ABSTRACT
The previous chapter clarifies how the dominant identity has emerged in the political realm. Secular and leftist Kurdishness became a hegemonic power in society, particularly after the PKK’s armed struggle during the 1990s. Chapter 7 turns attention to the social construction of EU-ising Kurdishness rhetoric since the early 2000s and evaluates the alternative discourse and articulation of Kurdishness by two main stakeholders of the society: those who embraced conservative Islamic Kurdishness and those who opted for a state-linked or opportunist Kurdishness. Hence, as the Muslim Kurds and ‘white Kurds’, they demanded expansion of the borders of existing political identity, particularly after the 2013 with the HDP. These different socio-political agents internally challenged dominant politics which was forming in an agonistic relationship rather than antagonistic to expand the borders and definition of political Kurdishness. The chapter also focuses on the symbolic impact of the EU’s discursive politics and institutional policy on macro and micro politics as well as indicating the EU-originated opportunity spaces that provided an EU-isation of political Kurdish identity project alongside the inclusive left-wing populism.
