Secular and Religious Environmentalism in Contemporary Turkey

Abstract

Turkish environmentalism is gaining ground but has not yet become a serious source of influence in society. The environmental movements have long been held as left wing politics and less religious, but today environmental awreness is also reaching the religious establishment. This article presents some of the secular and religious environmental currents in contemporary Turkey based on fieldwork mainly conducted in 2011. The main research questions are: who are the central environmental actors in Turkey, are there differences ragarding ideology and way of working between the secular and reigious field, and why there is no strong environmental scene in Turkey?