The Alevis and Roma/Gypsy in Turkey: Republican Freedom Revisited

Abstract

This study examines the prospects and limitations of the republican theory of freedom as an analytical tool for analysing Turkey's state of rights and liberties. Following an outline of the main philosophical arguments of republican freedom, which emphasises the link between freedom and non-domination, the paper focuses on the cases of Alevis and Roma-Gypsy populations in Turkey, as two different minority groups that face a unique set of identity problems. The debate on the nature of the discriminatory treatment of certain ethnoreligious groups in Turkey tries, on the one hand, to demonstrate the republican conception's promise to uncover difficulties relating to the status of freedoms. On the other hand, it seeks to highlight potential constraints, especially when it realises socio-economic rights.