GENÇ YILMAZ, Ayfer İstanbul Ticaret Üniversitesi, Turkey , GENÇ YILMAZ, Ayfer Yıldız Technical University (YTÜ) - Siyaset Bilimi ve Uluslararası İlişkiler Bölümü, Turkey

A New Subject at the Heart of Social Movements: Mothers, A Comparative Analysis on the Saturday Mothers in Turkey and the Mothers of the May Square in Argentina

23581

This study aims to comparatively analyse the Mothers of the May Square - Plaza de Mayo – in Argentina and the Saturday Mothers in Turkey both seeking their children who were lost during the military junta period between 1976-83 and the military coup of 1980 and succeeding governments, respectively. In that regard, the study takes into account the fact that the Saturday Mothers in Turkey were inspired by the Mothers of the May Square, notwithstanding the historical, cultural and sociological differences. The study situates these social movements in a framework that discusses the causes of military coups and the politics of intimidation of dissidents by authoritarian governments. It, then, presents presents the forms of civil disobedience, symbols of movements and spaces of activism of the mothers. The second section analyzes the movements from a gernder perspective. The discussion shows that the Mothers of the May Square and the Staurday Mothers construct an alternative public presence different from the one attributed by the nationalist discourse and the nation-state.

51

Plaza de Mayo , Saturday Mothers , lost in custody , social movements

Journal Of Political Science

74