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De-Europeanisation and Equal Citizenship in Turkey: the Case of Circassians

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De-Europeanisation and Equal Citizenship in Turkey: the Case of Circassians The International Spectator Italian Journal of International Affairs ISSN: 0393-2729 (Print) 1751-9721 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rspe20 De-Europeanisation and Equal Citizenship in Turkey: The Case of Circassians Diğdem Soyaltın-Colella & Eylem Akdeniz Gӧker To cite this article: Diğdem Soyaltın-Colella & Eylem Akdeniz Gӧker (2019) De-Europeanisation and Equal Citizenship in Turkey: The Case of Circassians, The International Spectator, 54:4, 62-77, DOI: 10.1080/03932729.2019.1666233 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/03932729.2019.1666233 Published online: 25 Nov 2019. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 153 View related articles View Crossmark data Citing articles: 1 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rspe20 THE INTERNATIONAL SPECTATOR 2019, VOL. 54, NO. 4, 62–77 https://doi.org/10.1080/03932729.2019.1666233 De-Europeanisation and Equal Citizenship in Turkey: The Case of Circassians Diğdem Soyaltın-Colella and Eylem Akdeniz Goker€ Altinbaş University, Istanbul ABSTRACT KEYWORDS The Europeanisation process in Turkey that extended roughly from De-Europeanisation; Turkey’s 1999 to 2006 boosted the political and cultural rights of diverse Circassians; equal ethnic groups in Turkey, including Circassians, and strengthened citizenship; ethnocultural their claims for equal citizenship. With the loss or weakening of the claims EU as an anchor for democratic reform in the post-2007 period, however, the de-Europeanisation process has resulted in the disap- pearance of the main legal and institutional basis for the democratic integration of ethnocultural minorities. Nevertheless, analysis of the activities of four large Circassian communities in Turkey shows that the same process has enhanced the cultural reification of these groups as their survival strategy. The flourishing debate on the rights and status of ethnocultural minorities in multi-ethnic societies has had a substantial impact on the practices of citizenship. The scholars studying the citizenship regimes in post-communist Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries with ethnic and national minorities underline the fact that the status of such minorities was strengthened in parallel with the European Union (EU) accession process. Since protection of ethnic and national minorities and respect for cultural diversity were set down as important political conditions for EU membership under the ‘Copenhagen criteria’ (Schwellnus 2006), the Europeanisation process specifically boosted constitutional and legal changes that expanded the rights of ethnic minorities in order to create plural and democratically constructed citizenship in the CEE countries (Kelley 2004; Schimmelfennig et al. 2003;Schwellnus2005; Vachudova 2005). The EU accession process not only broadened the legal framework concerning the protection of and respect for minority rights, but also empowered ethnic civic actors through technical and financial aid to enhance their political activity and capacity to embrace the ‘diaspora’ (Çelikpala 2006;Kaya2013). The EU accession process resulted in the extension of civil rights to officially recog- nised minorities (Armenians, Jews and Greeks) and strengthened the institutional basis for the democratic integration of diverse ethnic groups such as Alevis, Assyrians, Circassians and Kurds in Turkey (Toktaş and Aras 2010). Yet, with the EU’sdeclining leverage over Turkey after 2007, there has been an observable paralysis and backwards slide in Turkey’s democratic reform process. The post-2014 period has even been shaped CONTACT Di ğdem Soyaltın-Colella [email protected] @didemsoyaltin © 2019 Istituto Affari Internazionali THE INTERNATIONAL SPECTATOR 63 by increasingly authoritarian modalities of governance in Turkey with long-term negative consequences for the ethnic and national minorities. This article examines the probable effects of the (de-)Europeanisation of Turkey upon the claims for recognition of the ethnocultural rights and equal citizenship demands of Circassians (Çerkes). Circassians constitute one of the largest ethnic groups in Turkey; yet they are hardly studied within the Europeanisation framework. Although there is a wide literature focusing on Kurdish minorities in Turkey (see Yılmaz 2017), researchers tended to ignore how the (de-)Europeanisation process has impacted the democratic demands of other minorities, such as Circassians (Çelikpala 2006, 423). Based on original fieldwork, this article shows that the Europeanisation process encour- aged Circassians to proclaim their legal and cultural demands, connect to the diaspora