“For or against Motherhood?:
Searching for a Way Out Within Feminist Antimilitarist Activism”
Senem Kaptan,
SabanciUniversity, Cultural Studies MA Student
Women’s Worlds Congress
MadridComplutense Universtiy, Spain
July 3-9, 2008
Motherhood has been a significant concept in uniting women around antimilitarist feminist activism. Gathering around the concept of motherhood has its advantages in taking a step towards the women’s peace movement since it has a strong argument as to demonstrate the absurdity of war, the significance of women in constructing a ‘military-nation’ desired by the state, and the perpetuation of this constructed military order. Gathering around this concept, however, also has its downsides since it can (re)confine women to the traditional roles, like ‘loyal wife’ and ‘sacred mother’, that have been seen ‘acceptable’ for them and thus hinder the possibility of and overshadow the aim of this peace movement.
As it has been in many other places around the world, the concept of motherhood also constitutes a significant place in the war resistance and its ‘counter resistance’ movements in Turkey. Taking the concept of motherhood, its significance during wartime and peacetime, and the outcomes of convening around such a highly debated concept, this article will demonstrate the development of and the arguments related to the concept of motherhood in the (de)militarization process in Turkey and analyze the advantages and shortcomings of the emphasis on motherhood in the Turkish context.
Paying particular attention to the formation of Saturday Mothers, a movement which first started as a group of people, men included, conducting silent vigils for their children ‘lost under custody’, but which was later conveyed as a group of Kurdish mothers searching for their ‘lost’ children, and Friday Mothers, another movement formed as a ‘counter-act’ to the Saturday Mothers by the mothers of the Turkish martyr soldiers, this article will also demonstrate the ‘delicate’ side of convening around such a concept by showing how the concept of motherhood can be used to create a political atmosphere of polarization whereas it could be used to construct an atmosphere of peace. Lastly, the article will also try to trace the place of motherhood within the discourse of the women conscientious objectors in Turkey and try to analyze the possibility of using the concept of motherhood as a metaphorical concept, stressing the act of creation rather than literally giving birth to a child, which can be utilized as an efficient means in feminist antimilitarist activism.