Category: IGL Research Trips

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Research and Exploration in Istanbul

By Yara Hamdan

We began our day at Sultanahmet with a classic Turkish breakfast, savoring the flavors of simit, kaymak, and olives among the area’s historic beauty. We continued our adventure in Karaköy with a meze feast, where I had the opportunity to get to know my other Tufts colleagues better. We traveled to Kadıköy by ferry over the Bosphorus, where we enjoyed delicious street cuisine and sweet pastries while taking in the lively environment. The day ended with a stunning view from Terasse Nuit, with the city’s lights glimmering below, perfectly capturing the essence of friendship, food discovery, and Istanbul’s ageless charm.


It was helpful to meet the vice president of the DiSK labor union in Istanbul, as it highlighted the important role that women play in Turkey’s workforce. I learned more about the difficulties and advancements in the cause of women’s rights and equality in the workplace from our conversation. It was interesting to learn about the programmes run by DiSK to support women’s involvement in a variety of industries and to empower them; these efforts underscore the continuous efforts to make Turkey’s workplaces equitable and inclusive. He also gave me internal reports made for women’s day this year with helpful information for my research project.


Through interviewing a female American sociology professor at Özyeğin University, I learned important information about women’s roles and obstacles in the Turkish workforce. She shed light on the complex issues surrounding gender equality, discrimination, and opportunities for women in a variety of areas through her knowledge and experiences. My understanding of the systemic obstacles and struggles many women face, despite advancements in some areas, has increased as a result of learning about the socioeconomic and cultural influences on women’s participation in the labor. Her viewpoint emphasized the continued significance of advocacy, education, and policy reforms to establish more equal and encouraging work settings for women in Turkey.

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Turkey’s Russian Expat Community

By: Martynas Ramanauskas

Russian stickers around Istanbul. The one the left reads “me too.” The one on the right is the insignia of a Moscow-based basketball ultra. The prevalence of such stickers I noticed by accident is indicative of a strong presence of Russians within this city. 
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After landing in Istanbul, we found ourselves in the middle of Galata – a lively, central neighborhood of this massive city. Having had enough time to explore and get a feel for Europe’s largest city, I started researching Turkey’s policies towards the Russian invasion of Ukraine and how this compares to the locals’ attitudes, and how the war as a whole has affected Turkey.  

Residing in one of Istanbul’s more international neighborhoods, I couldn’t help but notice the plethora of languages being spoken by passers-by in the streets – the most common of which is Russian. Due to travel restrictions imposed by the EU, more Russian tourists than ever before have set their sights on Turkey, resulting in a huge surge of visitors. But not all of the Russian speakers I’ve overheard are here temporarily. There were tens of thousands who voted in the Russian presidential election at the Russian embassy.   

Anecdotally, speaking to a Russian expat working in a restaurant I visited, I learned that, to the best of her knowledge, most of the Russians in Turkey are representatives of the numerous ethnic minorities within the world’s largest country. These people, while Russian citizens, predominantly live outside of the largest cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg, and are said to be receiving draft orders at a much higher rate than the inhabitants of Russia’s richest metropolises. They have to move to Turkey with their families to avoid being sent to the front lines. Because the Russians who have moved to Turkey come from extremely diverse backgrounds – their unifying quality is their citizenship, which they embrace while living abroad to find community, even though it differentiates them in their homeland.  

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Turkish Nationalism and Palestinian Solidarity

By Soliman Aboutaam

Although I am focusing on Palestinian solidarity in Turkey, it seems that nationalism and Palestinian solidarity are intertwined as two different extensions of a very politically charged city.  

After only two days, I have photographed over 20 different signs and murals that support the Palestinian cause, from the more typical “Free Palestine” posters to pictures of ragged, displaced Gazan children to “Terrorist Israel.” However, between these posters I found hundreds of bright, red Turkish flags and flyers for the upcoming district elections, with zoomed in faces of the candidates. 

The reasons for this physical juxtaposition became more evident after interviewing a number of members of the ultra-nationalist, anti-immigrant “Zafer Partisi” group. When I asked a member about one of their stances on Palestinian solidarity in Turkey, they said that they support the Palestinian people and their fight for freedom, but that letting one million Palestinian refugees into the country, as President Erdogan has proposed, would be a threat to the identity of the Turkish people. 

Similarly, letting Syrians in would also not be ok because “we don’t have enough money to support them…we don’t have enough food and infrastructure.” Another member compared the efforts of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), who they vehemently disapproved of, and called “traitors” with no benefits to their cause, to the actions of Hamas. Yet, they called Hamas freedom fighters and said that they would have fought for them too if born in the same circumstances. Ironically, both groups state the same mission of creating a state for their stateless people.  

It seems that for some in Turkey, Turkish nationalism and considerations of Turkish foreign and domestic policy, outweigh the practicalities of Palestinian refugees, if not the sentiments. 

