Gender Rights and Freedoms in Turkey and the Arab World: Spring or Winter?, Winter 2013

Tuesday, February 5, 2013 | Download PDF in English

This issue of Turkish Policy Quarterly (TPQ) looks at how dynamics unleashed by the Arab Spring are affecting women’s rights and liberties across the Arab world, and how Turkey relates to these complex trends. Authors seek to illuminate questions such as: Is Turkey a model when it comes to women’s rights and empowerment? Or, is Turkey increasingly importing ideas and practices vis-à-vis women from its con -servative Islamic neighbors? Does more democracy necessarily mean more freedom when it comes to lifestyle choices and gender orientation? What can governments and international actors do in order to empower women and also help protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in the region? How do structural changes in the economic sphere play into women’s empowerment? Might there need to be another “Spring” – a form of revolution in gender relations?

CONTRIBUTOR

Nigâr Göksel

D. Nigar Goksel has been Editor-in-Chief of the Istanbul-based Turkish Policy Quarterly (TPQ) since 2002 and Turkey and Cyprus Analyst for Crisis Group's Turkey/Cyprus Project since April 2015. She was Senior Analyst at the European Stability Initiative (ESI) between 2004-11, where she covered Turkey and the Caucasus. In Spring 2014, she joined FRIDE as associate fellow, focusing on the Black Sea region. She is a regular contributor to the German Marshall Fund’s ‘On Turkey’ series and writes frequently for Al Jazeera International. Nigar is also registered as an independent consultant for political analysis and project management. She has designed a range of reconciliation and civil society capacity-building initiatives in Turkey and the South Caucasus.

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