Fruitless Attempts? The Kurdish Initiative and Containment of the Kurdish Movement in Turkey

Casier, Marlies; Jongerden, Joost; Walker, Nic

doi:10.1017/s0896634600005951

Cited by 28 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 15 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…However, this process was undermined by failure to carry out the promised reforms (Amnesty International, ), the disqualification of the democratically elected Kurdish representatives from the parliament (Göçek, ), and the increased number of arrests of Kurdish activists (Casier, Jongerden & Walker, ). These events have led to suspicion regarding the government's promised reforms (Casier et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since 2009 the government has launched the so-called Kurdish 'opening', which aims to grant Kurds more rights (e.g., granting access to Kurdish language television and rights to make political speeches in Kurdish; International Crisis Group, 2011). However, this process was undermined by failure to carry out the promised reforms (Amnesty International, 2012), the disqualification of the democratically elected Kurdish representatives from the parliament (Göçek, 2011), and the increased number of arrests of Kurdish activists (Casier, Jongerden & Walker, 2011). These events have led to suspicion regarding the government's promised reforms (Casier et al, 2011).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The downsides of national identification for minority groups in intergroup conflicts in assimilationist societies

Bilali

2012

British J Social Psychol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The current study considered the downsides of national identification for minority groups in intergroup conflicts in assimilationist societies. This study examined how, in the Turkish national context, the national and ethnic identifications of ethnic Turks (N = 103) and ethnic Kurds (N = 58) predict construals (i.e., conflict frames, attributions of responsibility, and severity of harm) of Turkish-Kurdish conflict. The results indicated that, across groups, a shared national identification was associated with similar conflict construals in line with the official Turkish narrative, whereas ethnic identification was associated with opposing conflict construals that might help maintain the conflict. However, the conflict narrative related to national identification might produce a shared understanding of the conflict (i.e., more intergroup harmony) at the cost of neglecting the minority group's grievances in the conflict and legitimizing the status-quo, thus hindering efforts to enhance the minority group's disadvantaged status.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The downsides of national identification for minority groups in intergroup conflicts in assimilationist societies

Bilali

2012

British J Social Psychol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In 2005 there were 273 terror convicts in Turkey’s prisons; that number had reached 12,897 in 2011 (Insel, : 34; Iğsız, ). A significant percentage of these convictions were of Kurdish activists and politicians, who were accused of being members of the Koma Civaken Kurdistan (Kurdistan Communities Union, KCK), an umbrella pro‐Kurdish liberation movement organization that includes the outlawed Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (Kurdistan Workers Party, PKK) (Bayır, ; Casier et al ., ).…”

Section: Turkey’s Anti‐terror Lawmentioning

confidence: 97%

Urban Vigilantism: A Study of Anti‐Terror Law, Politics and Policing in Istanbul

Yonucu

2018

Int J Urban Regional Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Focusing on the case of young socialist vigilantes who were arrested and imprisoned as ‘terrorists’ in 2007, this article illustrates how vigilantism in working‐class neighbourhoods of Istanbul with a high Alevi population evolved from an unarmed, public and participatory form of vigilantism to an armed one, and discusses the role of the anti‐terror law in this transformation. The article illustrates the ways in which the anti‐terror law, by narrowing the space for civil politics, paved the way for youth engagement in violent forms of extra‐legal security practice in spaces occupied by the historically stigmatized working‐class Alevi population. The article also argues that, over the last decade, Turkey’s ruling elites have used the anti‐terror law to wage a war against the oppositional politics conducted by the country’s historically stigmatized populations (such as Kurds and Alevis). Not only has this war put politically active and respected local figures from these communities behind bars, it also ‘polices’ (à la Rancière) these communities. Accordingly, the article illustrates how the law that considers attempts at self‐governance as a threat to state sovereignty effectively intervenes in local politics and space, leading to the reconfiguration of political space at the local level.

show abstract

“…Self-administration had been already practised for several years since the mid-2000s at a developmental level, sometimes under huge duress (Casier, Jongerden, and Walker 2011). By the end of 2015, the dimension of selfdefence came to the fore, when youngsters started to dig ditches as barricades in response to threats, security operations and eventually the full-fledged urban war we have seen in several cities in the southeast of Turkey, particularly in Diyarbakir (the Sur district), Cizre (Cudi, Nur and Yafes), Nusaybin and Şırnak but also in other cities, notably, Silopi, Silvan and Yüksekova.…”

Section: Transitional Justice Beyond the Statementioning

confidence: 99%

Looking beyond the state: transitional justice and the Kurdish issue in Turkey

Jongerden

2017

Ethnic and Racial Studies

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Transitional justice has been promoted as an approach to peace through a strengthening of the democratic rule of law, including a recognition of the rights of victims and the promotion of trust in legal mechanisms, to deal with legacies of violence and repression. A main critique of the transitional justice approach is that it leaves untouched the injustices underlying conflict and the structural causes of abuse. This article looks at ways in which the state in Turkey applied a transitional justice approach to the Kurdish issue, focusing on how it handled the legacy of forced migration and village evacuations from the 1990s. These state remedies to deal with forced migration ignored political dimensions and continued injustices. Against this context, it is argued that the concept of self-administration as it emerged in the course of the struggle of the Kurdish movement may be considered as a form of "do-ityourself" transitional justice.

show abstract

Fruitless Attempts? The Kurdish Initiative and Containment of the Kurdish Movement in Turkey

Abstract: Following the victory of the Kurdish party DTP (Demokratik Toplum Partisi, Democratic

Cited by 28 publications

References 15 publications

The downsides of national identification for minority groups in intergroup conflicts in assimilationist societies

The downsides of national identification for minority groups in intergroup conflicts in assimilationist societies

Urban Vigilantism: A Study of Anti‐Terror Law, Politics and Policing in Istanbul

Looking beyond the state: transitional justice and the Kurdish issue in Turkey

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About