Turkish has an expression, ismiyle müsemma, for someone or something whose name perfectly matches its nature. Mine Dilan Kıran’s new book from NotaBene, AKP, Trade Unionism and Politics: Trade Unionism in the Grip of Neoliberalism and Conservatism, calls for a slight variation: here, the cover perfectly captures the book. AKP stands for the Justice and Development Party.

Both the photograph and the title convey the central argument with unusual force. Eleven men in suits stand in a row in a formal hall: the president, ministers, leaders of employers’ organisations and the union officials they deem “acceptable”. Not a single dissident or critical unionist appears among them. Nor does a single woman.

Union leaders posing in line with employers and the state provide an emblem of the union regime examined in the book. State-steered, mainstream, compliant and male-dominated trade unionism could hardly be captured more succinctly. Credit to the photographer and to the author who chose the image for her cover.

Unionists once came together under the umbrella of the Labour Platform, Emek Platformu, as representatives of labour organisations. Today, “acceptable” union leaders regard posing with government and employer representatives as an achievement. That is the essence of the new regime.

The word “grip” in the subtitle also finds its visual expression here: unionists appear caught between political power and capital. Do not be misled by the awkward positions of some of the figures at the edge of the photograph: that is only the surface appearance. The image captures Turkish trade unionism in the grip of neoliberalism and conservatism. Both cover and title fit the book’s substance.

Turkey has a substantial literature on unions and politics, beginning with Alpaslan Işıklı’s Trade Unionism and Politics and enriched by later studies. Most of it, however, concerns the period before AKP rule. No monograph had examined almost a quarter-century of that rule from start to finish through the relationship between unions and politics. Dilan’s book fills the gap. Based on research recognised in the “Commendable Doctoral Thesis” category of the 2025 Prof. Dr. Cahit Talas Social Policy Awards, it has been extensively revised for publication.

Three parts and two phases

The book has three parts. The first establishes its conceptual framework: the “contradictory relationship” between neoliberalism and conservatism. This relationship resembles a poisonous vine entwining politics, the economy and working life. Kıran reads it as a distinctively Turkish synthesis, encompassing the trajectory from Millî Görüş, or National Outlook, to “conservative democracy”, neoliberal populism and authoritarianisation.

One of the most striking passages describes “conservative democracy” as the AKP’s “ideological armour”. Two further concepts stand out: “the construction of consent” and an “authoritarian labour regime”. These underpin the analysis throughout the book.

The second part provides the historical background. It begins with the early republic and single-party rule, when trade unionism was placed under a state ideology that denied class conflict. It moves through 1946–1960 and 1960–1980, the 12 September 1980 coup and the ANAP years, the coalitions of the 1990s and the 28 February 1997 process. This establishes the basis for asking whether AKP rule marks a break or a new version of a long tradition of tutelage.

The third part forms the book’s core. Kıran examines union membership trends, the organisational rapprochement between the AKP and the Hak-İş confederation, and a regime of “trade unionism without strikes”. She also discusses government-imposed strike postponements, Law No. 6356 and the parliamentary role of MPs with union backgrounds. Here, the cover photograph receives its analytical explanation: who was strengthened and who was excluded becomes clear.

The book divides AKP rule into two phases. From 2002 to 2010, unions occasionally called for joint struggle, while the government sought compromise while keeping some distance from the unions. This discussion includes union responses to the parliamentary motion of 1 March 2003 concerning the Iraq war and to social security reform.

Kıran calls 2010–2023 “a new period of union tutelage and an authoritarian labour regime”. Its landmarks include the 2010 and 2017 constitutional referendums, the attempted coup of 15 July 2016 and the state of emergency, OHAL, the Gezi protests and Turkey’s representation crisis at the International Labour Organization.

This periodisation is not merely chronological. It identifies the institutional and legal changes that transformed relations between unions and political power.

More members do not necessarily mean greater strength

One of the book’s sharpest analytical strengths is its refusal to take official statistics at face value. Union membership rates appear to have risen under the AKP. Kıran shows that much of this increase came from bringing public-sector subcontracted workers onto the permanent payroll, rather than genuine organisational strengthening. Growing membership and an inability to strike, combined with weaker collective bargaining power, are two sides of the same picture. “Trade unionism without strikes” aptly captures the contradiction.

Political representation receives equally careful attention. Data on the position and influence of unionist MPs reveal how limited labour’s representation remains, and how dependent it is on the ruling party. Kıran examines the responses of each union confederation. Comparing their positions in elections, referendums and Gezi also brings into view those absent from the line-up on the cover.

The book deserves to become a reference for unionists as well as researchers in labour history, industrial relations and political sociology. Kıran’s own union experience and her work for the journal Çalışma ve Toplum, or Labour and Society, bring a practical sensitivity rarely found in research confined to the library.

As the supervisor of the doctoral thesis on which the book is based, I recommend it to anyone seeking to understand the relationship between trade unionism and politics under the AKP.

Kıran, Mine Dilan (2026). AKP, Sendikacılık ve Siyaset: Neoliberalizm ve Muhafazakârlık Kıskacında Sendikacılık. NotaBene Yayınları, Istanbul, October 2026. 328 pages.

Source: BirGün.