ETHNICITY AND GENDER DYNAMICS OF LIVING IN BORDERLANDS: THE CASE OF HOPA-TURKEY A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY LATİFE AKYÜZ IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY JUNE 2013 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof.Dr. Meliha ALTUNIŞIK Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science/Arts / Doctor of Philosophy. Prof. Dr. Ayşe SAKTANBER Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science/Arts/Doctor of Philosophy. Assoc.Prof.Dr.Sibel KALAYCIOĞLU Supervisor Examining Committee Members Prof.Dr. Songul SALLAN GÜL (SDU, SOC.) ________________ Assoc.Prof.Dr. Sibel KALAYCIOĞLU (METU,SOC) ________________ Prof.Dr. Nilay ÇABUK KAYA (DTCF, SOC) ________________ Assoc.Prof.Dr. Helga RITTERSBERGER TILIÇ (METU,SOC)_______________ Assist.Prof.Dr. F.Umut BEŞPINAR (METU, SOC) ________________ I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name: LATİFE AKYÜZ Signature : iii ABSTRACT ETHNICITY AND GENDER DYNAMICS OF LIVING IN BORDERLANDS: THE CASE OF HOPA-TURKEY Akyüz, Latife Ph.D, Department of Sociology Advisor: Doç. Dr. Sibel KALAYCIOĞLU June 2013, 318 pages The aim of this dissertation is to investigate how the border economy shapes inter and intra group dynamics of ethnicity and gender for those who live in these regions. This study based on the qualitative research conducted in the town of Hopa in the Turkey-Georgia border region. The most fundamental argument of the study is that border regions have economic activities that are specific to these regions and the form of participation in these activities shapes the dynamics of social and cultural life. The field study which has been build around this argument raises questions on the socio-economic relationships as well as family and kinship relations involving two ethnic groups, Lazis and Hemshins. This study shows the crucial role gender and ethnicity play in determining negative and positive effects of the border economy. After the opening of the Sarp iv border gate Hemshins and Lazis experienced the effects of the border in different ways. Consequentially, discourses of exclusion and othering between these two groups have deepened. Moreover, gender inequalities gained new dimensions when women from the post-Soviet nations across the border have entered the picture. Representations of the life styles of immigrant female workers employed in the so called “entertainment sector” enhanced imprisonment of the local women in the private sphere. However this difference between ‘local women’ and ‘immigrant women’ did not create any sense of solidarity among Hemshini and Lazi women to surpass ethnic divisions and gender inequalities. This study which focuses on the new inequalities those emerge at the intersection of gender and ethnicity in the border regions. It demonstrates the slippery grounds upon which socio economic life of the border towns are established, which eventually brings forth new forms of inequalities, by the changing definitions of winning and losing parties. Key Concepts: Border Economy, Ethnicity, Gender, Intersectionality, Turkey Georgia Border v ÖZ SINIR BÖLGELERİNDE YAŞAMANIN ETNİK VE TOPLUMSAL CİNSİYET DİNAMİKLERİ: HOPA- TÜRKİYE ÖRNEĞİ Akyüz, Latife Doktora, Sosyoloji Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Doç. Dr. Sibel KALAYCIOĞLU Haziran 2013, 318 sayfa Bu tezin amacı, sınır ekonomisinin, bu bölgelerde yaşayan etnik grupların ve toplumsal cinsiyet gruplarının grupiçi ve gruplararası ilişkilerini nasıl şekillendirdiğini incelemektir. Türkiye-Gürcistan sınır bölgesinde Hopa ilçesinde yapılan niteliksel araştırmaya dayanan bu çalışmada, Hopa’da yaşayan farklı etnik gruplardan –Laz ve Hemşin- kadın ve erkeklere ekonomik ve sosyal ilişkilerine, aile ve akrabalık ilişkilerine dair sorular sorulmuştur. Bu çalışma göstermiştir ki, sınırın ortaya çıkardığı dinamiklerinden faydalanma ya da onlardan zarar görme durumunda etnisite ve toplumsal cinsiyet önemli rol oynamaktadır. Hopa’da Sarp sınır kapısının açılmasından sonraki süreci Lazlar ve Hemşinler farklı biçimlerde deneyimlemiş ve bu iki grup arasındaki dışlama ve ötekileştirme söylemleri derinleşmiştir. Dahası, toplumsal cinsiyet eşitsizlikleri, vi Sovyet sonrası ülkelerden, sınırı aşıp gelen kadınların da dahil olmasıyla birlikte, yeni boyutlar kazanmıştır. Yerel kadın eğlence sektörünün yarattığı ortamda eve hapsolurken, dışarıdan gelen göçmen kadın aynı sektörün bir nesnesi, bedeni üzerinden pazarlık yapılan bir metası haline dönüşmüş, o da otellere