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Oslo Freedom Forum: Gender and Human Rights

By: Abigail Elsbree

Among the many new concepts that I learned during my three days at the Oslo Freedom Forum, I was particularly interested in the term “gender apartheid.” I first heard it used during an afternoon panel on the first day titled “Iran: The Final Revolution?” Human rights attorney Gissou Nia defined gender apartheid by reminding the audience that an apartheid is “the domination of one group over another in order to cement power relations,” and then adding that in the context of gender, an apartheid is “sex segregation to maintain a regime.” Unfortunately, gender apartheid is currently not criminalized under international law, even though racial apartheid is. However, Nia shared that the Convention on Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity is currently occurring, and with enough advocacy and education, gender apartheid could get included in the convention, and then be used to hold Iran accountable for their heavy repression of Iranian women. 

Another mention of gender apartheid came on day three of the conference, during a conversation between Afghan activist and Hazara woman, Soomaya Javadi, and BBC commentator Suzanne Kianpour. Javadi built the case of an ongoing gender apartheid by providing many examples of the Taliban’s violence and mistreatment toward women, such as the 2020 attack at a maternity hospital in the majority Hazara area of West Kabul, where 16 mothers were killed. Javadi also brought light to a 2022 suicide bombing in a West Kabul classroom that killed 35 Hazara women and girls, as well as her personal experiences being forced to wear a veil. When asked why the Taliban goes after women specifically, Javadi explained that women pose a threat to the Taliban should they gain education and a platform in society to where their voices are heard. In this way, the actions of the Taliban line right up with Nia’s definition of gender apartheid, as the Taliban subjugates women in order to ensure the success of the regime.

After learning about the term gender apartheid, I could not help but consider what other stories from OFF 2023 could possibly fall under the definition as well. In addition to being a racial apartheid and genocide, the Chinese government’s treatment of its Uyghur peoples has put the Uyghur women at the disposal of the CCP. In her remarks on the main stage, Uyghur woman and camp survivor Gulbahar Haitiwaji painfully shared that many Uyghur women are forced to sexually entertain male “Han relatives” who come to Uyghur women’s houses when the men of the family are detained in the camps. This sexual exchange is an example of the Chinese government dominating Uyghurs, and specifically Uyghur women, by forcing them into relations.

Another potential example of gender apartheid may be found in some of the African state where women are not granted property rights. Speaking on a panel about the issue, Atlas group member and Sudanese woman Magatte Wade shared that “if you are about human rights, you must be about property rights,” since disallowing women financial freedoms such as the opportunity to build independent wealth has been demonstrated to keep them in abusive relationships, and push women into deep poverty if they become widowed. Also on the panel, Aimable Manirakiza shared that before his group’s efforts, it was written into Burundi law that women did not have property rights, effectively rendering them second class citizens. In the aftermath of OFF, I plan to look more into the potential for gender apartheid being added into the Convention on Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity. While simply labelling a situation a “gender apartheid” does not automatically push regimes towards equality, it may be a crucial first step toward accountability and justice among the international community.

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Stories and Connections at the Oslo Freedom Forum

By: Michaela Weinstein

Everyone I spoke to this weekend had a story. Some stories were about the innovative, impactful organizations they ran. Some were about how they got there in the first place. Some were the stories they were able to capture on their media platforms, or the stories they were able to support through their international alliances. These captivating stories came to life not only through panels and keynote speeches but also in intimate one-on-one conversations. This quickly became one of the highlights of the conference. What truly stood out was the abundant opportunity we had throughout the event to cultivate personal connections with a multitude of inspiring activists. 

People from all over the human rights spectrum attended; lawyers defending political prisoners, journalists covering war zones and revolutions, tech developers creating innovative solutions for disrupting dictatorial control, heads of opposition parties fighting against tyrannical leaders, researchers exposing human traffickers, and so many other inspiring people. As an Oslo Scholar, these activists were so accessible to learn from and connect with. Merely attending the conference is an amazing experience, but being in the Oslo Scholars program became a platform to connect with other activists while there.  

I also loved spending so much time with the other Oslo Scholars, both from my year and those from previous years. We explored Oslo, swam in the fjords, tried Norwegian snacks  and attempted(and failed miserably) to pronounce Norwegian words on street signs or menus. Having a group to come back to at the end of the day to recuperate and laugh with made the conference that much better, and I’m so excited to see all of them back at Tufts in the fall! 

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ALLIES JRP: Departing Singapore and Reflecting on the Trip

Members of the Joint Research Project in Singapore

By: Caroline Koon

JRP 2023 has come to a close after two and a half weeks abroad. We have said our goodbyes and are now scattered all across the world. But the work is not over—from here, we have weeks of brainstorming, Zoom calls, research coordination, and, of course, writing ahead of us. The final product for JRP is typically a research paper written collaboratively between the three universities, somewhere between 20 and 60 pages. We will at once reflect on our experiences in our host countries and draw conclusions from our research.  

Though the travel aspect of our trip may be over, I am eager to comb through my memories (and notes!) and consider what I have learned. Our group of students have had access to some of the smartest and most experienced people in their respective fields, thanks to the planning, resources, and networks that Tufts, USNA, and USMA furnish. It has been such a privilege to meet and work with these individuals over the past few weeks; I know that, even when our paper has finished and JRP 2023 is wrapped for good, my experiences will continue to inform my perspective, thoughts, and curiosity.