View source for Ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi (Turkey)

{{infobox
| nameofpractice = Ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi
| flagemoji = 🇹🇷
| definition = A close fraternity entailing mutual support and exchange of favours, associated with friendship established in school, college or army
| location = Turkey
| imagemap = Turkey map.png
| clusters = [[:Category: Redistribution|Redistribution]] – [[:Category: Solidarity| Solidarity]] – [[:Category: Lock-in effect| Lock-in effect]]
| categories = [[:Category: Turkey|Turkey]] – [[:Category: Europe| Europe]] – [[:Category: Middle East| Middle East]] – [[:Category: Friendship| Friendship]] – [[:Category: Reciprocity| Reciprocity]] – [[:Category: Favour| Favour]] – [[:Category: Ties| Ties]] – [[:Category: Cronyism| Cronyism]] – [[:Category: Elite| Elite]] – [[:Category: Political party| Political party]] – [[:Category: Problem-solving| Problem-solving]] – [[:Category: Personal connections| Personal connections]]
| authorofpiece = Semih Ergelen
| authorinstitution = Sakarya Business School, Sakarya University, Turkey
| authorwebsite = [http://semihergelen.sakarya.edu.tr/en/iletisim Profile page at SU]
}}
<big>'''By Semih Ergelen, Sakarya Business School, Sakarya University, Turkey'''</big>
[[Category: Redistribution]]
[[Category: Solidarity]]
[[Category: Lock-in effect]]
[[Category: Turkey]]
[[Category: Europe]]
[[Category: Middle East]]
[[Category: Friendship]]
[[Category: Reciprocity]]
[[Category: Favour]]
[[Category: Ties]]
[[Category: Cronyism]]
[[Category: Elite]]
[[Category: Political party]]
[[Category: Problem-solving]]
[[Category: Personal connections]]
[[Category: Entry]]
[[Category: 2019 entry]]
{| class="wikitable"
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|style="font-size:1.1em;"| ''Ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi'' is a reliable and intimate relationship among individuals who share a common background, e.g. friendship established in school, college or army. The Arabic word ''ahbap'' means ‘beloved ones’ (Nişanyan 2009: 9) and is synonymous with pal, crony, buddy or fellow in Turkish. Çavuş refers to a military rank equivalent to sergeant but can be applied more generally, for example to refer to work supervisors ''Ilişki'' means 'relationship'. An ''ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi'' is hierarchical as well as peer-based and entails both vertical and informal exchange of favours. Although the duration of military service has been gradually reducing since 1963, Turkey continues to enlist its army through conscription. Military recruits establish strong bonds due to the considerable amount of time spent together and these bonds persist even after the recruits leave the army. They share memories and maintain relationships for the rest of their lives. 
|}
In a nutshell, ''ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi'' is best represented with the phrase:  ‘He/she is one of my good friends or acquaintances, so consider it done!’ Benefits from these close relationships may include overcoming bureaucratic and legal hindrances or finding alternative solutions to problems for which those in need lack competence. Nevertheless, reciprocity, or mutual obligation, plays a pivotal role in such relationships. If an individual wants to benefit from a close tie, they should feel obliged to return the favour in the future. ''Ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi'' is similar to ‘You scratch my back, I scratch yours’. Once this relationship is established, there will be expectations of future favours, in line with individuals' abilities. There are considerable similarities between ''ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi'' in Turkey and the uses of informal networks elsewhere. Notably, ''ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi'' is similar to Chinese [[guanxi]] in that it requires mutual obligation, reciprocity and emotional attachment based on friendship (Provis 2008; Tong 2014). Just as in ''guanxi'', a shared biographical path of attending college or army generates friends essential for a future instrumental use. The Chilean practice [[compadrazgo]] is similarly based on exchanging favours motivated by a friendship ideology, yet also instrumental. Like the acquaintance support used to avoid formal procedures of the Russian [[blat]], ''ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi'' serves people when formal procedures do not. The differences between ''ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi'' in Turkey and analogous informal practices in other societies are likely to be based on the scale and functions in economy, politics and society on the one hand, and the degree of obligation and acceptance on the other. Such comparisons are yet to be made, to establish the [[:Category:Redistribution|ratio of sociability to instrumentality]] of ''ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi'' practices and to establish their context-sensitive implications (Ledeneva, 2018).  

''Ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi'' has negative connotations and is associated with corruption in Turkish politics. The term ''crony capitalism'' is translated into Turkish as ''ahbap-çavuş kapitalizmi''. Despite being characterized as an illegal and indecent activity, ''ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi'' is widely practiced by Turkish politicians. One politician gave this statement before the 2018 local elections: ‘This election, in any manner, is not going to be a kind of “my friend, my acquaintance” election and there will be no ''ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi''. We need to nominate candidates who are decent and principled in the eyes of the public’ (Yolculuk 2018). Yet these negative perceptions often depend on ideological stances, as well as positions of being an insider or outsider in ''ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi''. For example, a member or proponent of the ruling party might regard ''ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi'' as highly effective and instrumental to get things done. On the contrary, their opponent will regard ''ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi'' as corruption or a violation of people’s rights. Such double standards are fundamental to partiality and particularism in politics. Reviewing public-private relationships and public procurement agreements reveals how ''ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi'' permeates the Turkish bureaucratic and political system (Buğra and Savaşkan 2015). ''Ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi'' can have terrible consequences for those outside the inner circle. Some claimed that Soma mine disaster which resulted in the death of 301 miners in 2014 was a typical example of ''ahbap-çavuş'' capitalism in Turkey. Due to close relationships between statesmen and managers, safety conditions were poor and regulations ignored, which resulted in disaster (Eğilmez, 2014). 

''Ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi'' is related to the Turkish informal social network, [[torpil]]. Some suggested that ineffective formal institutions are one of the main reasons why Turkish citizens adopt ''torpil'' (Yay 2018: 216), yet ''torpil'' could better be characterized as a consequence of ''ahbap-çavuş'' relationships. Friendships and close ties create ''ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi'' and may lead to ''torpil'' relations in a ‘knock-on effect’. In contrast, ''torpil'' relations between parties do not necessarily lead to ''ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi''. If pushed to make a distinction, ''torpil'' may be considered as more instrumental than ''ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi''. Social and instrumental aspects are interrelated in both ''torpil'' and ''ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi'', and context-bound, thus making clear-cut categorisations problematic. Turkish people generally perceive ''ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi'' as a close friendship established for mutual benefits between two parties, while ''torpil'' is more likely to be seen as a one-sided benefit based on protection. An example of ''ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi'' would be a chief of police who may overlook a head physician’s traffic ticket for the sake of their warm friendship. In return, when the police chief needs a treatment in the hospital, the head physician provides whatever necessary even if that infringes on other patients’ rights. People who benefit from ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi in this kind of a situation, tend to say that ‘This is Turkey and this is how things work here’. An example of ''torpil'' would be the acquiaintance of influential people such as Members of Parliament that gives a jobseeker competitive advantage over other candidates. 

In social contexts and in the private domain, there are no negative connotations of ''ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi''. Sezen Aksu, a prominent Turkish lyricists and musical composer, draws on the positive side of the practice in her song [https://youtu.be/deScooa3lGo ''‘Ahbap Çavuşlar’'']. In a part about the intimate relationship of ''ahbap'' and ''çavuşlar'', she sings: ‘Let them fill glasses in honour of love, heartbreaks and memories, let ''ahbap'' and ''çavuşlar'' sit in the quietest corner, and let them booze.’ The strong and affectionate relationship does not need to be negative for those outside the inner circle. ''Ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi'' is ambivalent just as other practices associated with the use of informal networks. ''Ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi'' cannot be conceptualized as good or bad in itself, it is context-bound. It is essential to assess both dark and bright sides of these practices in order to gain a better understanding of it and to explore the economic, political and normative contexts that mould such relationships. The difference of insider/outsider perspectives, and the double standards emerging from switching from one perspective to another, provide us with the key for understanding how such practices can be criticised, yet also pervasive. For insiders, ''ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi'' can be perceived as problem-solving device or a last resort, while for outsiders, it will be seen as taking advantage of this relationship, gaining access through unethical, if not corrupt, roots. In brief, ''ahbap-çavuş ilişkisi'' could be functional for problem solving processes but it could inevitably lead to corruption when misused.