Kasap Tugce 2

WOMEN’S WOMBS AS A “BIOPOITICAL SPACE” IN THE
CONTEXT OF BIOPOLITICS OF ABORTION IN TURKEY

by

Tugce KASAP

CEU eTD Collection

Submitted to Central European University
Gender Studies Department
In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Arts in Gender Studies

Supervisor: Prof. Judit Sandor
Second Reader: Prof. Jasmin Lukic

Budapest, Hungary
2013

Abstract
This thesis investigates the biopolitcs of the Justice and Development party (the
AKP) which has been the ruling party in Turkey since 2002, with a specific emphasis on the so-called ―Reproductive Health Bill‖ that aimed at banning abortion. Juxtaposing ―the
Reproductive Health Bill‖ with other neoconservative and neoliberal policies of the AKP makes it clear that the issue of banning abortion is an extension of a much broader social engineering project which is based on the conservatisation of the public. By carrying out a discourse analysis of the remarks of the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Health
Minister Recep Akdağ and some other MPs of the AKP, the thesis attempts to reveal the hidden agenda of the government behind the radical social reforms that they have introduced. In doing so, the thesis identifies a set of gender myths which allegedly aim at increasing women‘s participation in the public sphere as well as providing them economic freedom. This thesis contributes to the bulk of literature on the issue of abortion in Turkey by creating an updated framework to locate the place of the AKP‘s biopolitics within the

CEU eTD Collection

short history of abortion in the late Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey.

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Acknowledgments
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Judit Sandor and my second reader Prof. Jasmina Lukic without whose support this thesis would not have been written. I thank Prof. Francisca de Haan for her constant support and invaluable feedback.
Furthermore, I am also grateful to each faculty member of the Gender Studies

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