Abstract:

Agricultural workers and producers are capable of organizing demonstrations against the public authorities from time to time due to the unfavorable living and working conditions they are in. Considering comparatively the general outlook and farmer movements in Turkey and the European Union (the EU) is significant for understanding the rural movements. The aim of this study is to contribute to the literature by examining economical conditions and living standards of the farmers in Turkey and the EU and relatively analyzing the impact of these criteria on rural movements in these countries. Resident farmers of EU countries live in much better conditions than Turkey’s. Despite that fact, European farmers are much more active than Turkish farmers in claiming their rights. This situation leads to relative inactivity of farmers movement in Turkey compared to the actions of European farmers. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic that started in late 2019 has put the agricultural workers and producers in Turkey and the EU in a difficult situation. Farmers in the EU countries have organized many demonstrations to demand the problems caused by the pandemic to be solved. However, rural movements in Turkey have remained relatively weak than the farmer movements in the EU countries. In order to illustrate that situation, both Turkey and the EU are examined as two actors that have got different levels of agricultural development and farmer profile. It seems that although the agricultural policies applied by the EU are more supportive than the ones in Turkey, the EU farmers tend to participate in rural movements more. In this study, qualitative research methods were used in the form of examining written documents, especially newspaper reports and academic articles.

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