The Association for Liberal Thinking During the 28 February Coup

Year 2018, Volume: 23 Issue: 89, 7 - 24, 16.03.2018

Şeyma Akın

Abstract

Coup d’états are hard times for every country, a time when democratic values are usually put aside. However, as world history proves, there have always been groups within society who opposed the coup as well as those who supported it. The same can be said about the postmodern coup of 28 February; a wide range of supporters from politicians to academicians, and from the media to civil society organizations did not see any harm in putting aside democratic and liberal values for the sake of ‘laicity’. Therefore, it is of great significance that a civil society organization namely the Association for Liberal Thinking emerged in the process and contributed with serious articles and arguments against the coup. In this context, the Association provided comprehensive articles on what a liberal democracy is and made valuable analyses about the conditions in the country through the quarterly journal Liberal Thought – and certainly through many other activities. This paper aims to analyse the position of the Association for Liberal Thinking, especially through the articles in the mentioned journal and study the contributions in the matter.

Keywords

28th February, Coup, Civil Society Organizations, Liberal Attitude, Association for Liberal Thinking

28 Şubat Sürecinde Liberal Düşünce Topluluğu

Abstract

Darbeler, her ülke için demokratik değerlerin rafa kaldırıldığı zor zamanlar anlamına gelmektedir. Yine de, dünya tarihi bize gösteriyor ki her seferinde darbeye karşı çıkanlar olduğu kadar onu destekleyen toplumsal gruplar da söz konusudur. Bunun aynısını 28 Şubat postmodern darbe sürecinde de görmekteyiz; siyasilerden akademisyenlere, medyadan sivil toplum kuruluşlarına kadar geniş bir kitle bu süreci desteklemiş ve demokratik ve liberal değerlerden ‘laiklik’ adına vazgeçilmesinde beis görmemişlerdir. Dolayısıyla, Liberal Düşünce Topluluğu gibi bir sivil toplum kuruluşunun bu süreçte ortaya çıkması ve buna karşı ciddi yazılar ve argümanlar ortaya koyması oldukça önemlidir. Bu bağlamda topluluk, Liberal Düşünce dergisiyle –ve elbette çok sayıda başka faaliyetlerle- hem liberal demokrasinin ne anlama geldiğine dair kapsamlı yazılar sunmuş hem de ülkedeki koşulların doğru analizlerini yapmıştır. Bu makale, 28 Şubat sürecinde Liberal Düşünce Topluluğu’nun tutumunu özellikle dergide yayınlanan yazılar üzerinden inceleyecek ve yapılan yayınların katkılarını analiz edecektir.

Keywords

28 Şubat, Darbe, Sivil Toplum Kuruluşları, Liberal Tutum, Liberal Düşünce Topluluğu

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