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, CO Update, War Resisters' International , 2020

This hundredth issue of CO Update (which brings together a number of news items already published by WRI in June 2020 as separate stories) begins by noting that the annual International Conscientious Objection Day on 15 May 2020 was celebrated round the world mostly by actions online. This issue includes the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement's condemnation of the new draconian bill designed to enforce conscription (referenced above), and the Council of Europe's reiterated appeal to Turkey to recognize conscientious objection (noted in the Introduction).  It also covers court cases to oppose EU financing of Eritrean development projects that employing conscript labour; the Azerbaijan government's parliamentary announcement about a prospective Alternative Service Law (promised to the Council of Europe in 2003 but not delivered); the suspicious death of a Turkish air force conscript; and two opposing bills in the US Congress: to extend draft registration to women, or to end draft registration. 

See also other monthly issues of CO update for detailed news from around the world.
Abbas, Tahir, Political Culture and National Identity in Conceptualising the Gezi Park Movement, Insight Turkey, Vol. 15, no. 4 (Fall), 2013, pp. 19-28

Arat, Yeşim, Violence, Resistance and Gezi Park, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 45, no. 4 (Nov), 2013, pp. 807-809

Examination of violence from a gender perspective by academic specializing in women’s political participation in Turkey.
Atac, Ilker ; Dursun, Ayse, Gezi Park protests in Turkey: new opportunities, old boundaries? , Oesterreichische Zeitschrift fuer Politikwissenschaft, Vol. 42, no. 4, 2013, pp. 443-450

The article deals with the Gezi Park protests against the demolition of a public park in Istanbul in May 2013, which turned into nationwide protests against the government.  One source of these protests can be located in the conservative-religious neo-liberalism of the ruling AKP. The fundamental thesis  of the authors defines the protests as an expression of a search for new spheres and forms of participatory politics, as an alternative to institutional structures.
Bechev, Dimitar, Turkey, a people-power tide, OpenDemocracy.net, 2013

Bocu, Godze, The Gezi Generation: Youth, Polarization and the new Turkey, ed. Schäfer, Isabel, In Schäfer, Youth, Revolt, Recognition: The Young Generation During and After the 'Arab Spring' (E. V.B. The 'Arab Spring' in North Africa and the Middle East: 2011-12), pp. 52-61

Cansun, Şebnem, The Gezi Park protests and youth in Turkey: Perception of Hürriyet Columnists, International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanity Studies, Vol. 6, no. 1, 2014, pp. 92-105

Article discusses why, despite major role of young people using social media in the first three weeks of protests, columnists in the major Turkish daily Hurriyet (Liberty) often failed to mention, or underplayed, the significance of the young demonstrators.
Chakrabarti, Shami, On Women in the Twenty-First Century, London, Penguin, 2018, pp. 240

Chakrabarti gives an account of gender injustice as a major breach of human rights, comparable to the systematic oppression of apartheid.
Cinar, Ozgur Heval ; Usterci, Coskun, Conscientious Objection: Resisting Militarized Society, London, Zed Books, 2009, pp. 272

Collections of essays: Part 1 comprises Turkish experience and viewpoints; Part 2 examines conscientious objection from gender perspectives; Part 3 examines C.O. struggles in different parts of the world and Part 4 looks at conscientious objection and the law.
Cook, Steven A., Turkey’s Democratic Mirage: The Powerbrokers Ankara Back, Foreign Affairs, 2014

Assessment of Turkey’s progress towards being a consolidated democracy since the Justice and Development Party came to power in 2002, arguing that despite some significant gains there are still ‘profound’ problems as the corruption allegations against Erodgan illustrate.
David, Isabel ; Toktamis, Kumru F., Everywhere Taksim: Sowing the Seeds for a New Turkey at Gezi, Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2015, pp. 256

Della Porta, Donatella, Social Movements in Times of Austerity: Bringing Capitalism Back into Protest Analysis, Cambridge, Polity and Wiley, 2015, pp. 216

Analyzes movements since 2008 (Iceland) challenging corruption and inequality and situating them within the crisis of neoliberalism. Covers Spain, Greece and Portugal anti-austerity movements, but also Peru, Brazil, Russia, Bulgaria, Turkey and Ukraine.
Elster, Ellen ; Sørensen, Majken Jul, Women Conscientious Objectors: An Anthology, London, War Resisters' International, 2010, pp. 156

A collection of essays by and about women COs in USA, Europe, Turkey, Israel, Eritrea, Korea, Paraguay and Colombia.
Translations: Spanish
Franceschet, Susan ; Krook, Mona Lena ; Tan, Netina, The Palgrave Handbook of Women’s Political Rights, ed. Ennaji, Moha, Sadiqi, Fatima, Vintges, Karen, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, pp. 784

