Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-vpsfw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-20T21:16:07.711Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Trustees Instead of Elected Mayors: Authoritarian Neoliberalism and the Removal of Kurdish Mayors in Turkey

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 August 2021

Serhat Tutkal Open the ORCID record for Serhat Tutkal [Opens in a new window]
Serhat Tutkal*
Affiliation:
Center for Social Studies, National University of Colombia
*
Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines the Turkish State’s recent practice of removing pro-Kurdish mayors and appointing trustees in their place without holding new elections. By comparing previous cases of removals of pro-Kurdish mayors to post-2016 practices, it argues that the discursive shift in legitimizing recent anti-democratic governmental practices should be read in relation to authoritarian neoliberalism in Turkey. To this end, it analyzes a Twitter account dedicated to promoting public services of trustee-ran municipalities (oluyor.net) and 89 YouTube videos that feature the trustees themselves. By demonstrating the ways in which the trustees themselves promote their work in Kurdish-populated cities, it underlines the dangers of authoritarian neoliberalism in subordinating democratic mechanisms to economic development and providing better public services. However, by studying the results of the following 2019 local elections in these 89 trustee-appointed municipalities, this article shows that the local people mostly continue supporting democratic mechanisms by electing pro-Kurdish candidates even in unfair electoral conditions.

Keywords

ethnic politicspolitical partieslocal governmentauthoritarian neoliberalismTurkey
Type
Article
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 50 , Issue 6 , November 2022 , pp. 1164 - 1186
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for the Study of Nationalities

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adaman, Fikret, and Akbulut, Bengi. 2020. “Erdoğan’s Three-Pillared Neoliberalism: Authoritarianism, Populism and Developmentalism.” Geoforum. Published online ahead of print, March 26, 2020.Google Scholar
Aktoprak, Elçin. 2018. “Between Authoritarianism and Peace: The Kurdish Opening in Turkey (2013–2015).” In Democratic Representation in Plurinational States, edited by Nimni, Ephraim and Aktoprak, Elçin, 137–58. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Al-Ali, Nadje, and Tas, Latif. 2018. “Reconsidering Nationalism and Feminism: The Kurdish Political Movement in Turkey.” Nations and Nationalism 24 (2): 453–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anadolu Ajansı . 2017. “İçişleri Bakanı Soylu’dan ‘görevlendirme’ Açıklaması.” August 20, 2017. https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/politika/icisleri-bakani-soyludan-gorevlendirme-aciklamasi/888789. (Accessed June 27, 2021.)Google Scholar
Anayasa Mahkemesi [Constitutional Court]. March 13, 2003. “2003/1 Sayılı Anayasa Mahkemesi Kararı.” (Tur.) https://siyasipartikararlar.anayasa.gov.tr/SP/2003/1/1 (Accessed June 27, 2021.)Google Scholar
Anayasa Mahkemesi [Constitutional Court]. December 11, 2009. “2009/4 Sayılı Anayasa Mahkemesi Kararı.” (Tur.) https://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2009/12/20091214-4.htm. (Accessed June 27, 2021.)Google Scholar
Anzaldúa, Gloria. 1987. Borderlands/La Frontera. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books.Google Scholar
Ashcroft, Bill. 2009. “Chicano Transnation.” In Imagined Transnationalism: U.S. Latino/a Literature, Culture, and Identity, edited by Concannon, Kevin, Lomelí, Francisco A., and Priewe, Marc, 13–28. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Astori, Danilo. 1985. “Neoliberalismo Autoritario En El Uruguay: Peculiaridades Internas e Impulsos Externos.” Revista Mexicana de Sociología 47 (2): 123–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aydın, Mesut. 2005. “‘Bölünmez Bütünlük İlkesine’ Aykırılık Nedeniyle Yasaklanan Siyasi Partilerin Yasaklanma Kararlarının Avrupa İnsan Hakları Sözleşmesine Uygunluğu.” Ankara Üniversitesi SBF Dergisi 60 (2): 1–27.Google Scholar
