Fraternal Natalism

Demographic Anxieties and the Righteous State in Turkey

Seda Saluk
2023 • Women's Studies International Forum

This article develops the concept of fraternal natalism to examine the long-standing alliances between different state actors in Turkey – governments, physicians, religious authorities, and the military – to build, restore, and consolidate reproductive righteousness. It argues that fraternal natalism relies on a narrative of a national crisis to put forward and justify controversial policies in line with the Turkish state’s reproductive imaginaries. This natalism provokes demographic anxieties about religious and ethnoracialized “others,” casting them as inherently dangerous for the nation’s continuity and security. Looking at these strategies through the lens of fraternal natalism exposes the continuities and disjunctures in reproductive righteousness rather than exceptionalizing particular actors and historical periods. It also reveals how religious rhetoric and constructions of race/ethnicity are mutually foundational in the formation of reproductive politics. Although the article develops the concept through a historical and discursive analysis of reproductive politics in Turkey, it can be applied to other contexts to chart the complex configurations of state actors involved in molding reproductive behaviors and population practices.