Mutluer, Nil, PhD student

By Katherine Harrison on 23 Apr | 0 comments

Biographical Note
Nil Mutluer graduated from the Bilkent University’s Department of International Relations in 1996. After working as a communication consultant, she received her Master’s Degree from the İstanbul Bilgi University’s Department of Cultural Studies. She is currently working on her Doctorate “The Everyday Life Practices of Internally Displaced Kurdish men in Tarlabasi, Istanbul” at Department of Gender Studies of the Central European University in Budapest. She has thought several courses on culture, media and politics, communication and everyday life at various universities and seminars. She is in the publication board of feminist journal Amargi, in the executive boards of Helsinki Citizens Assembly (hCA-hYd) and Association for Educating and Supporting Women Candidates (Ka-Der). In addition to her various articles on edited books, journals and newspapers, she is the editor of the books States of Gender: The Intersectional Borders of Gender in Turkey (Cinsiyet Halleri: Türkiye'de Cinsiyetin Kesişim Sınırları, Varlık 2008) and States of National: Citizenship and Nationalism, Are We Aware of? (Milli Hallerimiz: Yurttaşlık ve Milliyetçilik, Farkında mıyız?, Helsinki Yurttaşlar Derneği Yayınları, 2008). She is also the consultant of the 46th Antalya Golden Orange Award (Altın Portakal Ödülleri) winning documentary called “Me and Nuri Bala” (2009, directed by Melisa Önel) which is about the life story of the first feminist transvestite stand up artist Esmeray.

GEXcel Project, Theme 2
During the fellowship of Gendering Excellence Program's “Deconstructing Hegemony of Men and Masculinities” research theme, I plan to theorize my field research and examine how the relation between transnational and national networks affect the everyday practices of internally displaced men in various social, economic and political contexts. I think this study will contribute to the program for several reasons. First of all, as my study focuses on the role of transnational networks on the formation nationalism, it will provide an insight on how relationship among these networks play a role in the everyday practices of men and women in a given context. The transnational political relations in the political or cultural institutions show that how political capital  becomes a significant identifier in everyday life. Secondly, this study enables us to examine how cultural, social, political and economical institutions play a role in the formation of masculinities in various power based contexts. This will enable me to examine how in different context different man becomes hegemony. Finally, as my PhD study constitutes IDP men from various ages, this study will also reveal that depending on the age men encounter with different obstacles and opportunities in their everyday life.

GEXcel Project, Theme 9 - Construction of 'other' men's militarism  and masculinities in transnational space
Abstract: At peak of the armed conflict between the Turkish army and the PKK (Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan, The Kurdistan Worker's Party)  in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Turkish state introduced two main militarist policies to prevent Kurdish society from supporting the PKK and to control the Southeastern Anatolia region. One of these policies is internal displacement which is also called as forced migration and the other one is village guard system. As a result of the internal displacement policy, Turkish state forces evacuated some Kurdish villages and hamlets in Southeastern Anatolia and displaced Kurdish inhabitants without offering them any other place to live. With the introduction of the village guard system, the state urged the Kurds in the region to cooperate with the army against the PKK. Even though the levels and the reasons of the involvement of the Turkish state and the Kurdish movement to the civil war in Turkey cannot be equalized, both sides have become the actors of the militarization in the region. Both actors have one characteristic in common: Their policies including the militarist ones are influenced and shaped at transnational space. The proposed research project for GEXcel Theme 9  aims to explore how internally displaced men utilize militarist discourse, which shaped at transnational space, in their everyday identification in the inner-slum area in Istanbul, Tarlabaşı in various ways. Such an analysis also reveals the influence of militarization and militarist discourse in the formation of internally displaced men's masculinities.

Outline: At peak of the armed conflict between the Turkish army and the PKK (Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan, The Kurdistan Worker's Party) in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Turkish state introduced two main militarist policies to prevent Kurdish society from supporting the PKK and to control the Southeastern Anatolia region. One of these policies is internal displacement and the other one is village guard system. As a result of the internal displacement policy, Turkish state forces evacuated some Kurdish villages and hamlets in Southeastern Anatolia and displaced Kurdish inhabitants without offering them any other place to live. With the introduction of the village guard system, the state urged the Kurds in the region to cooperate with the army against the PKK. Becoming a village guard or not was insecure for the inhabitants of the region; since in both cases there was a pressure both from the state and the PKK. Thus, even though the levels and the reasons of the involvement of the Turkish state and the Kurdish movement to the civil war in Turkey cannot be equalized, both sides have become the actors of the militarization in the region. Both actors have one characteristic in common: Their policies including the militarist ones are influenced and shaped at transnational space. The proposed research project for GEXcel Theme 9 aims to explore how internally displaced men utilize militarist discourse, which shaped at transnational area, in their everyday identification in the inner-slum area in Istanbul, Tarlabaşı in various ways.  Such an analysis also reveals the influence of militarization and militarist discourse in the formation of internally displaced men's masculinities.  
     
In the Kurd’s place of origin, Kurdish nationalist institutions (PKK, DTP- Demokratik Toplum Partisi, Democratic People's Party-, MKM -Mezopotamya Kültür Merkezi, Mesopotamian Culture Center-, etc.), Kurdish communities  (having a relatively more similar living style) and the Turkish state were the main external identifiers for Kurdish men, whereas  in the city,  in addition to those, various social, cultural, economic and political institutions, and both Kurdish and non-Kurdish individuals from various backgrounds come into consideration.  Internally displaced men experience different power relations emerging from different interactions in the everyday life of the city from the relations in their place of origin. Yet, their encounters with the militarist discourses of state and Kurdish movement become one of the determining factors of their everyday life identification. On their way to as well as in the city internally displaced men passed through individual and collective humiliation, torture and even rape under custody. There are various unknown murders in the villages and there are times when JİTEM , the “unofficially” existed intelligence organization of gendarme, organized raids to civilians' houses, took them under custody without any sufficient reason. In Tarlabaşı, when the military operations in Southeastern Anatolia are active, police have taken ex-guerrillas under custody for long periods of time, like for six months without giving any sufficient explanation. Many of the internally displaced people's family members, relatives, friends or acquaintances are either murdered by the state or become 'martyrs' as guerrillas in the PKK. Thus, in such an environment the PKK is regarded as the center of resistance to the state's discriminatory and antidemocratic policies by many of the internally displaced people in Tarlabaşı. 
 
Nevertheless, paradoxical situations must also be taken into account. In some situations, some of the villages that become village guard were evacuated by the PKK as mentioned above. One of the examples for another paradoxical situation is Kurds’ involvement to military service. Some family members and relatives carry out their military service as the citizens of Turkish Republic. Therefore, there are cases where the same family has both guerrillas and soldiers at the same time. This leads Kurdish people to develop an ambivalent discourse towards Turkish army, PKK, soldier, guerrilla, hero, martyr, war and peace. Such an ambivalence has a significant impact on the formation of their masculinities. 
 
During the fellowship of Gendering Excellence Program's “Gendered sexualized transnationalisations, deconstructing the dominant: Transforming men, “centres” and knowledge/policy/practice” research theme, I plan to explore the ways the militarist discourses of the state and the PKK are influential in the everyday identification process of internally displaced men and the formation of their masculinities.