A Case Study on the Discourse of Women's Conscientious Objection In Turkey By Eda Acara A Thesis Submitted to Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Women and Gender Studies. September, 2010, Halifax, Nova Scotia Copyright Eda Acara, 2010 Approved: Dr. Val Marie Johnson Supervisor Approved: Dr. Teresa Heffernan Secondary Reader Approved: Dr. ElifEkinAksit External Examiner Date: September 1, 2010. 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While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1+1 Canada For the Memory of my grandmother, Sabriye Karacim (1924-2008) A Case Study on the Discourse of Women's Conscientious Objection In Turkey By Eda Acara Abstract This study explores militarism, nationalism and gender within the scope of the discourse of women's conscientious objection. I engage in a post-structuralist feminist analysis of the discourse of women conscientious objectors, in formal declarations and everyday practices, as a response to Turkish militarism and militarization processes in the post 1980 era. My analysis draws on the data I gathered from in depth interviews with nine women conscientious objectors as well as examination of women's and men's published declarations. September 1,2010 Acknowledgements I firstly would like to thank all of the women conscientious objectors who have and have not participated in this thesis project. Their words, declarations, experiences and the way they are seeing these experiences have been the most powerful inspiration for this thesis. Without them, this thesis would not exist. I would like to thank to my supervisor, Dr. Val Marie Johnson for her continuous motivation and patience in reading my drafts. Without her suggestions, inspiration and guidance, this thesis would not have been possible. I also would like to express my greatest appreciation to my defense Committee and proposal defense Committee members, Dr. Teresa Heffernan, Dr. Elif Ekin Aksit and Dr. Russell Westhaver for their suggestions and productive criticisms on my work. A special thanks goes to Dr. Ayca Kurtoglu and Dr. Yildiz Ecevit, at Middle East Technical University, Gender and Women's Studies Program for listening to me whenever I am confused with any piece of my interviews. Without their encouragement, inspiration and hard work, I could not have finished this thesis. I also would like to thank them for their deep and close friendship, their Gender and Women's Studies courses and the insightful readings of these courses that guided me throughout the thesis process. Besides my professors who helped me to bridge different feminisms overseas, I would like to thank my friends Ezgi Santas, Alptekin Top, Pinar Yuksel, Sevim Ozdemir, Ozge Karlik, Ulku Ozakin, Ash Coban, Bans Gencer and Ozlem Sanyildiz for their discussions with me about militarism and conscientious objection in Turkey, for their constant support towards this thesis and belief in me. I especially would like to thank Ozgtir Balkihc for his unending patience in calming me down at times of crisis and holding my hand in every step of the way while writing this thesis. I am finishing this thesis because I was able to speak every thought in my mind about non-violence, militarism and women conscientious objectors with him. I know that I abused him at times with my constant talking on my thesis, but without his patience and listening, this thesis would not have been possible. I started writing this thesis for my mother, Feriha Acara and all the other mothers who are absorbed in militarism. I am greatly indebted to her for sharing her own experiences and political thoughts about militarism and nationalism. Aspecial thanks goes to my father, Professor Altan Acara. His criticisms and insightful reading of my drafts were more than important for me in finishing this thesis. I would like to thank him for sharing 18 years of experience with Canadian academic life. I further would like to thank both of my parents for their love and efforts in bringing me up, preparing me for life and all of their pressure for me to finish this thesis. Also, I would like to thank my uncle, Professor AH Ceylan, aunt, Sebahat Ceylan and my beloved cousins Ece Ceylan-Eker and Efe Ceylan for their constant friendship and belief in me. They have always been a phone call away for listening to my troubles and giving me their support and understanding. I also would like to thank, my aunt, Dr. Fahrtinisa Boran for her constant enthusiasm for my thesis and women's issues. I personally would like to thank Mehmet Tarhan for his suggestions and sense of humour which lightened me up throughout this thesis process. I also would like to thank Feminist-Biz, all of their actions and members, for existing. Their feminist curiosity, creativity and passion, belief in struggle and collective discussions on hierarchies between different women have immensely contributed to this thesis. Let me say 'thank you' to the following people and organizations: my friend and colleague Jane Herbert for her friendship, creativity and enthusiasm for feminism, participants in the Mehmet Tarhan Campaign in Halifax, participants in the Enver Aydemir Campaign in Ankara, Lambda-Istanbul, Kaos-Gl (Ankara), Lilith Feminist Collective, Pembe Hayat, Ankara Kadin Platformu, Fe Journal, Amargi, Savas Karsitlan (War Resisters) and contributors to siddetsizlik.org (Non-Violence web site). Last but not the least I would like to thank Cynthia Enloe, Aysegul Altinay, Aksu Bora, Taml Bora, Nukhet Sirman, Elif Ekin Aksit, Handan Caglayan and Pinar Selek for their most valuable works on militarism and nationalism in Turkey. These works constituted the back bone of my thesis and gave me the hope that we can live peacefully and non-violently. I would like to dedicate this thesis to Hrant Dink, who was a victim of Turkish nationalism, and to the memory of Ulus Baker, who unexpectedly passed away in 2007.1 dedicate it to the transgender women who were victims of hate crimes in Turkey. Lastly, this thesis is for women and men of all colors, ethnicities and sexualities in Turkey who are struggling against militarism and nationalism in one way or another. Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Background on Conscientious Objection Movement in Turkey 2 Theoretical Background, Method and Evidence, Project Risks 8 Militarism as a Gendered Discourse 9 Discourses in Dialogue, Intervention and Social Transformation 10 Methodology and Evidence 12 Project Risks 15 Research Contributions of Thesis 17 Literature Review 18 Conscientious Objection and Women's Conscientious Objection 18 Militarism, Nationalism and Gender 20 Violence and Non-violence in Women's Movements and Discourse of Women Conscientious Objectors 25 Thesis Overview 27 Chapter 2 32 Conscientious Objection as Speech Genre 32 Dominant Understanding of Conscientious Objection 34 Making Sense of Conscientious Obj ection Through Declarations 42 Can women declare their conscientious objection when they are not conscripted? 50 Let's face it: Why do you declare your conscientious objection? 52 Soldier -Wife: Husmen's Kezban 53 If every Turk is born to be a soldier, who gives birth to these soldiers? 62 Strange Encounters of Gendered Narratives: The First Women Combat Pilot, Sabiha Gokcen, and Kurdish Woman Guerrilla, Zilan 66 Non-Violence and Militarism as a Gendered Discourse 78 Chapter 3 84 Militarism in Circulation 86 Militarism in the Left 87 Turkish Nationalism, Militarism and Internal Enemies 91 Gendering Militarism 102 Non-violence in Cycles Ill Non-violent Links: Personal and Political 119 Feminists and Non-violence 125 Conclusion: Marginalization of the Discourse of Women Conscientious Objectors 138 References 144 Appendix 1- Sample Interview Questions 158 Appendix 2- The number of conscientious objectors between 1989- 2008 159 Chapter 1: Introduction One of my friends became a conscientious objector in 2004. I thought that conscientious objection was limited to men who refuse to serve in the army, as in Turkey only men are obliged to serve in the military1 and conscientious objection has long been associated with men refusing to serve in the army (Moskos & Whiteclay 1993).