How can we imagine a new future for Turkey?

How can perspectives that will build the future flourish under dark and paralyzing political conditions? Our conference, “Unlocking the Future: Pathways for a renewed Thinking about Turkey” featuring Hartmut Rosa and Zeynep Savaşçın, will focus on answering these questions on October 11, 2024, at Salt Galata, as part of the 30th-anniversary events.

The Heinrich Böll Stiftung’s İstanbul Office was founded 30 years ago, in 1994. Since then, the collective mood in the country has changed multiple times. 2017 was very different from 2007, and 2007 was very different from 1997.

Indeed, 30 years of the office coincided 30 politically eventful years in the history of democratic, ecological, rights-oriented civil society in Turkey. 

Then, based on this historical diversity, it should be possible to say something about the future, to imagine a shared future through the accumulation and legacy of the past.

However, it is not a piece of cake.  

The part of society for which democracy and fundamental rights are core values has been experiencing a difficult period especially since Gezi protests in 2013, the end of the peace process with the Kurds, and after the failed coup attempt in 2016, 

Those who strive for democracy, openness and tolerance see themselves surrounded by walls, and the walls seem to be moving because they are getting closer and closer, shrinking spaces and blocking paths.

The atmosphere is one of stagnation rather than progress, with pessimism and, above all, a standstill. While elections are still popular, they are no longer fair at all. 

The result of all this is a politics of fear that paralyses and, above all, kills the hope.

Moreover, the international political climate is not supportive. Apparently, the scarcity and negativity felt in view of the future is a worldwide phenomenon, even under non-authoritarian conditions. The liberal promise of progress and freedom appears to be empty and meaningless for growing shares of the population in parts of Europe.

However, the future is unknown, in this sense open, replete with possibilities. After all, nothing lasts forever. Then, it is also possible to shape a future that will certainly be different from today.

It is time to rediscover and strengthen this openness as an intellectual and political attitude. Civil society in Turkey is still very much alive and colourful. It has a unique strength; a history woven with struggles, resistance, and achievements, and an institutional experience that knows how to learn from defeats.

We will focus on this at the conference we are organizing for the 30th anniversary of the Heinrich Böll Foundation Turkey Office this question.

The first session of the conference will focus on societal practices that can be applied despite difficult political conditions. This session will be moderated by Dawid Bartelt, Director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation Turkey Office, and will feature sociologist Hartmut Rosa and political philosopher Zeynep Savaşçın as guest speakers.

Next, it will be the youth’s turn to speak: Drawing upon the results of the first conference, the future generation will share its perspectives and visions - the generation whose childhood and adolescence have coincided with an authoritarian regime, a pandemic, and an economic crisis.

The conference will be held on October 11 at Salt Galata in Istanbul.

Space is limited, so we kindly ask you to register. 

You can access the registration form here.

PROGRAM 

11th of October, 2024 

Salt Galata 

Arap Cami, Bankalar Cd. No:11, 34420 Beyoğlu/Istanbul

Unlocking the Future: Pathways for a renewed thinking about Turkey

12:00 – 13:00                Registration and reception 

13:00 - 13:15                Welcoming

Dawid Bartelt, Office Director  

13:15 – 14:45                1st session: “Acceleration, alienation, and resonance: suggestions for a societal practice towards an open future in difficult political contexts”

Keynote speaker: Prof. Hartmut Rosa

Debater: Prof. Zeynep Savaşçın 

Moderator: Dawid Bartelt 

14:45 – 15:15                Coffee break 

15:15 – 16:45                2nd session: “We, the “Generation Z” in Turkey – are we a Generation W(all)? Our perspectives to create our future”

Baran Örnek, Agora alumni

Berfin Hanalp, Agora alumni

Nevzat Taşçı, Arayüz Campaign 

Moderator: Yonca Verdioğlu

16:45 – 17:00                Closing

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

About Hartmut Rosa 

Hartmut Rosa is a professor of sociology and social theory at Friedrich-Schiller-University in Jena, Germany and director of the Max-Weber-College at the University of Erfurt. He also is an affiliated professor at the department of sociology, New School for Social Research, New York. In 1997, he received his PhD in political science from Humboldt-University in Berlin. After that, he held teaching positions at the universities of Mannheim, Jena, Augsburg and Essen and served as Vice-President and General Secretary for Research Committee 35 (COCTA) of ISA and as one of the directors of the annual international conference on philosophy and the social sciences in Prague. In 2016, he was a visiting professor at the FMSH/EHESS in Paris. He is editor of the international journal Time and Society. His publications focus on social acceleration, resonance and the temporal structures of modernity as well as the political theory of communitarianism.

About Zeynep Savaşçın 

Zeynep Savaşçın is associate professor in political philosophy, ethics, and the philosophy of rights at Galatasaray University. She earned her PhD from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris in 2017, with a thesis titled "De la publicité kantienne à l’éthicité hégélienne, Raison et vie des Normes (From Kantian Publicity to Hegelian Ethical Life: The Wisdom and Life of Norms)". Her research centers on Critical Theory and social philosophy, with a particular focus on the crises of citizenship and human rights. In addition to her work on the legal philosophies of Hegel and Kant, and the critical theories of Axel Honneth and Şeyla Benhabib, Savaşçın has authored an article titled "Resonance, Alienation, and Citizenship in the Thought of Hartmut Rosa." She translated the book Yurttaşını Arayan Demokrasi (Democracy Looking for its Citizen), a collection of Marcel Gauchet's articles, into Turkish. She is also one of the founding members of the 4 Generations of Rights Social Research Association.

About Dawid Bartelt 

Dawid Bartelt studied history and social sciences in Bochum, Hamburg, Recife/Brazil and Berlin. Since 1988 he has published as a journalist and author on international politics, Latin America and Brazil. He received his Ph.D. in History in 2001 from Freie Universität Berlin. From 2002 to 2010 he was a Senior Press Officer for the German section of Amnesty International in Berlin. Joined the Heinrich Böll Foundation in 2010 as head of the Brazil country office. From 2017 to 2022 Head of the Mexico and Caribbean Office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Mexico City. Since 2023 Head of the Foundation's Turkey office in Istanbul.

About Yonca Verdioğlu 

Feminist activist. Program coordinator at the Heinrich Böll Stiftung İstanbul office. She is also the institution's gender focal point and the rapporteur for the prevention of gender-based violence (PSEAH Person).

About Baran Örnek 

Baran Örnek is a senior student of business engineering at ITU. He has been a climate activist since the age of 16, and since 18, a board member and co-founder of Climate Pioneers. He works to reach decision-makers and promote climate awareness among youth.

About Berfin Hanalp 

Berfin Hanalp is a graduate of Yüzüncü Yıl University in psychological counseling. She has been part of the feminist movement since her school years. She led the university Women’s Studies Community. In 2022, she participated in the Heinrich Böll Stiftung Turkey's Agora scholarship program. Her focus is on migration and gender, and she works with children in Adıyaman

About Nevzat Taşçı 

Nevzat Taşçı studied political science at Galatasaray University. In 2016, he began advocating for the right to education. In 2020, he worked on strong youth policies against the lack of representation with the Interface Campaign. He is a foreign policy writer at Tercüman and a director at Arayüz.