A Study on the Acts of Civil Disobedience That Have Nationwide Significance in Republic of Turkey

Abstract

When the relationship between the government and the citizens is taken into consideration, at the times when the government is misusing its power, the citizens may express themselves about the injustice in various ways and civil disobedience is one of them. If the injustice still exists after all the judicial proceedings are taken, then, this act that has nonviolence as its fundamental philosophy is seen to take place. The most important representatives of civil disobedience in the world are Socrates, Henry David Thoreau, M. Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi. These thinkers with their discourses and actions put forth what constitutes as civil disobedience and set an example to other societies. In this study, firstly, the aforementioned notion of civil disobedience is explained. Then, some demonstrations that took place in Turkey are evaluated in the framework of civil disobedience. The aim is to determine whether or not these demonstrations can be considered as examples of "civil disobedience". Also, the reasons why some of these demonstrations are not in the scope of civil disobedience are discussed. In this study, depiction and historical methods are used.