The Green Movement in Turkey
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#4.13 PERSPECTIVES Political analysis and commentary from Turkey FEATURE ARTICLES THE GREEN MOVEMENT IN TURKEY DEMOCRACY INTERNATIONAL POLITICS HUMAN LANDSCAPE AKP versus women Turkish-American relations and the Taner Öngür: Gülfer Akkaya Middle East in Obama’s second term The long and winding road Page 52 0Nar $OST .IyeGO 3erkaN 3eyMeN Page 60 Page 66 TURKEY REPRESENTATION Content Editor’s note 3 Q Feature articles: The Green Movement in Turkey Sustainability of the Green Movement in Turkey, Bülent Duru 4 Environmentalists in Turkey - Who are they?, BArë GenCer BAykAn 8 The involvement of the green movement in the political space, Hande Paker 12 Ecofeminism: Practical and theoretical possibilities, %Cehan Balta 16 Milestones in the Õght for the environment, Ahmet Oktay Demiran 20 Do EIA reports really assess environmental impact?, GonCa 9lmaZ 25 Hydroelectric power plants: A great disaster, a great malice, 3emahat 3evim ZGür GürBüZ 28 Latest notes on history from Bergama, Zer Akdemir 34 A radioactive landÕll in the heart of ÊXmir, 3erkan OCak 38 Q Culture Turkish television series: an overview, &eyZa Aknerdem 41 Q Ecology Seasonal farm workers: Pitiful victims or Kurdish laborers? (II), DeniZ DuruiZ 44 Q Democracy Peace process and gender equality, Ulrike Dufner 50 AKP versus women, Gülfer Akkaya 52 New metropolitan municipalities, &ikret TokSÇZ 56 Q International politics Turkish-American relations and the Middle East in Obama’s second term, Pnar DoSt .iyeGo 60 Q Human landscape Taner Öngür: The long and winding road, Serkan Seymen 66 Q Barometer “Terrorists” created by the law, .eJat Taëtan 68 Q News from hbs 69 Heinrich Böll Stiftung – Turkey Representation The HeinriCh BÇll StiftunG aSSoCiated With the German Green Party iS a leGally autonomouS and intelleCtually oPen PolitiCal foundation Our foremoSt taSk iS CiviC eduCation in Germany and aBroad With the aim of PromotinG informed demoCratiC oPinion SoCio PolitiCal Commitment and mutual underStandinG )n addition the HeinriCh BÇll StiftunG SuPPortS artiStiC and Cultural aS Well aS SCholarly ProJeCtS and Co oPeration in the develoPment leld The PolitiCal valueS of eColoGy demoCraCy Gender demoCraCy Solidarity and nonviolenCe are our Chief PointS of referenCe HeinriCh BÇllS Belief in and Promotion of CitiZen PartiCiPation in PolitiCS iS the model for the foundationS Work %ditor in Chief Dr. Ulrike Dufner; editorial team: ÖXgür GürbüX, Semahat Sevim, 7onca 4erdioglu; ContriButorS Umud Dalg´, Saynur Gür´ay Banu 7ayla HeinriCh BÇll StiftunG Turkey 2ePreSentation )nÇnü #ad HaCi Hanim Sok .o GümüSSuyu ìStanBul; TelePhone: +90-212-249 15 54 Fax: +90-212-245 04 30 email: [email protected] WeB: www.tr.boell.org Editor: 7ücel GÀktürk Translation: Esin Aslan, AleV Dawe, aËr EkiX, BarÎ 7ldrm ve Forum Translation. ProofreadinG: Zeyneb Gültekin Print ProduCtion: Farika Tasarm Date: April 2013 PrintinG House: ÖXgün Basm Tantm san tiC ltd ëti 9eëilCe Mh Aytekin Sk .o: Otosanayi SeyrantePe ìstanBul Tel: Perspectives – Political analyses and commentary from Turkey will appear quarterly and distributed for free. For subscription please send your request by email to [email protected] The magaXine and each article can be downloaded from our webpage www.tr.boell.org Articles published in Perpectives represent the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reÖect those of Heinrich BÀll Stiftung – Turkey 0epresentation Q Culture Q Ecology Q Democracy Q International Politics Q News from hbs #/6%20(/4/3!.%2ê%. Editorial he hTurkish Questionv Was the theme of Be underrated. The Protests aGainst hydroeleCtriC our *anuary issue Essays exPlored the or nuClear PoWer Plants are not only ConCerned idea that the hTurkish Questionv miGht With future Generations But also With Present day Be more aPProPriate than the +urdish soCiety. )n develoPinG Countries its Commonly held Question PolitiCal develoPments in the that alternative develoPment models Clash With Tlast three months suPPort this thesis )nternal soCietys desire for Welfare. But even in develoPed deBates in the #HP 2ePuBliCan PeoPles Party Countries environmental movements faCe similar Were Centered around the idea of hTurkish nessv arGuments. )t is uP to us to ConvinCe soCiety at )n reCent Weeks the @Turkish Question has Been larGe on the Great imPortanCe of the environmental the suBJeCt of heated arGuments and the A+P movement for Both our Present and future Quality *ustiCe and DeveloPment Party ConsiderinG the of life. Serkan OCaks essay on the radioaCtive PossiBility that the #onstitutional #ommission miGht dumP site in ìZmir suCCessfully demonstrates that not reaCh Consensus on the Preliminary draft of the BeinG ConCerned With environmental issues is not a neW Constitution is noW searChinG for alternative hluxuryv of the uPPer Classes; on the Contrary the aPProaChes to form a Consensus Their neW strateGy environmental movement has an imPortant imPaCt is tiGhtly Bound to the ConCePt of CitiZenshiP And it on the lives and livinG Conditions of the loWer seems likely that this neW Constitutional delnition Classes. of CitiZenshiP Will dePend on the Party With Whom )t is no surPrise to us then that most the A+P reaChes Consensus environmental aCtivists are memBers of loCal )n our APril issue We take uP the environmental orGaniZations. ,oCal aCtivists take aCtion to solve movement in Turkey. The environmental movement loCal ProBlems But it is not easy for them to oriGinates in the Ottoman times With the lrst make themselves heard nationWide. SinCe issues Protests aGainst the hurBan reneWalv ProJeCts reGardinG demoCratiZation and the rule of laW BetWeen and . 