Bakan Soylu TBMM Plan ve Bütçe Komisyonunda Bakanlığımız 2019 Yılı Bütçesinin Sunumunu Yaptı . 2018. Türkiye Cumhuriyeti İçişleri Bakanlığı. https://www.icisleri.gov.tr/bakan-soylu-tbmm-plan-ve-butce-komisyonunda-bakanligimiz-2019-yili-butcesinin-sunumunu-yapti. (Accessed June 27, 2021.)Google Scholar
Barrett, Michèle. 2017. “Dehumanization and the War in East Africa.” Journal of War and Culture Studies 10 (3): 238–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biebricher, Thomas. 2020. “Neoliberalism and Authoritarianism.” Global Perspectives 1 (1): 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bodruk, Bestami, and Aslan, Aziz. 2018. “İçişleri Bakanı Süleyman Soylu: Diyarbakır ve Van Turizmde Yüzde 100 Ile Gidiyor.” Anadolu Ajansı, May 20, 2018. https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/politika/icisleri-bakani-suleyman-soylu-diyarbakir-ve-van-turizmde-yuzde-100-ile-gidiyor/1152187 (Accessed June 24, 2021.)Google Scholar
Brown, Wendy. 2009. “Neoliberalism and the End of Liberal Democracy.” In Edgework: Critical Essays on Knowledge and Politics, 37–59. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, Wendy. 2019. In the Ruins of Neoliberalism: The Rise of Antidemocratic Politics in the West. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruff, Ian. 2014. “The Rise of Authoritarian Neoliberalism.” Rethinking Marxism 26 (1): 113–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruff, Ian. 2016. “Neoliberalism and Authoritarianism.” In The Handbook of Neoliberalism, edited by Springer, Simon, Birch, Kean, and MacLeavy, Julie, 107–17. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bruinessen, Martin Van. 1992. Agha, Shaikh and State: The Social and Political Structures of Kurdistan. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Burç, Rosa. 2019. “One State, One Nation, One Flag—One Gender? HDP as a Challenger of the Turkish Nation State and Its Gendered Perspectives.” Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies 21 (3): 319–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chacko, Priya. 2018. “The Right Turn in India: Authoritarianism, Populism and Neoliberalisation.” Journal of Contemporary Asia 48 (4): 541–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Croke, Kevin, Grossman, Guy, Larreguy, Horacio A., and Marshall, John. 2016. “Deliberate Disengagement: How Education Can Decrease Political Participation in Electoral Authoritarian Regimes.” American Political Science Review 110 (3): 579–600.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dinler, Veysel. 2003. “Avrupa İnsan Hakları Sözleşmesi ve Siyasi Partiler.” Master’s Thesis, Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi.Google Scholar
Edmonds, Cecil John. 1971. “Kurdish Nationalism.” Journal of Contemporary History 6 (1): 87–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erder, Sema, and İncioğlu, Nihal. 2008. Türkiye’de Yerel Politikanın Yükselişi: İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi Örneği, 1984-2004. İstanbul: İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları.Google Scholar
Esen, Berk, and Gumuscu, Sebnem. 2019. “Killing Competitive Authoritarianism Softly: The 2019 Local Elections in Turkey.” South European Society and Politics 24 (3): 317–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esen, Berk, and Gumuscu, Sebnem. 2020. “Why Did Turkish Democracy Collapse? A Political Economy Account of AKP’s Authoritarianism.” Party Politics. Published online ahead of print, May 11, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068820923722.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fend, Walter J. 2015. “Kurdish Political Parties in Turkey.” In The Kurds: History-Religion-Language-Politics, edited by Taucher, Wolfgang, Vogl, Mathias, and Webinger, Peter, 52–87. Vienna: Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 2008. The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the Collége de France, 1978-79. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
