Five stages of the construction of Kurdish nationalism in Turkey

Moving toward Theory for the 21st Century: The Centrality of Nonwestern Semiperipheries to World Ethnic/Racial Inequality

“…Despite their optimism, neither democratic nor socialist countries have eliminated ethnic/racial inequality and exploitation historically (Olzak and Tsutsui 1998;Yavuz 2001). Furthermore, semiperipheral ethnic minorities have been excluded from "democratizing" states just as they were marginalized from the previous regimes (e.g., Noonan 1995;Kadouf 2001;Nettles 2007).…”

The Turn to Violence in the Kurdish-Turkish conflict

“…After over 40 years of violence, one sometimes loses sight of the reason the violence originally erupted. In analysing this issue, different scholars have pointed at the grievances -meaning the resentment caused by feelings of being wronged-among the Kurdish population against the Turks and the Turkish state, as a result of structural discrimination against the Kurdish ethnic minority (see, among others, Yavuz, 2001;Saatci, 2002;Yegen, 2007). However, while these grievances were present from the start of the 20th century, it was only in 1984 that the Kurdish-Turkish conflict became a violent conflict.…”

“…The high levels of oppression of the state created a feeling among many Kurds that they had only two options left: either to move to Europe as refugees and start a new life, or to resort to action to remedy the situation. There was a feeling of urgency to change the situation now in order to avoid complete oppression, which was used by the PKK to recruit people to join their fight (Yavuz, 2001). While democratic means did not seem to have changed much during the past decades, the PKK offered opportunities for immediate action and heroism, which promised to have a much more direct result than the more moderate approaches.…”

“…It identified Kurdish nationalism as a disruptive force and aimed at its elimination. The regime introduced a highly repressive language law (Law 2932) that extended the power of the state: by prohibiting the use of the Kurdish language entirely, it could not only curb public cultural activities of the Kurds, but also those in the private sphere (Yavuz, 2001). Moreover, many Kurds suspected of activism were imprisoned under extremely bad circumstances, including torture (Gunes, 2013).…”

Resurgence and Remaking of Identity

“…It refers to discursive changes but makes little systematic attempt to measure them, identify the triggering events and causal mechanisms, and derive theory and policy implications (Barkey & Fuller, 1998;Gunter, 1997;Kadíog* lu, 1997;Kasaba, 2001;Kiris7 çi & Winrow, 1997;Yavuz, 2001). Alternatively, it is focused on the state's discourse and ideology rather than the society's (Sakallíog* lu, 1996;Yeg* en, 1996).…”