Anti-gender movement in action in Turkey: a case study on the Big Family Platform (Büyük Aile Platformu)

This study explores the moral-political entrepreneurship strategies of anti-gender movement in Türkiye through a case analysis of the Big Family Platform (Büyük Aile Platformu, BAP). The departure point of BAP is to establish itself as a moral-political authority and mobilize support for its vision of society and nation by generating a ‘neutral, inclusive and nationalist’ approach. The Platform, uniting pro-governmental, nationalist, secular, professional, and women’s organizations, exemplifies how these moral-political entrepreneurs mobilize collective anxieties about family and future generations to bridge ideological boundaries and enhance their political efficacy. Drawing on the unified opposition to the gender ideology, the Platform counters the gender ideology through four interrelated processes: (1) strategic coalition-building across ideological divides, (2) alternative knowledge production through counter-expertise, (3) mobilization of collective anxieties about moral decline and (4) the deployment of missionary expertise that fuses professional credentials with moral imperatives. Ultimately, the Platform’s moral-political entrepreneurship contributes to democratic backsliding by influencing legislative processes and public opinion that challenge gender equality and sexual rights.