“Freedom and Democracy Party (ÖZDEP) v. Turkey.” 1999. Human Rights Case Digest, 279–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gemici, Orhan Onur, and Bulur, Sertaç. 2017. “Kayyum Atanan Belediyelerdeki Hizmetler Vatandaşın Takibine Açıldı.” Anadolu Ajansı, November 30, 2017. https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/turkiye/kayyum-atanan-belediyelerdeki-hizmetler-vatandasin-takibine-acildi-/985749. (Accessed June 24, 2021.)Google Scholar
Gerschewski, Johannes. 2018. “Legitimacy in Autocracies: Oxymoron or Essential Feature?” Perspectives on Politics 16 (3): 652–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gourlay, William. 2018. “Oppression, Solidarity, Resistance: The Forging of Kurdish Identity in Turkey.” Ethnopolitics. Published online ahead of print, June 21, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2017.1339425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gunes, Cengiz. 2020. “The Transformation of Turkey’s Pro-Kurdish Democratic Movement.” Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies 22 (6): 746–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gurses, Mehmet, and Ozturk, Ahmet Erdi. 2020. “Religion and Armed Conflict: Evidence from the Kurdish Conflict in Turkey.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 59 (2): 327–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayek, Friedrich A. von. 2011. The Constitution of Liberty. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, Ronggui. 2018. “RQDA: R-Based Qualitative Data Analysis. R Package Version 0.3-1.” http://rqda.r-forge.r-project.org. (Accessed June 24, 2021.)Google Scholar
İhlas Haber Ajansı . 2017. “Cumhuriyet Köyünde Yüzler Gülüyor.” March 29, 2017. http://www.iha.com.tr/diyarbakir-haberleri/cumhuriyet-koyunde-yuzler-guluyor-diyarbakir-1661324/. (Accessed June 24, 2021.)Google Scholar
Jongerden, Joost. 2017. “A Spatial Perspective on Political Group Formation in Turkey after the 1971 Coup: The Kurdistan Workers’ Party of Turkey (PKK).” Kurdish Studies 5 (2): 134–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jongerden, Joost. 2018. “Looking beyond the State: Transitional Justice and the Kurdish Issue in Turkey.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 41 (4): 721–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jongerden, Joost. 2019. “Learning from Defeat: Development and Contestation of the ‘New Paradigm’ within Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).” Kurdish Studies 7 (1): 72–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaplan, Ahmet, Ergin, Ömer Yasin, and Payan, Ekrem. 2019. “HDP’nin Kayyum Raporu’na Güneydoğu’dan Tepki.” Anadolu Ajansı, March 22, 2019. https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/turkiye/hdpnin-kayyum-raporuna-guneydogudan-tepki-/1425609. (Accessed June 24, 2021.)Google Scholar
Kaufman, Robert R., and Haggard, Stephan. 2019. “Democratic Decline in the United States: What Can We Learn from Middle-Income Backsliding?” Perspectives on Politics 17 (02): 417–32. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592718003377.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaya, Ayhan. 2015. “Islamisation of Turkey under the AKP Rule: Empowering Family, Faith and Charity.” South European Society and Politics 20 (1): 47–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaygusuz, Özlem. 2018. “Authoritarian Neoliberalism and Regime Security in Turkey: Moving to an ‘Exceptional State’ under AKP.” South European Society and Politics 23 (2): 281–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelemen, R. Daniel. 2017. “Europe’s Other Democratic Deficit: National Authoritarianism in Europe’s Democratic Union.” Government and Opposition 52 (2): 211–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelemen, R. Daniel. 2020. “The European Union’s Authoritarian Equilibrium.” Journal of European Public Policy 27 (3): 481–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kiely, Ray. 2017. “From Authoritarian Liberalism to Economic Technocracy: Neoliberalism, Politics and ‘De-Democratization.’” Critical Sociology 43 (4–5): 725–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kivisto, Peter, and Sciortino, Giuseppe. 