9 research outputs found

    Civil society and state relations in Turkey: Opposing trajectories of two Islamist women’s civil society organizations

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    The Islamic women's civil society organizations (CSOs) in Turkey entered a new phase with the lifting of the headscarf ban, which had long been the focus of Islamic women's activism against authoritarian gender policies in the country. Based on research conducted in 2012 and 2018 on two Islamist women's CSOs that have been active here during the last two decades, AKDER (Women's Rights Organization against Discrimination) and BKP (Capital City Women's Platform Association), this paper aims to understand these groups and their positions regarding the civil society-state relationship under an altered climate vis-a-vis gender. While AKDER represented a shift from an oppositional to a close relationship with the state from 2012 to 2018 respectively, the BKP in 2018 represented a more conflictual and oppositional stance towards the state compared to 2012. This paper argues that the combined impact of the revocation of the ban and an increasingly authoritarian climate in Turkey has led to a shrinking of space for struggle by the women's movement in general and for the Islamist women in particular. When the headscarf issue disappeared, the solidarity that prevailed among Islamist women started to weaken and divergences emerged

    An overview of biodiversity and conservation status of steppes of the Anatolian Biogeographical Region

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    The Anatolian Biogeographical Region is unique in the Palearctic realm, with high plant and butterfly species richness and populations of globally threatened birds, mammals and herptiles (amphibians and reptiles). It is a place of diverse land-use practices, dating back to the earliest farming practices in the world. Among 10,930 species of vascular plants, birds, butterflies, mammals and herptiles distributed in Turkey, we identified 1130 living predominantly in steppic environments and being classified either as threatened, near-threatened or data deficient at the national level, if not globally. A total of 28 effective protected areas were present in the region, covering 1.5 % of the 391,597 km(2) land area. Only 16.2 % of the threatened and near-threatened species (n = 809) were distributed within the protected area network, ranging from 94.1 % for birds to as low as 12.9 % for vascular plants. The total area of steppe and steppe forest vegetation has been reduced by at least 44 % of its former extent due to diverse habitat destructive activities. The most significant threats arise from unsustainable agricultural activities including overgrazing, conversion to croplands and afforestation. To maintain steppe diversity, we propose a "to-do list", including mainstreaming biodiversity, effective implementation of Turkey's Rangeland Act, conducting effective environmental impact assessments, establishing an effective site network for steppe biodiversity conservation and filling gaps in scientific knowledge

    New national and regional bryophyte records, 40

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