The politics of identity, recognition and multiculturalism: the Kurds in Turkey

Abstract

The politics of identity and recognition regarding the Kurds in Turkey has gained momentum since 2002 but has never been implemented fully. The rightful critics emphasising the continuity of the State's authoritarian character, however, have not so far analysed if their own normative suggestions are theoretically consistent and sociologically grounded. Based on the Author's fieldwork and contemporary social surveys, this article shows that there are conflicting views within the Kurdish community about the forms that the politics of recognition could take. By exploring the conflicts of interest within the Kurdish community from a bottom‐up approach, the article concludes that the recognition of an authentic Kurdish identity is problematic sociologically. It is also more likely to harm than help the Kurds in the country from a normative perspective. The article explains how the quest for an authentic Kurdish political identity and attempts to generate it actually limit the individual autonomy and exacerbate the disparity between the Turks and the Kurds in the country.

Öğretmenlerin İşitme Engelli Öğrencilerin Yabancı Dil Olarak İngilizce Eğitimine Erişimine İlişkin Görüşleri

“…Türkiye is a republic country in Eurasia with one official and dominant language, Turkish (Constitution of Republic of Türkiye, 1982). Minority languages including Kurdish, Arabic, Zaza, and Armenian are also spoken, and TSL is used by many Deaf individuals (Kuzu, 2016), which makes Türkiye a multilingual country. Other spoken languages are taught as FLs in Türkiye and individuals in the country often consider FL education, which is mainly EFL education, a tool to access economic capital (i.e., having a job in the international market), cultural capital (i.e., accessing knowledge), linguistic capital (i.e., knowledge of a language), and symbolic capital (i.e., having a status or prestige) (Bourdieu, 1991;European Commission, 2017).…”

Federal versus Unitary States: Ethnic Accommodation of Tamils and Kurds

“…45 In the constitution of Turkey there is no recognition of, or reference to, ethnic minorities. 46 Officially, the Turkish state only recognizes non-Muslim communities such as Armenians and Jews as the minorities of Turkey. Since the majority of Turks and Kurds share the same religion, Islam, Kurds were not given any official minority status.…”

The Practice of Political Identity: A Systematic Review

“…However, the effort to be recognized has not been realized because it has been politicized by the Turkic peoples who occupy more strategic positions in the government. This feeling of not being recognized often causes a shift in the public sphere due to national discrimination against the nation (Kuzu, 2016). In Indonesia, the use of political identity is still a common phenomenon.…”