7e understand that the underlie all environmental ProBlems those Who history of the movement is an inseParaBle Part of struGGle for demoCraCy for the Consolidation of the Turkish PolitiCal history shaPed By military CouPs. rule of laW and for the ProteCtion of the environment The PolitiCal Pressure affeCted and Weakened the should stand side By side in suPPort of one another. orGaniZational attemPts of the Civil soCiety. )n addition many PolitiCians Belittle the The Goal of the Present Government to Build a environmental movement in Part BeCause they nuClear PoWer Plant Was already one of the main aCCePt the existinG develoPment ParadiGm as true issues of the environmental movement in the s. and in Part BeCause they are insuflCiently informed ,ike every other struGGle in this area the anti aBout sustainaBle develoPment. This attitude may nuClear CamPaiGn Continues desPite violations of also Be a strateGy that enaBles them to foCus on laW aiminG the aCtual formation of a state of laW. What they Consider as hmore imPortantv issues. 7e examine hoW leGal Boundaries and reGulations But the Fukushima haCCidentv Proved that suCh a Were BreaChed WhiCh institutions neGleCt their strateGy Could only Be valid in the very short term. duties and that this movement has therefore to Those Who Point out the risks involved in suCh struGGle for the rule of laW. The Questions BrouGht short term strateGies are disCredited in the eyes of uP By the anti nuClear CamPaiGn in the s the PuBliC as BeinG PaWns of foreiGn enemies Whose ¡ED Environmental )mPaCt Assessment rePorts Goal is to imPoverish the nation and to Prevent not BeinG PrePared aCCordinG to the reGulations the nations soCiety from sharinG in the national CooPeration BetWeen the PuBliC and the Private Wealth. These kinds of false aCCusations only serve seCtor and the laCk of Coordination BetWeen to undermine the leGitimaCy of the environmental institutions are still valid today remeCtinG some of movement. the Common features of all the movements lGhtinG hA different life is PossiBle.v )t is evident that for demoCratiZation. We still need to disCuss extensively the imPaCts Some essays in this issue Consider the Green suCh a vision miGht have on soCiety. The Wealthy Party 9eëiller Partisi WhiCh Was Born out of the have the means to esCaPe from air Pollution traflC environmental movement examine the extent ConGestion and other ProBlems. The Poor hoWever to WhiCh the Greens are inmuenCed By the leGal often have no esCaPe from WorkinG and livinG in Constraints imPosed uPon PolitiCal Parties and unhealthy Conditions. Today the environmental disCuss Green PoliCies in ConneCtion With soCial movement Continues its struGGle to overCome these Conditions. Some may arGue that the Green Party ProBlems. is mainly ConCerned With future risks and Cannot The environmental movement and its aCtions suitaBly address Current ProBlems While others ConCern us all. 7e hoPe that With this issue We Can arGue its aGenda Could aCtually imProve PeoPles imPress uPon our readers that the environmental Quality of life today and Could therefore Garner movement Cannot Be thouGht of seParately from the Broad PoPular suPPort. struGGles for Gender eQuality and demoCraCy. The environmental movement must Be seen as a movement aimed at estaBlishinG the rule of laW On Behalf of the PersPeCtives team and in this reGard its ContriBution to soCiety Cannot Ulrike Dufner Heinrich Böll Stiftung Sustainability of the Green Movement in Turkey aving witnessed the striking results of the active contribution that would contribute to the growth and discord between economy and ecology, Turkey strengthening of this movement. The environmentalists has reached high lgures in economic indicators and greens are asked to be alert and take action in the with the policies pursued in the recent years face of damage to nature, but they are not provided with on the one hand and started to lgure among concrete support. The question “Where are these environ- Hcountries with the most accelerated pace of pollution on mentalists?” is probably suflcient to explain the situation. the other hand. Undoubtedly, it will be written one day when a history of the environment is penned that the The domination of ecology by economy years when the country was ruled by the AKP (Justice and The attempt to bring environmental problems onto the Development Party) was a period when natural assets and political agenda in Turkey faces signilcant handicaps historical values were irrevocably destroyed.