Elif M. Babül - Bureaucratic Intimacies: Translating Human Rights in Turkey

Stanford University Press

Stanford, California

2017 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.

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Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Babl, Elif M., author.

Title: Bureaucratic intimacies : translating human rights in Turkey / Elif M. Babl.

Description: Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2017. | Series: Stanford studies in Middle Eastern and Islamic societies and cultures | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017020873 (print) | LCCN 2017022258 (ebook) | ISBN 9781503603394 (e-book) | ISBN 9781503601895 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781503603172 (pbk : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Human rightsTurkey. | Human rightsStudy and teachingTurkey. | TurkeyOfficials and employeesTraining of. | European UnionTurkey.

Classification: LCC JC599.T9 (ebook) | LCC JC599.T9 B33 2017 (print) | DDC 323.09561dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017020873

Cover design: Angela Moody

Cover image: Gkhan Deniz, "Hasat Mevsimi" (Harvest Time) Series, 2009.

Typeset by Bruce Lundquist in 10/14 Minion Pro

Bureaucratic Intimacies

Elif M. Babl

Stanford University Press

Stanford, California

This work owes so much to so many people in different times and places who helped me during the process of research and writing. I extend my thanks, first and foremost, to all of my informants and collaborators in Turkey, who allocated precious time and energy to answer all my questions, and who generously shared with me their everyday experiences. Many of them will unfortunately have to go unnamed, in line with the promise I made them to maintain their anonymity. Without the kind help and contributions of many government and civil society workers, translators, human rights activists, and project organizers whose stories I narrate in the following pages, this research would not have been possible.

During my field research, several individuals gave me their kindhearted help and support, including Sebla Arcan, Hakan Ataman, Gkeiek Ayata, Metin Bakkalc, Gkhan Deniz, Oktay Durukan, dil Elveri, Sevin Erylmaz, Glden Grsoy Ataman, Arezoo Jalalifar Ekinci, hsan Kaar, Seda Kalem, Zafer Kra, ebnem Korur Fincanc, Nur Otaran, zgr Sevgi, Emel resin, and Leman Yurtsever. Many conversations at the stiklal cafes, Bosphorus teahouses, Asmalmescit taverns, and Boazii University lawns with friends and fellow researchers of Turkey, Ceren Arseven, Sidar Bayram, Cem Bico, Baak Can, Aya ubuku, Berna Ekal, Onur Gnay, Zeynep Grsel, Dilan Yldrm, and ar Yoltar, have made the research experience most stimulating and fun. At Boazii, Nkhet Sirman and Nazan stnda continued to be the most amazing mentors one can ever have.

At Stanford, I am most indebted to Liisa Malkki, Joel Beinin, James Ferguson, Miyako Inoue, and Sylvia Yanagisako for their invaluable advice, endless support, and thoughtful engagement with my work. I also greatly benefited at various stages from the indispensable guidance of Thomas Blom Hansen, Kathleen Coll, Matthew Kohrman, and Paulla Ebron in the Department of Anthropology; Woody Powell and Rob Reich at the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society; and Andrea Davies at Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford. Across the Bay, Marco Jacquement and Cihan Tual have generously read excerpts and offered critical comments on different parts of my work.

My dear friends at Stanford, Nikhil Anand, Hannah Appel, Robert Samet, Rania Sweiss, Maura Finkelstein, Austin Zeiderman, Tania Ahmad, Ramah McKay, Zhanara Naruzbayeva, Kevin ONeill, and Hillary Chart read and commented on several early drafts of my chapters. Lalaie Ameeriar, Fernando Armstrong-Fumero, Mun Young Cho, Oded Korczyn, Yoon Jung Lee, Serena Love, Tomas Matza, Angel Roque, Sima Shakhsari, and Thet Win have also been delightful to share both work and play spaces. I extend my gratitude also to the Stanford Turkish Posse, composed of Aya Alemdarolu, Zeynep Alemdar, Frat Bozal, amil Can, Yasemin pek, Burcu Karahan, Sarp Kaya, Ekin Kocaba and Burak Keskin Kozat, with whom I shared camaraderie and many conversations on Turkish politics.

Feedback from audiences and participants at the Columbia University Human Rights Seminar, Haverford College Center for Peace and Global Citizenship, Five College Middle Eastern Studies Faculty Seminar, Harvard University Political Anthropology Workshop, Princeton University Institute for Advanced Study Policing and Ethnography Workshop, University of Massachusetts Amherst Meeting Ethnography Workshop, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Ko University, London School of Economics Programme on Contemporary Turkish Studies, Boazii University Department of Sociology, Union College Department of Anthropology, and the Workshop on Emerging Regimes of Truth and Expertise in New Turkey has helped me immensely to think through many of my ideas and analyses. I particularly thank Ajantha Subramanian, Don Brenneis, Renita Thedvall, Didier Fassin, Daniel Goldstein, Esra zyrek, Nkhet Sirman, Belgin Teke, Nazan stnda, Meltem Ahska, Ayfer Bartu Candan, alar Keyder, Erdem Yrk, Baak Can, Hayal Akarsu, Frat Bozal, Chris Dole, Hikmet Kocamaner, and Brian Silverstein for their thorough comments that enriched various parts of this book.

The nurturing and rigorous academic environment sustained by my students and colleagues at Mount Holyoke College has provided the utmost support and motivation for my scholarship. I thank my brilliant colleagues Debbora Battaglia, Lynn Morgan, Andy Lass, and Joshua Roth for their enthusiastic reception of my work. The smart and insightful comments of students in my Anthropology and Human Rights classes have been truly inspirational. Beyond Mount Holyoke College, conversations with friends and colleagues at the Five Colleges, including Hiba Bou Akar, Felicity Aulino, Nusrat Chowdry, Omar Dahi, Chris Dole, Pinky Hota, and Sahar Sadjadi, have helped clarify and tighten my arguments. My dear friend Sinem Akgl Akmee arrived at Harvard just in time to lend me her invaluable expertise on the EU-related parts of the book.