Breaking the Rifles Conscientious Objection to Military Service in Turkey and in Israel
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BREAKING THE RIFLES CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION TO MILITARY SERVICE IN TURKEY AND IN ISRAEL by DOĞU DURGUN Submitted to Institute of Social Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Sabancı University July, 2017 © Doğu Durgun 2017 All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT BREAKING THE RIFLES: CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION TO MILITARY SERVICE IN TURKEY AND IN ISRAEL DOĞU DURGUN Ph.D. Dissertation, July 2017 Thesis Adviser: Prof. Dr. Emin Fuat Keyman Keywords: Conscientious objection, social movements, intersectionality, Turkey, Israel This dissertation questions how conscientious objectors become agents of social, political, legal and institutional change in contexts where military, militarism and militarization impede their agencies through a comparative-historical analysis of the objection movements in Turkey and in Israel. Drawing on the acts of citizenship approach, it argues that the objectors become political actors through a process in which they take distance from the hegemonic conceptions of military, citizenship and war; put forth new political subjectivities with new claims and goals; and perform acts of civil disobedience in multiple sites and at multiple scales. Discussing the acts of citizenship approach through the lenses of the feminist intersectionality theories and the comparative-historical methodology, it further claims that the activist citizen is not a monolithic but intersectional subjectivity that comes into being through a reflexive and embodied process which differentiates the political agency and its relation to voice. The multiple, multilayered and intersectional identifications construct the acts of citizenship (and the social movements) through series of bargaining and negotiations that unfold in situated contexts of time and place. Specifically, the dissertation argues that the hegemonic conceptions of military, militarism and militarization affect the objections differently. Whereas they enable the early emergence of the conscientious objection as a reformist act of citizenship and with a higher scope in Israel, they limit the agencies of the objectors in Turkey. That said, the radical acts of objection still emerges, albeit delayed and with a smaller scope, in both countries since the intersectional dialogue between various identifications at the individual and collective level enable alternative conceptions of military, militarism and militarization. ıv ÖZET SİLAHLARI KIRMAK: TÜRKİYE VE İSRAİL’DE ASKERLİK HİZMETİNE VİCDANİ RET DOĞU DURGUN Doktora Tezi, Temmuz 2017 Tez Danışmanı: Prof. Dr. Emin Fuat Keyman Anahtar Kelimeler: Vicdani ret, sosyal hareketler, kesişimsellik, Türkiye, İsrael Bu tez, vicdani retçilerin ordu, militarizm ve militarizasyon nedeniyle failliklerinin kısıtladığı kontekstlerde nasıl sosyal, politik, legal ve kurumsal dönüşümün aktörleri olduklarını, Türkiye’de ve İsrail’deki vicdani ret hareketlerinin karşılaştırmalı-tarihsel bir analizini yaparak açıklamaktadır. Vatandaşlık aktı perspektifinden, vicdani retçilerin hegemonik ordu, vatandaşlık ve savaş anlayışından mesafe aldığı, yeni talepler ve amaçlara sahip yeni politik öznellikler ortaya koyduğu ve birçok yerde ve farklı ölçeklerde sivil itaatsiz eylemler gerçekleştirdiği bir süreç ile politik aktörler olduklarını vurgulamaktadır. Vatandaşlık aktları yaklaşımını feminist kesişimsellik teorileri ve karşılaştırmalı-tarihsel metot ile tartışan araştırma, aktivist vatandaşın monolitik bir özne olmadığını; politik failliği ve bu failliğin ses ile ilişkisini farklılaştıran refleksif ve bedensel bir süreç ile ortaya konan kesişimsel bir özelliğe sahip olduğunu savunmaktadır. Vatandaşlık aktları (ve sosyal hareketler) çeşitli, çok katmanlı ve kesişimsel kimlik kategorilerinin zaman ve mekana gore değişen müzakereler ve pazarlıklar sonucunda sürekli yeniden inşa edilmektedir. Tez ordu, militarizm ve militarizasyonun hegemonik anlayışlarının vicdani reddi farklı şekillerde etkilediği ortaya koymaktadır. Hegemonik söylem ve pratikler İsrail’de vicdani reddin görece erken, reformist bir çerçevede ve daha büyük bir ölçekte çıkmasını sağlamışken, Türkiye’de uzun sure vicdani reddin önünde engel teşkil etmiştir. Tabii bu radikal vicdani ret söylem ve pratiklerinin çıkmadığı anlamına gelmemektedır. Vicdani ret hem İsrail’de hem de Türkiye’de yakın dönemde çıkan ve küçük fakat giderek gelişen bir grup tarafından radikal bir çerçevede de ortaya konmaktadır. Kimlik kategorileri arasındaki hem bireysel hem de kollektif düzeyde gerçekleşen kesişimsel diyalog, ordu, militarizm ve militarizasyon karşısında alternatif söylem ve pratiklerin çıkmasını da sağlamaktadır. v To my beloved family vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are many people to whom I feel great debt of gratitude. Without their contributions, this dissertation could not be finished. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor, Emin Fuat Keyman for his guidance, mentorship, criticism, encouragement and patience. I feel very fortunate to have him as my supervisor. He believed in my project, and my academic capacity and ability to finish it; he pushed me to clarify and embolden my arguments; and he supported me with care during the difficult phases of writing. This work would not be possible without his help. My sincere gratitude also goes to Ayşe Gül Altınay and Ayşe Kadıoğlu, the members of my dissertation committee, who pushed me to widen, detail and structure my writing with their hard questions, inspiring comments and helpful advices. They have been very motivating throughout the writing process, and I could not have imagined finishing my project without their support. I also owe a great debt of gratitude to Bahar Rumelili and Ziya Umut Türem who kindly accepted to participate in my dissertation defense jury. Their invaluable feedbacks and hard questions helped me to improve the final draft, and contributed to the theoretical and empirical parts of the dissertation immensely. I also would like to thank Nedim Nomer who read the first drafts of my research proposal, and helped me to reformulate my research question and the theoretical framework. Sabancı University has been an inspiring academic environment where I had the opportunity to meet with hardworking, encouraging, helpful and creative professors and students. I was fortunate to be surrounded by such scholars and fellow graduate students who contributed immensely to my intellectual journey. I have been very lucky to be surrounded my beloved family members and friends. They have helped me go through the challenging process of researching and writing with their continuous support. Specifically, I would like to thank my parents and my brother, Barbod Tavasoli, Rela Mazali, Yasmin Yablonko, Inbal Sinai, Aydın Özipek, Patrick Lewis, Zeqine Sheshi, Magda Bakali, Anna Couturier, Amit Meyer, Anaïs Martin, and many others. Throughout the research process, I have presented some sections of the dissertation in various colloquiums, conferences and workshops around the world. I vii have benefited a lot from the feedbacks I have received from several junior and senior scholars, and graduate students. Finally, I thank the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs for its generous support that allowed me to stay in Israel for eight months and to conduct my fieldwork. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction………………………………………………………………………….......1 Limitations…………………….………………………………………………….…….10 Outline…………...……………………………………………………………………..11 I. Historiographies of conscientious objection………………….……………………...13 I.I. Writing conscientious objection: Early questions, conceptualizations, and theories….........................................................................................................................14 I.II. Writing conscientious objection in Turkey……………………………………..…22 I.III. Writing conscientious objection in Israel................................................................27 I.IV. Situating the research…………………………………...………………………...33 II. Theoretical Framework……………………………………………..…………….…36 II.I. Quest for a grand theory of dissent: Systemic theories of social movements and citizenship.………………………………………..………………………………….…38 II.II How to introduce agency? The construction of dissent along axes of identity/difference............................................................................................................44 II.II.I Citizenship as acts………..……………………………………………..…….….50 II.III. Deconstructing identity: Intersectionality and subjectivity (re)formation………..……..............................................................................................54 II.III.I. Structural intersectionalities…..………………………………………….…….54 II.III.II. Constructivist turn………….….........................................................................57 II.III.III. Identities as sites of coalitions and conflicts.....................................................61 II.IV. Conceptualizing change through acts…................................................................63 II.V. Methodology…….…..………………………………………………………........68 II.V.I. Turkey and Israel in comparison………………………………………..…........72 III. Historicity of conscientious objection: Refusing the military service during the nation-state formation in Turkey and in Israel…………………………………………79 III.I Refusing in silence: Early acts of objection in Turkey……………………............80 III.II. The early acts of objectors in Israel.......................................................................86 III.II.I. Spiritual Zionism, pacifism and conscientious objection ………………...........87