2018. “Conclusion: Democracy and the Civil Sphere in Latin America.” In The Civil Sphere in Latin America, edited by Alexander, Jeffrey C. and Tognato, Carlo, 240–54. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Koefoed, Minoo. 2017. “Martyrdom and Emotional Resistance in the Case of Northern Kurdistan: Hidden and Public Emotional Resistance.” Journal of Political Power 10 (2): 184–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Küçük, Bülent. 2019. “The Burden of Sisyphus: A Sociological Inventory of the Kurdish Question in Turkey.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 46 (5): 752–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuyucu, Tuna. 2018. “Politics of Urban Regeneration in Turkey: Possibilities and Limits of Municipal Regeneration Initiatives in a Highly Centralized Country.” Urban Geography 39 (8): 1152–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuyucu, Tuna. 2020. “The Great Failure: The Roles of Institutional Conflict and Social Movements in the Failure of Regeneration Initiatives in Istanbul.” Urban Affairs Review, September, 1–35.Google Scholar
Laebens, Melis G., and Öztürk, Aykut. 2020. “Partisanship and Autocratization: Polarization, Power Asymmetry, and Partisan Social Identities in Turkey.” Comparative Political Studies, June, 1–35.Google Scholar
Lebow, David. 2019. “Trumpism and the Dialectic of Neoliberal Reason.” Perspectives on Politics 17 (2): 380–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levitsky, Steven. 2018. “Democratic Survival and Weakness.” Journal of Democracy 29 (4): 102–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manji, Ambreena. 2015. “Bulldozers, Homes and Highways: Nairobi and the Right to the City.” Review of African Political Economy 42 (144): 206–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Municipal Law , 2005 (Act No. 5393) (Tur.).Google Scholar
Narayan, Uma. 1995. “Colonialism and Its Others: Considerations On Rights and Care Discourses.” Hypatia 10 (2): 133–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nas, Alparslan. 2018. “New Cultural Others? Unveiling the Limitations and Paradoxes.” In Media Representations of the Cultural Other in Turkey, 71–90. Chichester: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Öcalan, Abdullah. 2012. War and Peace in Kurdistan. Cologne: International Initiative.Google Scholar
Okudan Dernek, Kadriye. 2014. “1990-2014 Dönemi Kürt Siyasal Hareketinin Söyleminin Dönüşümü.” PhD Diss., Akdeniz Üniversitesi.Google Scholar
Olson, Robert. 1991. “Five Stages of Kurdish Nationalism:1880–1980.” Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs. Journal 12 (2): 391–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Özpek, Burak Bilgehan. 2019. “The State’s Changing Role Regarding the Kurdish Question of Turkey: From Consistent Tutelage to Volatile Securitization.” Alternatives: Global, Local, Political 44 (1): 35–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Özsökmenler, Yurdusev. 2014. “Kürtlerin Yerel Yönetim Deneyi.” Demokratik Modernite 9: 89–99.Google Scholar
Ozsoy, Hisyar. 2013. “Introduction: The Kurds’ Ordeal with Turkey in a Transforming Middle East.” Dialectical Anthropology 37 (1): 103–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Provincial Administration Law , 1949 (Act No. 5442) (Tur.).Google Scholar
Peters, B. Guy, and Pierre, Jon. 2020. “A Typology of Populism: Understanding the Different Forms of Populism and Their Implications.” Democratization 27 (6): 928–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poulantzas, Nicos. 2000. State, Power, Socialism. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Presidency of the Republic of Turkey . 2020. “Message on Eid Al-Fitr.” 2020. https://www.tccb.gov.tr/en/speeches-statements/558/120295/message-on-eid-al-fitr. (Accessed June 24, 2021.)Google Scholar
Rollo, Toby. 2018. “Feral Children: Settler Colonialism, Progress, and the Figure of the Child.” Settler Colonial Studies 8 (1): 60–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenblum, Nancy L. 2007. “Banning Parties: Religious and Ethnic Partisanship in Multicultural Democracies.” Law & Ethics of Human Rights 1 (1): 17–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Savaşkan, Osman. 2020. “Political Dynamics of Local Government Reform in a Development Context: The Case of Turkey.” Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space 39 (1): 204–25.Google Scholar
