors' positive contribution to peace has been growing in the field of conflict resolution. While some discussions concerning 'religion' have been regarded its role as a sparking factor for the emergence and the escalation of conflicts, it has been accepted by another branch of scholars as a facilitating instrument for creating a peaceful environment. Those, who side with the positive contribution of religious norms and actors to peace, highlight the multiplicity of religious values in the pursuit of peace. To examine the potential role of religious norms and actors for peace in Turkey's Kurdish issue, this study investigates peace understanding of religious actors in Turkey and their normative recommendations for peace in a conflictual environment. By considering that religious actors are not homogenous in terms of their ideological stance, this thesis also examines the effect of religious actors' ideological stance in their understanding of peace and religious norms. Turkey's peace process (2013-20115) was utilized as a case study in exploring their perception of peace. The findings show that despite ideological differences of the religious actors, certain Islamic norms were commonly emphasized by them to promote 'peace.' Although women religious actors as contributors to peace may not be adequately recognized, the inclusive understanding of women participants implies the need for both further examination of their role in conflict resolution. Besides, what the characteristics of religious actors, who might contribute to peace, should be constitutes another discussion presented in this thesis.
Dini milliyetçi güvenlik söylemlerinin Afrin operasyonu vakasında araçsallaştırılması: Müslüman vicdani retçiler ve savaş karşıtlarının perspektifleri
This thesis analyzes the Afrin cross-border military operation, also known as Operation Olive-Branch, which was launched by the Turkish Armed Forces in Syria on 20 January 2018 as a case study. Through discourse analysis method, this thesis first examines the role of religious nationalist rhetoric of the governing elites in securitizing both the Afrin operation and compulsory military service. The study interrogates the ways in which security discourses are sanctified and instrumentalized by the political elites in light of the scholarship on the Critical Security Studies. This study secondly investigates the alternative discourses put forward by non-state actors, in this thesis, the Muslim conscientious objectors and anti-war activists, on the securitization of the Afrin operation and conscription. In the fieldwork conducted with the participants, focus group analysis method was used. As a result of the central findings obtained from the case study, this thesis argues that the religious nationalist rhetoric, which have shaped the Afrin operation discursively, aims to legitimize the operation in the eyes of the general public and to restrain the generation of any other critical discourse. On the contrary, the Muslim conscientious objectors and anti-war activists have opposed to the instrumentalization of religion on matters such as security, militarism, and nationalism at political and discursive levels by putting forward an alternative dissident discourse.
Çatışma sonrası toplumlarda sivil aktivist olarak eski savaşçılar: Kosovo Kurtuluş Ordusu vakası
This research explores how ex-combatants can contribute to peacebuilding in post-conflict societies through civic activism. Kosovo Liberation Army's ex-combatants are selected as a case study. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with KLA ex-combatants. The data collected from this study reveals that ex-combatants describe themselves as civic activists who contribute to peacebuilding and are enthusiastic about helping their community and post-conflict Kosovo. However, their peacebuilding capacities are limited, firstly, because of the sensitivity and nature of their civic activism and secondly, by their perceptions of what 'peacebuilding activities' mean. Some of them argue that peacebuilding activities are 'morally accepted' if they are intended to help the community they belong to, that is, solely the Albanian population of Kosovo. Others argue that peacebuilding should not be limited to only one ethnicity. The decision to join the civil society is similar with the decision to join the armed group. The education level of ex-combatants was depicted as an important element that influenced the type of civic activism they are engaged to. Civic activism was not perceived as a potent tool for decision-making changes or peacebuilding incentives. Participants recognize civic activism as an influencer; they argue that the main change and peacebuilding can emerge from the parliament. However, one-third of the participants exclude the chance of involvement in politics for two reasons: because they do not want to take advantage of their combatant lives, and because they think political life is not suitable for their characters. Thus, they choose to remain in areas where they can be more productive.