EU democracy promotion in Turkey: funding NGOs, funding conflict?

Abstract

Funding nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) to encourage democratisation features prominently on the EU's policy agenda for accession countries. The rationale for EU funding to NGOs communicated through policy documents suggests such interests are largely due to the salience of liberal democratic rhetoric, premised on supporting liberal individualism and respect for human rights. By looking at the situation in Turkey, this paper argues that the success of such an approach is contingent on how well it corresponds with the reality of civil society relations in the recipients' context. In cases where such a correlation between policy and context does not exist, donor funding may lead to further divisions between groups in civil society, and even fuel the differences that exist between various groups.

Understanding NGO Strategies to Engage with Donor-Funded Development Projects: Reconciling and Differentiating Objectives

“…EU civil society funding is in no way isolated from this as it is interwoven with existing struggles for political voice, space and power within civil society. EU civil society funding becomes both a focus and a source of conflict as it contributes to the production of difference among NGOs (Ketola, 2011;Kuzmanovic, 2012, p. 72).…”

“…Neither should this essentialism be seen purely in a negative light, as the conflictual relations between groups are also evidence of an expanding public space where opposing opinions are expressed. Indeed, one could argue that a lack of disagreement would be more worrying, as it would suggest that opposing views were being suppressed (Ketola, 2011).…”

“…They have led to a significant increase in civil society funding, but this has been tailored to support specific aspects of the 'harmonisation process' leading up to possible membership. For example, the Copenhagen Criteria require candidate countries to achieve certain standards in terms of democracy, rule of law, human rights and respect for minorities as a precondition of EU membership (Ketola, 2011). The expectation is that NGOs are able to facilitate the democratic reform process by representing the concerns of citizens and by participating in the policy-making process (European Union, 2009).…”

De-democratization under the New Turkey? Challenges for women’s organizations

“…Since the foundation of Turkish Republic in early-1920, there has been a sharp division between secularists and conservatives. This conflict is also apparent in women's movement (Ketola, 2011) as much as it is in any other movements. Since mid-1980s onwards, the composition of women's movement in Turkey has been widening with the increasing voices of Kurdish and Islamist women, identifying themselves as feminists.…”

The Role of Turkish Civil Society in Political Decision Making

“…Marcus Ketola (2011, 793) criticizes the EU funding for its gravitation towards groups which are located in urban cities, ideologically compatible with the EU's mission and professional enough to become entitled to the EU's project based funds. In this respect, by its exclusionist nature, the EU's funding policies may unintentionally result in further fragmentation of the Turkish civil society and may also fuel the existing ideological differences (Ketola, 2011). In light of these arguments, future studies may investigate the availability of EU funds to projects concerning the awaiting reform areas and inquire into how the CSOs are engaging with these projects.…”