ABSTRACT
History provides many examples of identities, which bind all citizens together, even as they preserve distinct local ethnic identities. After the establishment of Turkish Republic, while most ethnic minorities neither objected nor expressed strong resistance to the national identity of the state, there were some exceptions. The common characteristics of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) terror activities are its rejection of the Turkish 'national identity'. The reasons that led to the emergence of the PKK terror can only be understood in a broader context of the Kurdish problem in Turkey. PKK argues that the Kurds have an independent national identity which is both different from and not part of the Turkish national identity. Although the PKK claims to be a Marxists organization, its struggle is based on ethnic conflict in order to gain some territory and a national identity. The most recent surveys indicate that the PKK recruits many of its members from the lower socio-economic sections of the Kurdish community.
