Roma and representative justice in Turkey Basak Akkan This Working Paper was written within the framework of Work Package 5 (justice as lived experience) for Deliverable 5.2 (comparative report on the tensions between institutionalized political justice and experienced (mis)recognition) July 2018 Funded by the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to the participants of the research who genuinely shared their views. I would also like to express my thanks to Bridget Anderson and Pier-Luc Dupont for their comments on the earlier version of this report. Want to learn more about what we are working on? Visit us at: Website: https://ethos-europe.eu Facebook: www.facebook.com/ethosjustice/ Blog: www.ethosjustice.wordpress.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/ethosjustice Hashtag: #ETHOSjustice Youtube: www.youtube.com/ethosjustice European Landscapes of Justice (web) app: http://myjustice.eu/ This publication has been produced with the financial support of the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Commission. Copyright © 2018, ETHOS consortium – All rights reserved ETHOS project The ETHOS project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 727112 2 About ETHOS ETHOS - Towards a European THeory Of juStice and fairness is a European Commission Horizon 2020 research project that seeks to provide building blocks for the development of an empirically informed European theory of justice and fairness. The project seeks to do so by: a) refining and deepening knowledge on the European foundations of justice - both historically based and contemporarily envisaged; b) enhancing awareness of mechanisms that impede the realisation of justice ideals as they are lived in contemporary Europe; c) advancing the understanding of the process of drawing and re-drawing of the boundaries of justice (fault lines); and d) providing guidance to politicians, policy makers, advocacies and other stakeholders on how to design and implement policies to reverse inequalities and prevent injustice. ETHOS does not merely understand justice as an abstract moral ideal that is universal and worth striving for. Rather, justice is understood as a re-enacted and re-constructed lived experience. The experience is embedded in firm legal, political, moral, social, economic and cultural institutions that are geared to giving members of society what is their due. In the ETHOS project, justice is studied as an interdependent relationship between the ideal of justice and its real manifestation – as set in the highly complex institutions of modern European societies. The relationship between the normative and practical, the formal and informal, is acknowledged and critically assessed through a multi- disciplinary approach. To enhance the formulation of an empirically-based theory of justice and fairness, ETHOS will explore the normative (ideal) underpinnings of justice and their practical realisation in four heuristically defined domains of justice - social justice, economic justice, political justice, and civil and symbolic justice. These domains are revealed in several spheres: a) philosophical and political tradition, b) legal framework, c) daily (bureaucratic) practice, d) current public debates, and e) the accounts of vulnerable populations in six European countries (the Netherlands, the UK, Hungary, Austria, Portugal and Turkey). The question of drawing boundaries and redrawing the fault-lines of justice permeates the entire investigation. Alongside Utrecht University in the Netherlands who coordinates the project, five further research institutions cooperate. They are based in Austria (European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy), Hungary (Central European University), Portugal (Centre for Social Studies), Turkey (Boğaziçi University), and the UK (University of Bristol). The research project lasts from January 2017 to December 2019. 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The deliverable 5.2 is about institutional political justice that encompasses the right of participation in politics, including the right to information and the right to vote, but also the right to one’s share in the decision-making and freedom of self-determination. It means, therefore, having an effective voice in (public) debates regarding oneself (or the group one belongs to) and the power to influence the specific decisions and processes that concern their (immediate) situation. Within this framework, this report deals with the representative injustices that pertain to political representation of Roma within the changing political and social context of Turkey. Considering that the representative injustices entangle with redistributive and recognitional injustices, the report aims to demonstrate how injustices that relate to the insecure livelihood and poor socio-economic conditions, as well as the “structured” invisibility and exclusion of Roma in the society define their representation claims. Along with the literature on Roma, the report dwells on the analysis of the documents and interviews that are carried out with Roma and non-Roma activists, Roma NGO leaders, political party representatives, SIROMA project officer, international organization representative working on Roma issues. Roma are one of the most vulnerable groups living in Turkey as the social exclusion and discrimination regarding access to employment, education, housing, health services as well as social life create significant difficulties and injustices for Roma. Until the 2000s, the Roma in Turkey were largely invisible due to their weak ties with the state, an absence of civil organizations that represent them, and their non-appearance in political institutions. In the 2000s, civil society witnessed the political mobilization of Roma and NGOs were established in several cities, making the problems of Roma more visible. The turning point in Roma political mobilization was the Roma Democratic Opening Process launched in 2009. This process was crucial for Roma to receive recognition in society and made their redistributive claims visible. However, after 2014, Roma political mobilization experienced deep polarization; this was due in part to the polarized political atmosphere of the country and exacerbated by the government differentiating between Roma groups and NGOs by whether they supported the ruling party or the opposition. The report argues that despite Roma political recognition and the current visibility of their redistributive claims, the political representation of Roma that developed as part of the Roma Democratic Opening Process created vulnerabilities for Roma in a polarized political atmosphere. This has policy implications. In order for Roma to have a voice regarding their political representation, Roma NGOs’ capacity needs to be improved through social and political programs. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................... 4 1) INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 6 2) ROMA IN TURKEY .................................................................................................................................. 6 3) POLITICAL MOBILIZATION OF ROMA SINCE THE 2000S ........................................................................ 8 4) ROMA DEMOCRATIC OPENING PROCESS ............................................................................................ 10 5) THE VULNERABLE REPRESENTATION OF ROMA .................................................................................. 12 6) CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................................... 15 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................................................. 17 ANNEX ........................................................................................................................................................... 18 5 1) Introduction W5.2 is about institutional political justice. Political justice as conceived in ETHOS, connotes broadly understood political participation and representation. It encompasses the right of participation in politics, including the right to information and the right to vote, but also the right to one’s share in the decision-making and freedom of self- determination. It means, therefore, having an effective voice in (public) debates regarding oneself (or the group one belongs to) and the power to influence the specific decisions and processes that concern their (immediate) situation. In this respect, the conceptual framework for the emprical case studies might be helpful to think in these terms: to access institutionalised political justice a group needs to access institutionalised politics. In order to access institutionalised politics one has to constitute a (certain kind of) minority – as constitutionally required; but one might also have to be a certain kind of person – come from a certain Roma group, be male, or of a certain class etc. Institutionalised politics might in practice be a form of mediation between states