What Does It Mean to Win? Revisiting Environmental Movements in Turkey

OpenAlex · English

Environmental conflicts manifest across various scales and transcend temporal and spatial boundaries as societies seek new materials and energy sources to sustain growth-dependent economies. The increased visibility and politicisation of socio-environmental issues in Turkey have accentuated the dichotomy of winners and losers in these disputes. In this chapter, we offer a snapshot of environmental movements in the country with a focus on the idea of winning and losing. Despite historical tensions related to developmentalism, Erdoğan’s administration catalysed both the emergence and evolution of place-based environmental movements opposing state-backed energy and mining expansions. However, there is now a notable increase in environmental conflicts nationwide, coinciding with the erosion of legal safeguards for the non-human environment. While some of these movements achieved tangible successes in halting or altering environmentally destructive projects, others appear to have fallen short of their immediate goals. We argue that even seemingly unsuccessful movements can contribute significantly to a broader societal transformation. Thanks to these movements, environmental concerns, once relegated to the fringes of political debate, are now being more and more mainstreamed into oppositional politics, which face significant constraints. Our findings suggest the rise of antagonistic and intersectional environmental politics as a means of expressing broader societal dissent. Our hope here is to contribute to a deeper understanding of environmental activism and its political role in contemporary Turkey.