Mothering the army, mothering the state: being a soldier's mother in Turkey

This study aims to trace the notion of soldier mothering in Turkey. Based on interviews with women who have had direct contact with the army/state through the military service of their children, the study will primarily focus on how women of different backgrounds experience the notion of soldier mothering in their lives. The narratives of women on soldier mothering will be historicized and contextualized through an analysis of the roles that have been attributed to women throughout the highly militarized history of the Republic in general and of the concept of soldier mothering in particular. In addition to engaging in a feminist critique of militarism and militarization in Turkey by analyzing women’s place in the gendered state discourse, this research will also engage in the (silenced) narratives of the women, more specially mothers, who are often utilized by the state in pivotal roles within the militarized discourse yet whose stories are hardly heard. While previous research on militarism in Turkey mostly focused on the impact of military service on men’s lives, this study will try to trace the place of militarism in women’s lives by analyzing the military service experience from the narratives of the mothers. This study argues that these women become both the ‘mothers of the army’ and the ‘mothers of the state’ with the role attributed to them in the gendered and militarized state discourse and in turn aims to see women’s experience with and their reactions to the official discourse on soldier mothering.