터키에서 정치 이슬람의 부상과 여성의 정체성 －앙카라 거주 초⋅중등 여교사를 대상으로－

Abstract

It was very shocking that in Turkey, a secular republic country, the pro-Islamic Justice and Development Party(Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi: AKP) overwhelmed the general election in 2002 and became the ruling party. On the other hand,it was doomed to occur for the conservative Turkish society due to the revival of Islam since the 1980s. Together with the spread of Islamism, mistrust of the secular government and consecutive adverse events followed by the economic recession made voters look forward to something new and just then, the AKP,who is neither an Islamic party nor secular but a third party, published ‘conservative democracy’ as the party’s platform and met the Turkish people’s expectations. Moreover, for the purpose of Turkey’s accession into the European Union, AKP vowed to execute the social regulations and measures required by the EU. The AKP’s victory in Turkey was positively evaluated domestically and abroad that Islam and democracy are compatible. In accordance, during the first governance, AKP’s home and foreign policies unfolded in line with the EU’s requirement. They waited for the ‘social consensus’ by trying to intentionally exclude Islamic factors from policy-making so that there would not be any social conflict resulting from Islamism or Secularism. However, since they won power in 2007 and again in 2011 for their third term, the AKP has decided on its conservative Islamic policies and even forced them, which markedly differs from their first term. AKP, now as a conservative party, who perceived women’s issues as the most vital factors in policy-making placed more stress on women’s role in the family rather than on women’s issues themselves. From surveys carried out to female teachers teaching at primary and secondary schools in Ankara, it has been discovered that the rise of political Islam has had a negative influence on women. Majority of those surveyed agreed that the conservatization of the society has increased veil wearers and has lowered status of women for the last decade. More importantly, when surveying even conservative women such as AKP supporters group, veil wearers group in non-public places, high and medium pious groups and indifferent groups to women movement, negative opinions on AKP’s conservative women policies were perceived. Consequently,it was found that highly educated women in society are also aware of the negative influence on women’s identity currently exerted by the political Islam in Turkey.