An inquiry into the linkage among nationalizing policies, democratization, and ethno-nationalist conflict: the Kurdish case in Turkey

This article analyzes the effects of nationalizing policies of the state, processes of democratization, and uneven socio-economic development on the rise of Kurdish ethno-mobilization led by the PKK terrorist organization since the 1980s in Turkey. Three features of the Turkish modernization context...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNationalities papers Vol. 40; no. 1; pp. 45 - 62
Main Author Demet Yalcin Mousseau
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Cambridge University Press 01.01.2012
Subjects
Autocracy
Consociationalism
Culture
Democracy
Democratization
Economic inequality
Ethnic conflict
Ethnic relations
Ethnicity
Ethnonationalism
Human rights
Inequality
International relations
Kurdish people
Middle Eastern cultural groups
Minority & ethnic groups
Minority & ethnic violence
Mobilization
Modernization
Multiculturalism & pluralism
Nation building
Nation states
National identity
Nationalism
Political development
Politics
Population distribution
Population policy
Regions
Rights
Social exclusion
Socioeconomic development
Socioeconomic factors
Terrorism
Terrorist organizations
Switzerland
Turkey
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Summary:This article analyzes the effects of nationalizing policies of the state, processes of democratization, and uneven socio-economic development on the rise of Kurdish ethno-mobilization led by the PKK terrorist organization since the 1980s in Turkey. Three features of the Turkish modernization context are identified as conducive for the rise and continuation of Kurdish ethno-mobilization: a) a nation-building autocratic state that resisted granting cultural rights and recognition for the Kurds; b) democratization with the exclusion of ethnic politics and rights; c) economic regional inequality that coincided with the regional distribution of the Kurdish population. It is argued that autocratic policies of the state during nation-building accompanied the development of an illiberal democracy and intolerance for cultural pluralism. These aspects of Turkish democracy seem to be incompatible with both the liberal and consociational models of democracy that accommodate ethnicity within multiculturalism.
ISSN:0090-5992
1465-3923
DOI:10.1080/00905992.2011.638279