Understanding today’s Kurdish movement: Leftist heritage, martyrdom, democracy and gender

Casier, Marlies; Jongerden, Joost

doi:10.4000/ejts.4656

Cited by 18 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…55 This change was the result of both external factors such as the fall of the Soviet Union and the lack of international support and internal factors such as the ideological evolution of Abdullah Ocalan and the internal debates within the PKK. 56 In parallel to suppressing the Kurdish insurgency and fully in line with the objective of depriving the Kurds of any ground for recognition, Turkey left the Kurds little institutional and economic space. The Turkish electoral system was restricted to the pro-Kurdish legal political parties since the 1980 military coup, when a 10% election threshold was introduced.…”

Section: Kurds In Turkeymentioning

confidence: 99%

Federal versus Unitary States: Ethnic Accommodation of Tamils and Kurds

O’Driscoll

Costantini

2020

Nationalism and Ethnic Politics

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This article contributes to the debate on whether federalism leads to ethnic accommodation and is peace-preserving through comparing the methods of ethnic accommodation in federal and unitary states. Rather than focusing on a large dataset, this article offers an in-depth picture of the role the two systems play in ethnic accommodation, offering a more nuanced understanding. The Kurds (Iraq and Turkey) and Tamils (India and Sri Lanka) have been chosen as they form territorial minorities in both federal and unitary states. The article suggests that federalist states offer a degree of acceptance toward political, cultural and economic equality with ethnic minorities. However, federalism may not be the cause of ethnic accommodation; it may be on the one hand the expression of a state willing to concede cultural, political and economic equality to an ethnic minority, or on the other hand induce such behavior. Thus, federalism without recognition of such equality does not guarantee ethnic accommodation.

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Section: Kurds In Turkeymentioning

confidence: 99%

Federal versus Unitary States: Ethnic Accommodation of Tamils and Kurds

O’Driscoll

Costantini

2020

Nationalism and Ethnic Politics

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“…Although there is a convincing resemblance between indigenous rights movements and the Kurdish movement, indigenous literature has not recognised Kurds as indigenous, and nor has a considerable proportion of the extant literature on Kurds included an indigenous aspect. Instead, it has been studied under the umbrella of a "social movement", specifically what is known as the "Kurdish movement" (Balci 2015), and recently as the "Kurdish political movement or activism" (Gunes 2007) or the "Kurdish issue or struggle" (Gambetti, Jongerden 2011;Casier, Jongerden 2012).…”

Section: Kurdish Political Movementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indigeneity Discourse within Kurdish Political Movement

Unal¹

2017

SCU

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This research looks at the indigenous, aspect of the Kurds and how indigenousness is expressed within the Kurdish political movement that has been paid limited attention. As this research addresses the differences between these two notions, it will be making a significant contribution on the indigenousness of Kurds that have been either widely seen as ethnic minority in the Middle East or their existence have been denied. I aim to draw scholarly attention to indigeneity discourse to address, in particular, the self-determination claim that is considered the most debated claim of indigenous peoples as self-determination, which is in the Kurdish context, one of the key demand of the Kurdish struggle is also defined as 'democratic autonomy/democratic confederalism' that was recognised by the United Nations in 2007 as one of the key rights of Indigenous Peoples.

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“…In 1984 it started to use guerrilla warfare, which intensified in the following decades. In the 1990s and 2000s, the Kurdish movement developed a post-Marxist political discourse and built political alliances with leftist parties while consciously trying not to estrange religious-inspired organisations (Casier and Jongerden, 2012), and emphasised gender and environmental dimensions similar to the Green Movement in Europe.…”

Section: The Kurdish Movement and Women's Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strong in the Movement, Strong in the Party: Women’s Representation in the Kurdish Party of Turkey

Mencütek

2015

Political Studies

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This article shows how extant theories on women's representation in parties can only partially explain the Kurdish ethno-nationalist party's exceptional level of women's descriptive representation vis-à-vis the Turkish average. It demonstrates that women's very high level of representation in the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) can be better understood by examining the interaction between party-related and movement-related factors. Drawing on extensive empirical research, the study demonstrates that the party's leftist ideology, along with the mobilisation strategies and needs of the movement, have had a decisive impact in creating the conditions for women's self-assertion and their taking positions of power within the party, including the adoption and scrupulous implementation of a voluntary party gender quota. The study suggests that, in the case of parties closely tied to broader social movements, it is the relationship between the two organisations (party and movement), rather than just the former, that should be analysed. This is particularly evident in the case of ethno-nationalist parties that emanate from highly mobilised or even armed movements.Women continue to be under-represented as voters, elected officials and political leaders in many countries in spite of a rising global trend in the last two decades. Studying the various factors and mechanisms that affect women's representation in political institutions remains crucial for understanding and perhaps for improving contemporary democracies. The growing scholarship on gender and politics demonstrates that women's political representation varies dramatically across countries and often in parties within the same country. This article aims to contribute to the debate on women and politics, with particular reference to the role of political parties regarding intra-country variations in women's descriptive representation. Focusing on the case of the Kurdish ethno-nationalist party in Turkey, currently called the 'Peace and Democracy Party' (BDP, Barış ve Demokrasi Partisi), 1 this article shows how extant theories can only partially explain this party's exceptional level of women's descriptive representation vis-à-vis the Turkish average. This case is particularly puzzling for two reasons. First, scholars working on gender and nationalism have largely regarded the latter to be an ideology at odds with gender balance and women's emancipation in the political sphere (EnloeArticle Sahin-Mencutek 471 representation in the BDP can be fully understood by examining the interaction between party ideology and the mobilisation strategies of the ethno-nationalist movement. Combining with the fertile ground provided by the party's leftist ideology, the mobilisation strategies and needs of the broader ethno-nationalist Kurdish movement have had a decisive impact in creating the conditions for women's self-assertiveness and their taking positions of power within the party, including the adoption and scrupulous implementation of a voluntary party gender quota.This case ...

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Understanding today’s Kurdish movement: Leftist heritage, martyrdom, democracy and gender

Cited by 18 publications

References 13 publications

Federal versus Unitary States: Ethnic Accommodation of Tamils and Kurds

Federal versus Unitary States: Ethnic Accommodation of Tamils and Kurds

Indigeneity Discourse within Kurdish Political Movement

Strong in the Movement, Strong in the Party: Women’s Representation in the Kurdish Party of Turkey

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