https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12723/2317 Articles Collection Fri, 10 Apr 2026 13:15:08 GMT 2026-04-10T13:15:08Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12723/3532 The rise and fall of support for the Istanbul Convention: Understanding the case of KADEM Kütük Kuriş, Merve This article focuses on the Turkish Justice and Development Party's (AKP) government-linked non-governmental organization for women's rights, the Women and Democracy Association (KADEM). Drawing on social movement scholars specializing in the Middle East and North Africa region, the article argues that women within Islamist movements exploit changing discursive and non-discursive opportunity structures within the male-dominated establishment and/or transformations in the wider political structure. To analyse Islamist women's critical agency, the article suggests an issue-based examination of women's political activities within Islamist movements. Taking the example of the Istanbul Convention and the Islamist backlash against it in 2019 and 2020, the article discusses how women in the AKP frame their defence of women's rights and gender. Islamist women do not always choose to defend gender interests if it means withdrawing from their movements' larger political interests. The Istanbul Convention was a rare yet critical moment when Islamist women were not co-opted by but rather contested male-governed Islamist movements. To understand how and why Islamist women stand up for their gender interests, it is crucial to recognize and analyse the structural dynamics behind female contestation.; Telif hakları gereğince yayın erişime kapalıdır. Yayın yayıncı tarafından erişime açık ise bağlantılar kısmından ulaşılabilmektedir. Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12723/3532 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12723/3337 Strategic alignments and balancing of threats: military and political alliances in the South Caucasus (1991–2021) Ismayilov, Elnur; Yılmaz, Suhnaz With the demise of the Soviet Union, the South Caucasus has turned into a powder keg for Eurasia with rising nationalism and erupting ethnic conflicts. This study explores the complex factors shaping political and military alliance formation by focusing on the South Caucasus. The article argues that the strategic alliances of regional and external powers mainly target to balance threats. The study demonstrates that each country in the region seeks to counterbalance its rival’s ambitions and to secure its existence by allying with strong regional or external powers. It argues, however, that there are also cases of strategic compartmentalization, particularly due to extensive energy ties, which cuts across traditional alliance patterns. In this context, the paper also analyses the implications of the Second Karabakh War.; Telif hakları gereğince yayın erişime kapalıdır. Yayın yayıncı tarafından erişime açık ise bağlantılar kısmından ulaşılabilmektedir. Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12723/3337 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12723/3333 Muslim Fashionistas in Contemporary Turkey: Devoted Mothers, Benevolent Philanthropists, and Leisure Enthusiasts Kütük Kuriş, Merve Muslim Fashionistas in Contemporary Turkey: Devoted Mothers, Benevolent Philanthropists, and Leisure Enthusiasts; Telif hakları gereğince yayın erişime kapalıdır. Yayın yayıncı tarafından erişime açık ise bağlantılar kısmından ulaşılabilmektedir. Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12723/3333 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12723/3189 Securitisation of Migration Revisited: European Union Policies Through the Lens of Syrian Refugees Living in Turkey Sönmez, Pelin; Ünal Eriş, Özgür The main aim of this study is to present migration as a ‘constructed’ societal insecurity threat that became substantial after the Cold War before peaking in 2015. This study applies securitization theory to the ongoing refugee crisis through in-depth interviews with a sample of Syrian settlers in Turkey to determine whether their reasons for choosing to stay in Turkey are linked to their perceptions of cultural insecurity in Europe. The interviews were made in November and December 2019 in Gaziantep, Antakya and İstanbul where most of the Syrian refugees are located. In that sense, the link between the securitisation theory and the interviews made in Turkey attempts to shed light on the awareness of Syrian refugees regarding the fact that the European Union (EU) has tried to create a culturally homogenous society and any kind of difference interfering in this homogeneity can be seen as a threat. Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12723/3189 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z