However, the emergence of more open-minded NGOs operating in a fashion that is independent from the state has naturally gone through and is still going through difficult points as they initiate projects touching on formerly taboo issues, such as the militarycivilian relationship, the problems of minorities, the effects of religion on society, the friction between strictly conservative segments of society and the staunchly secular elite and the Kurdish question. NGOs are one of the backbones of democratic societies, triggering open debate on issues that governments will sometimes refrain from touching upon.
In Turkey, some NGOs which have begun to courageously initiate debate on once taboo topics are still coming under enormous pressure from both within society and the state through a campaign of slander launched against them.
Both the İstanbul-based Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) and the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation - Turkey (ATETT) are NGOs which have been attacked the most and have been accused of receiving financial support from foreign sources to "undermine the state." The terming of their activities as "undermining the state" means, in reality, a sign of distaste toward those who are seeking to change the status quo in order to turn Turkey into a more open society.
The ATETT, which has recently faced strong criticism from conservatives over its support for a study conducted by Professor Binnaz Toprak which revealed peer pressure, this time on secular people in Anatolian communities, decided to rename itself the Open Society Foundation (ATV) on Dec. 31, 2008, becoming an independent Turkish NGO.
One of the aims of this name change was to remove the misperception that it has been trying to undermine the state. The ATV is now hoping to get more donations from within Turkish society, thus enlarging its sphere of research interests.
When the nation is deeply divided into several camps, such as Islamists versus hard-line secularists, Alevis versus Sunnis or Turks versus Kurds, and when its citizens are not brought up in a way to tolerate the nation's own Christian minorities, it becomes extremely hard to remove existing prejudices in society. Thus, it may take longer for the ATV to alter its image in society just with a name change.
TESEV, meanwhile, is expected to launch another study on the intolerance of Turkey's elites. It's quite certain that once the contents of this study are revealed, it will be strongly criticized by secularists.
ATV Chairman Hakan Altınay said of the name change in an interview with the Taraf daily on Jan. 4 that becoming a domestic NGO will ease the pressure exerted upon them while it will be able to receive more aid to enlarge its research scope.
TESEV has been accused of receiving foreign aid from, and the ATETT was a direct project of, the global financier and philanthropist, George Soros. This aid, it was claimed, was meant to undermine the state. Supporters of an open society in Turkey are called the "children of Soros" by state supporters and ultranationalists.
When Turkey's General Directorate for Foundations, a government-run department, released a list of foundations and their financers early this year, it was already understood that many nations such as the US and Sweden had been extending their financial support to foundations such as the Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TÝHV) and the religious Ensar Foundation. It has been no secret that other Turkish foundations have been receiving foreign aid, too. But now, as the General Directorate for Foundations released for the first time a list of foundations and their sources of income on Jan. 4, upon an opposition deputy's motion, it has become easier to trace which NGOs receive foreign aid from which country and from which foreign organization.
It was because Soros has been associated with some activities in Georgia and in Ukraine, and is alleged to have inspired regime changes in some countries, that the NGOs associated with him have come under greater attack.
But at the end of the day, we cannot ignore the fact that the flourishing of NGOs will continue to play a major role in Turkey's transformation to a more open society.