Selçuk, Orçun, and Hekimci, Dilara. 2020. “The Rise of the Democracy – Authoritarianism Cleavage and Opposition Coordination in Turkey (2014–2019).” Democratization. Published online ahead of print August 10, 2020, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2020.1803841.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sevinç, Murat. 2011. “Hukuk-Siyaset Cenderesinde ‘Kürtçü’ Partiler ve Devlet Refleksi.” In İsmail Beşikçi, edited by Ünlü, Barış and Değer, Ozan, 553–66. İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları.Google Scholar
Silva, Patricio. 1992. “Intelectuales, Tecnócratas y Cambio Social En Chile: Pasado, Presente y Perspectivas Futuras.” Revista Mexicana de Sociología 54 (1): 139–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valiliği, T. C. Hakkari. 2019. BAKANIMIZ SAYIN SOYLU İLİMİZİ ZİYARET ETTİ. http://www.hakkari.gov.tr/bakanimiz-sayin-soylu-ilimizi-ziyaret-etti. (Accessed June 24, 2021.)Google Scholar
Tansel, Cemal Burak. 2017. “Authoritarian Neoliberalism: Towards a New Research Agenda.” In States of Discipline: Authoritarian Neoliberalism and the Contested Reproduction of Capitalist Order, edited by Tansel, Cemal Burak, 1–28. London: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Tansel, Cemal Burak. 2018. “Authoritarian Neoliberalism and Democratic Backsliding in Turkey: Beyond the Narratives of Progress.” South European Society and Politics 23 (2): 197–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tansel, Cemal Burak. 2019. “Reproducing Authoritarian Neoliberalism in Turkey: Urban Governance and State Restructuring in the Shadow of Executive Centralization.” Globalizations 16 (3): 320–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tezcür, Güneş Murat, and Gurses, Mehmet. 2017. “Ethnic Exclusion and Mobilization: The Kurdish Conflict in Turkey.” Comparative Politics 49 (2): 213–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Anayasası [Constitution] October 18, 1982, art. 127.Google Scholar
Tutkal, Serhat. 2020. “Dehumanization on Twitter in the Turkish–Kurdish Conflict.” Media, War & Conflict. Published online ahead of print June 3, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750635220925844.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ulusal ve Resmi Bayramlar Ile Mahalli Kurtuluş Günleri, Atatürk Günleri ve Tarihi Günlerde Yapılacak Tören ve Kutlamalar Yönetmeliği [Regulation on Ceremonies and Celebrations to be held on National and Official Holidays, Local Liberation Days, Atatürk Days and Historical Days], 2012 (Act No. 3073) (Tur.).Google Scholar
Watts, Nicole F. 1999. “Allies and Enemies: Pro-Kurdish Parties in Turkish Politics, 1990-94.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 31 (4): 631–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, David, and Herzog, Marc. 2016. “Examining State Capacity in the Context of Electoral Authoritarianism, Regime Formation and Consolidation in Russia and Turkey.” Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 16 (4): 551–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yardımcı, Öznur. 2020. “State Stigmatisation in Urban Turkey: Managing the ‘Insurgent’ Squatter Dwellers in Dikmen Valley.” Antipode 52 (5): 1519–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yarkın, Güllistan. 2015. “The Ideological Transformation of the PKK Regarding the Political Economy of the Kurdish Region in Turkey.” Kurdish Studies 3 (1): 26–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yeğen, Mesut. 2016. “Armed Struggle to Peace Negotiations: Independent Kurdistan to Democratic Autonomy, or The PKK in Context.” Middle East Critique 25 (4): 365–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yıldırım, Kerem. 2020. “Clientelism and Dominant Incumbent Parties: Party Competition in an Urban Turkish Neighbourhood.” Democratization 27 (1): 81–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar