As Turkey confronts deepening authoritarian pressures, the question of how civil society adapts and resists has become more urgent than ever. Addressing this challenge, we are delighted to host the launch of Civil Society and Autocratisation: Co-optation, Repression and Contestation in Turkey (Edinburgh University Press), where Bilge Yabancı examines how NGOs, charities, businesses, activist groups, and religious organisations are reshaped under autocratic rule.
About the Author
Dr. Bilge Yabancı holds a dual appointment at Deusto University (Spain), where she is an assistant professor of research funded by the Ikerbasque Foundation of the Basque Government, and a Ramón y Cajal Fellow supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation.
She previously held posts as a Marie Curie Global Fellow at Northwestern University (USA) and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Italy), an Open Society Fellow in the Human Rights Cohort, and a Swedish Institute Postdoctoral Fellow.
Her research examines social movements and the transformation of civic space under autocratisation. She has also written extensively on populism, the nexus between populism, religion, and nationalism, and the role of emotions and performance in political mobilisation. In her current project, she studies social marginalisation to identify potential pathways for shifting attitudes toward refugees and vulnerable groups.
About the Discussants
The book presentation will be followed by feedback from two discussants. Dr. Zeynep Atalay, Associate Professor of Sociology at St. Mary’s College of California, specialises in state–civil society relationships in hybrid regimes, neoliberal governmentality, and the role of faith-based organisations in reproducing conservative communitarianism. Dr. Begüm Zorlu, ESRC Research Fellow at City St George’s University of London, researches political opposition in Turkey and Venezuela, the dynamics of solidarity and contestation in International Relations, and the changing landscape of warfare.
About the Event
The event will take place online on Wednesday, 8 October 2025, at 17:30 (UK time). Registration is available via Zoom, and all are welcome to attend. The presentations will be followed by a Q&A session.
Please register here.
PSA Turkish Politics Specialist Group 