hapsolmuştur. Ancak, ‘yerel kadın’ ile ‘göçmen kadın’ arasındaki farklılaşma, Laz ve Hemşinli kadınlar arasında, bu eşitsizliklerin aşılabilmesi noktasında hiçbir yakınlaşma ya da dayanışma yaratmamıştır. Bu çalışmada sınır ekonomisinin etnisite ve toplumsal cinsiyetle kesişme noktalarında ortaya çıkan yeni eşitsizlikler ele alınmış ve çalışma göstermiştir ki, bu kesişme noktalarında kazanan ya da kaybeden olmanın odağı değişmiş, özellikle kadınlar sosyal yaşamlarında yeni mağduriyetlerle karşı karşıya kalmıştır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Sınır Ekonomisi, Etnik Gruplar, Toplumsal Cinsiyet, Kesişme, Türkiye Gürcistan Sınır Bölgesi vii TO MY MOTHER viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT When I was accepted to the METU Sociology department through the Faculty Development Programme (ÖYP) in the year 2002, Sibel Kalaycıoğlu was the first person that I have met in the department and the person who has given me the first information on both the department and the OYP. I am finishing my 11 year old METU adventure which has started with her with this thesis that I have written with her as the advisor. I would like to first thank my advisor, Sibel Hoca, for her guidance and support in this process. Also I would like to thank the members of my dissertation committee, Helga Rittersberger Tılıç, Nilay Çabuk Kaya, Songül Sallan Gül, and Umut Beşpınar because of providing encouregment and constructive criticism, when it was necessary. I would like to thank all my teachers in the Sociology department, my friends and the our departmental secretary, Sündüs Aydın. I could complete this process which was quite hard and long with the contribution and support of many people. I thank a lot my dear friends in Hopa Cemil Aksu and Meryem Özçep, Harun aksu who have helped me during the interviews and my lovely respondents who have opened their houses and their lives to me. My cousin Meltem transcripted most of the interviews and deserves candid thanks for her professional and serious transcription. A great proportion of this thesis has been written in SUNY, Binghamton. Here, I have to especially thank to Professor Thomas M. Wilson who gave me such opportunity by accepting me. He gave me very helpful advices, commands, and reading materials. I would like to extend my love with all my sincerity to Kaan Evren Başaran and Seren Ayhan who have been besides me in a period of my life which was quite difficult and who did not hold back their support and friendship ix from me. If dear Kaan’s labor concerning English was not present I wouldn’t have been able to finish this thesis. I would like to express my deepest gratitude and thanks to Çağatay Emre and Elif. And of course dear Delal, among a lot of things, I thank you first and foremost for your friendship. I know that whatever I write it will not be enough for what I want to say. Dear Zülal, Sinan, Çiğdem, Ali and Rüzgar Miran I love you. I am so happy that you are in my life. There had been a lot of times when I thought about leaving it and running away while I was writing this thesis. Times that I have thought that I was not going to be able to finish, that I was tired and taken by desperation. In times like those my family’s support was always with me. My dear mother I have finished this thesis for you beyond everything else. You do not hear me or see me but I know that you will be happy. My great big family, my dear father, my older sister Canan, my older brother Ali Daimi, Gülce, Zeynep, Kader, my nephew and nieces Anıl Mahir, Mayra and Umay, my brother in-laws Güzel, Mehmet and Selim, and my sister in-law Hasret, I love you a lot. x TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM ................................................................................................................. iii ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................... iv ÖZ .................................................................................................................................... vi DEDICATION .............................................................................................................. viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................... ix ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................................ xv CHAPTERS ........................................................................................................................ 1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................