Covers women’s political rights across all major regions of the world, focusing both on women’s right to vote and women’s right to run for political office. The countries explored are Afghanistan, Armenia, Australia, Bolivia, Canada, Cameroon, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, New Zealand, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, Poland, Russia, Rwanda, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, South Korea, Slovenia, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey, the United States, Uganda, Uruguay, and Zimbabwe.
Gokay, Bulent ; Xypolia, Ilia, Reflections on Taksim – Gezi Park Protests in Turkey, Keele European Research Centre, Southeast Europe Series, Keele University, 2013, pp. 80

Includes a range of brief essays on the Taksim protests, but also includes Immanuel Wallerstein on ‘Turkey: Dilemma of the Kurds’, and chapters making comparisons with Mexico 1968 and with Brazil, plus an analysis of ‘Two Waves of Popular Protest in 2013 Bulgaria’.
Gokpinar, Ali, Neither Turkish spring nor velvet revolution, OpenDemocracy.net, 2013

Gül, Murat ; Dee, John ; Cünük, Cahide Nur, Istanbul’s Taksim Square and Gezi Park: The Place of Protest and the Ideology of Place, Journal of Architecture and Urbanism, Vol. 38, no. 1 (March), 2014, pp. 63-72

Discusses the protests and their symbolism and the ideological conflicts evoked.
Jayawardena, Kumari, Feminism And Nationalism In The Third World, London and New York, Verso, 2016, pp. 304

By demolishing the myth that feminism originated in the West, Kumari Jayawardena presents feminism as it originated in the Third World, erupting from the specific struggles of women fighting against colonial power, for education or the vote, for safety, and against poverty and inequality. Gives particular attention to Afghanistan, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Vietnam.

To look at a brief extract of the book see also https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/4018-feminism-and-nationalism-in-the-third-world
Jaywardina, Kumari, Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World, London, Zed Press (Third World Books), 1986, pp. 288

Study of women’s rights movements in Middle East and Asia from 19th century to 1980s, covering Egypt and Turkey, China, India, Indonesia, Korea and the Philippines. Argues feminism was not an alien ideology but indigenous to these countries.
Letsch, Constanze, A Year after the Protests, Gezi Park Nurtures the Seeds of a New Turkey, The Guardian, 2014

Neuwirth, Robert, Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters: A New Urban World, London, Routledge, 2006, pp. 335

Author lived in squatter communities in Rio, Bombay, Nairobi (where squatting was linked to building new homes) and Istanbul.
Schäfer, Isabel, Youth, Revolt, Recognition: The Young Generation during and after the ‘Arab Spring’, ed. David, Isabel, Toktamis, Kumru F., Berlin, MIB (Mediterranean Institute Berlin), Humboldt University, 2015, pp. 110

Schäfer, Isabel, Youth, Revolt, Recognition: The Young Generation During and After the 'Arab Spring' , Berlin, MIB, 2015, pp. 107

Shafak, Elif, The view from Taksim Square: why is Turkey now in turmoil?, The Guardian, 2013

Sherry, Dave, Occupy! A Short History of Worker Occupations, London, Bookmarks, 2010, pp. 157

Covers campaigns in Argentina, Chicago (USA), France, Ukraine, Turkey, Egypt, South Korea and China.
Simga, Hulya ; Goker, Gulru, Whither feminist alliance? Secular feminists and Islamist women in Turkey, Asian Journal of Women's Studies, Vol. 23, no. 3, 2017, pp. 273-293

Inquires into the viability of an alliance between secular feminists and Islamists through the proliferation of deliberative platforms, where civil society organizations can meet at a safe distance from partisan politics and enter productive dialogue and generate policies to resolve the crucial problems women are facing in Turkey.
Speck, Andreas, Transnational Solidarity and War Resistance: The Case of Turkey, In Clark, People Power: Unarmed Resistance and Global Solidarity (A. 1.b. Strategic Theory, Dynamics, Methods and Movements), London, Pluto Press, pp. 164-170

Tocci, Nathalie, A u-turn in Turkish politics? Gezi Park in perspective , OpenDemocracy.net, 2013

Tugal, Cihan Ziya, Democratic Janissaries? Turkey’s Role in the Arab Spring, New Left Review, no. 76 (Jul-Aug), 2012, pp. 5-24

Criticizes the western view of Turkey as model for the Islamic world and analyses the Erdogan government’s domestic and foreign policy. Written the year before Gezi Park , but provides relevant background.
Yaila, Atilla, Gezi Park Revolts: For or Against Democracy?, Insight Turkey, Vol. 15, no. 4 (Fall), 2013, pp. 7-18

Critical examination of the multiplicity of the Gezi movement, the underlying factors and its repercussions . The author stresses the degree of violence and claims ‘the broader Gezi Park agenda represented a fundamentally Kemalist reaction against democracy’, citing the role of the Republican People’s Party as supporting evidence.