Securitization of the Kurds

Yılmaz, İhsan; Shipoli, Erdoan; Demir, Mustafa

doi:10.1007/978-981-99-0506-5_6

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 29 publications

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“…The issue of Kurds in Turkey has long been seen as a security problem by the state, even when the discourse of recognition and democratic opening was introduced in 2009-2013. When there was a reformist shift from the denial to the recognition of ethnic identities, the democratization reform processes and securitization of Kurds in Turkey during this period were not mutually exclusive, and the two aspects of this discourse were almost always carried out simultaneously; however, after the consolidation of power in his hands, Erdogan has changed the course to increase his authority and the democratic reform process has come to an end (Demir 2019;Yilmaz et al 2023a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Authoritarian Use of Religion to Delegitimize and Securitize the Opposition

2023

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This article examines the use of religion by an authoritarian ruling party to delegitimize political opposition through securitization. The case study presented is the ruling AKP in Turkey, which initially promised to desecuritize the Kurdish issue to co-opt the Kurdish opposition but eventually resorted to the demonization narratives and repressive policies of the secular Turkish state; however, in addition to labeling the Kurdish opposition as terrorists, the AKP deployed religion to legitimize its repressive policies on religious grounds. The Turkish case shows that not in legitimizing (via desecuritization), but in delegitimizing opposition (via securitization) religion has been the main tool deployed by the ruling party. This finding needs to be tested in other contexts and cases. Additionally, since this paper only focuses on the narrative of the AKP’s religious delegitimization, further research is needed to measure its efficacy and impact.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%