Self-Help or Vassal? State Ideology and Discursive Legitimization of Turkish Cooperatives, 1934-1960

Discursive struggles over the Turkish agricultural cooperative field: liberal vs etatist frames during the early republican era, 1930-1933

“…Initial arrangements by the Act of 1929 became not only ossified but also upgraded in favor of the Ziraat Bank after the enactment of the Act of 1935 and following complementary regulations. In other words, at the end of this period, the process of turning agricultural cooperatives into state departments completed so that they could serve the ideological agenda of the state along with peasantry interests (Soydemir and Erçek, 2019). Nevertheless, amid these changes, there was an outlier organization that diverges from the regular pattern of contemporary cooperatives, the AFPC.…”

“…Although the closure article by Birgen (1933) was ascribing the termination of the journal to several reasons, notably the failure of the journal coincided with the rise of etatist discourse and policies in the country. Not surprisingly, six months later, the quasi-official state medium of the Karınca Journal would start its publication and advocate the state ideology in its pages (Soydemir and Erçek, 2019).…”

“…However, as time elapsed, these organizations gradually turned into state apparatuses, and finally, they became the offshoots of the state-owned Ziraat Bank in 1888 (Hazar, 1990). Given the traditionally pivotal role of the state in Turkish socio-economic life (Buğra, 1994;Genç, 2000), not surprisingly, the state-involvement would disguise itself under the cover of the state guidance and financial aids in the early Republican era to implement the ideological agenda of the state (Soydemir and Erçek, 2019).…”