The encounter of Kurdish women with nationalism in Turkey

Kurdish women in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict – perceptions, experiences, and strategies

“…39 Those women who manage to become politically active do so by developing strategies and practices that are context specific, but not all women can become politicians. 40 In the 1980s and 1990s, women also started to participate in the PKK guerillas to such a degree that the gender composition of the Kurdish movement in general dramatically changed, as up to one-third of the fighters were women.…”

“…7 However, after the Turkish republic was established in 1923, the Kemalist modernization project 'aimed to create an ethnically, linguistically and culturally homogeneous nation and nation-state out of the remnants of the Ottoman Empire'. 8 Turkey was argued to be populated only by Turks, leaving Turkish as the only official language. For example, Kurds were not allowed CONTACT Marco Nilsson marco.nilsson@ju.se to give their children Kurdish names and were denied the right to education in their native language.…”

“…13 For example, M. Y€ uksel argued that Kurdish women became 'doubly marginalized' as, on the one hand, their ethnic identity was crushed and, on the other, they became relatively disadvantaged compared with Turkish women who could benefit from the modernizing republican reforms. 14 Many studies have considered only the voices of politically active Kurdish women. 15 However, a growing body of research has also analyzed ordinary people's life stories, 16 the use of melodized speech to express grief, 17 Kurdish women's strategies for coping with violence related to the Anfal campaign in Northern Iraq, 18 violence against the spouses of the Peshmerga, 19 and the relationship between post-traumatic stress and forced migration among Kurdish women in Turkey.…”

“…14 Many studies have considered only the voices of politically active Kurdish women. 15 However, a growing body of research has also analyzed ordinary people's life stories, 16 the use of melodized speech to express grief, 17 Kurdish women's strategies for coping with violence related to the Anfal campaign in Northern Iraq, 18 violence against the spouses of the Peshmerga, 19 and the relationship between post-traumatic stress and forced migration among Kurdish women in Turkey. 20 Experiences of violence arguably help frame what it means to be a Kurd at both the individual and collective levels.…”

Women in Transnational Migrant Activism: Supporting Social Justice Claims of Homeland Political Organizations

“…41, 47). Gradually, Kurdish women became active in political parties like DEHAP and gained public visibility in a number of organizations (Diner & Toktaş, 2010, p. 49;Yüksel, 2006).…”