ABSTRACT

Almost three decades have passed since political violence erupted in Turkey’s south-eastern regions, where the majority of Turkey’s approximately 20 million Kurds live. In 1984, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) initiated an insurgency which intensified in the following decades and continues to this day. Kurdish regions in Turkey were under military rule for more than a decade and the conflict has cost the lives of 45,000 people, including soldiers, guerrillas and civilians. The complex issue of the Kurdish Question in Turkey is subject to comprehensive examination in this book.

This interdisciplinary edited volume brings together chapters by social theorists, political scientists, social anthropologists, sociologists, legal theorists and ethnomusicologists to provide new perspectives on this internationally significant issue. It elaborates on the complexity of the Kurdish question and examines the subject matter from a number of innovative angles.

Considering historical, theoretical and political aspects of the Kurdish question in depth and raising issues that have not been discussed sufficiently in existing literature, this book is an invaluable resource for students and scholars of Nationalism and Conflict, Turkish Politics and Middle Eastern politics more broadly.

chapter |20 pages

Introduction

Turkey and the Kurds

chapter 3|21 pages

Mobilising the Kurds in Turkey

Newroz as a myth 1

chapter 4|25 pages

State sovereignty and the politics of fear

Ethnography of political violence and the Kurdish struggle in Turkey

chapter 6|25 pages

Taking to the streets!

Kurdish collective action in Turkey

chapter 7|24 pages

Repression or reform?

An analysis of the AKP's Kurdish language policy

chapter 8|19 pages

Confederalism and autonomy in Turkey

The Kurdistan Workers' Party and the reinvention of democracy 1

chapter 11|13 pages

Elimination or integration of pro-Kurdish politics

Limits of the AKP's democratic initiative 1

chapter 12|24 pages

Political reconciliation in Turkey

Challenges and prospects