and be increasingly engaged in active citizenship practices in the public space. Different Circassian associations organised meetings, workshops and seminars devoted to the draft- ing of an inclusive and democratic constitution. However, the de-Europeanisation process, especially after the coup attempt of 2016, has narrowed down the institutional and legal basis for the ethnocultural minorities and diminished the prospects for the Circassians to initiate a process of active political participation. Having lost the institutional framework for advancing identity rights, it seems that Circassian ethnic associations limit their activities to the political terrain while cultural reification has become the core of their survival strategy. The empirical evidence comes from analysis of the activities of the main Circassians associations and face-to-face interviews with representatives of these communities. The overall argument is structured as follows. The next section presents the literature on minorities and citizenship regimes and assesses the overall impact of the (de-)Europeanisation process. The third section addresses the citizenship regime in Turkey and traces the effects of (de-)Europeanisation on the ethnocultural rights of minorities, while the fourth specifically focusesonthecaseofCircassians.Finally,thelastsectionreviewsourfindings regarding Circassians in Turkey1 and discusses the broader implications of the (de-)Europeanisation process on the citizenship regime and ethnocultural rights of minorities. Impact of (de-)Europeanisation on citizenship regimes and minorities From the very start, the institution of citizenship has been built on a clear distinction between ‘us’ and ‘them’. For that reason, citizenship retains an inherently exclusionary dimension as well as its inclusionary core. Legal equality or formal equality is constructed upon one core principle: equality of everyone regardless of their differences. In that sense, it strips subjects of their identities, that is, their differences (Üstel 1999, 15). Yet, in the words of Bhikhu Parekh, this is simply an equation that “grounds equality in human uniformity” (Parekh 2000, 239-40). Such lines of formulation, Parekh argues, lack the potential to bring about genuine equality within a society that consists of diversities and differences. Therefore citizenship, defined solely with reference to the equality of all, regardless of their differences, will fall short of sustaining genuine equality and will not be able to provide the glue that holds society together. 1This study does not claim to generalize about all Circassians residing in Turkey or offer an all-encompassing picture of Circassians in Turkey. Our empirical analysis is limited to the activities of four Circassian associations. 64 D. SOYALTIN-COLELLA AND E. AKDENIZ GOKER€ In the 1990s, in addition to many structural factors, such as the end of the Cold War and increasing global interaction, theoretical discussions on the topic of multicultural- ism rekindled interest in the debate on citizenship. Ideas of multiculturalism underlay demands for political recognition and the right to maintain the cultural distinctiveness of minority groups (Taylor 1994). In order to cope with the question of ethnic and cultural diversities, democratic regimes engaged in processes of developing institutional and legal frameworks to accommodate these cultural differences. Within that conjunc- ture, the tension between the principle of the equality of all before the law and the principle of difference that underpins diverging identity claims became manifest. Citizenship, taken as a significant relationship arising from a constitutional basis between the individual and the state, appeared to be a major tool to overcome the tension between the principles of equality and difference (Marshall 1965; Turner and Hamilton 1994;Işın and Turner 2002). Nevertheless, some scholars questioned the validity of Marshallian citizenship, defined on an evolutionary historical basis as civil, political and economic rights, and tended to reformulate it with the inclusion of identity claims (Işınand Turner 2002). The challenges posed by identity claims, while calling for a new theoretical attempt to reformulate citizenship, inevitably brought to the fore new conceptualisations to solve the problem inherent in the institution of citizenship. One such conceptualisation, that of “constitutional patriotism”, was offered by Jürgen Habermas, who argued for a legitimate and normatively desirable form of governance and citizenship capable of accommodating minorities and recognising different cultural backgrounds and ethnicities (Habermas 1998, 145). A redefinition of citizenship that provides differential treatment for minorities (differences) would tend to solve the current problems in a country like Turkey, which
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