Kurdish Question in Turkey

Turkey’s Middle East policy has taken a realist turn in recent years. This article explores this phenomenon in a critical case, i.e., Turkey’s abandonment of a policy of engagement vis-à-vis the Kurdish revisionist actors in Iraq and Syria, and tilt towards a coercive approach including military posturing. In order to explain the drivers of this realist turn, it utilizes a neo-classical realist framework that combines regional and domestic variables. It traces how the fragmentation of the regional order, combined with the rise of new security culture and power bloc domestically, undergirded the reversal in Ankara’s Middle East policy. It concludes with a discussion on the policy implications of this new phase.

As an individual I have many components. I can define myself in many ways depending on the context. I am a homosapien, a monotheist, Yahya’s and Matine’s father, a husband, a Turkish author, a philosopher, a lawyer, a skeptic, a believer, a democrat, a conservative, an American, a political activist, a reformist, a chess-player, a copywriter, a poet, a handyman, a Macintosh user, a teacher, . . . and I am also a Kurd. I am not sure how being a Kurd ranks among the manifold ingredients that makes up my personality, but recently it became one of the important characteristics. Why? Because I have realized that I am denied of this identity. I have also witnessed that many others who share the same culture and heritage are oppressed and killed just because of being born in a Kurdish family.

I am a Kurd who is less articulate in his mother tongue compared to the other four languages that I have learned, namely, Turkish, Arabic, Persian and English. I am a Kurd who lost his 21 years-old brother 19 years ago in Istanbul to the racist bullets of Gray Wolves or Turkish Nationalist militants. (3) I am a Kurd who was put in the same prison, for writing on religious-political issues, with the murderers of his brother and almost lost his life to the knives and teeth of Nationalist Grey Wolves! I am a Kurd who was systematically tortured in Turkish prisons (4) because of refusing to recite the Turkish Anthem that contains lines, such as, “I have lived free since eternity; which psychopath dare to chain me.”(5) I am a Kurd who was compelled to chant “Happy is he who can call himself a Turk”(6) and declare that “A Turk is worth the entire universe”(7) throughout elementary, middle and high-school years.(8) I am a Kurd whose Kurdish father prohibited the Kurdish language at home in order to survive in a city where being Kurd was regarded as being ignorant and lower class.(9) I am a Kurd who now enjoys eating rice with fork, unlike Kurds who prefer a spoon. I am a Kurd who wrote scores of books in Turkish and English, but none in Kurdish.

Le livre d'Adnan Çelik et Namık Kemal Dinç, Diyarbakır 1915, sera bientôt disponible en librairie, traduit en français par les soins d'Ali Terzioglu et Jocelyne Burkmann, et publié par les éditions de L'Harmattan. Etienne Copeaux a participé à cette entreprise par un travail d'édition, d'adaptation et d'annotation pour faciliter la lecture par des non-spécialistes de la Turquie.

While the literature on the relations between historiography and
politics is usually state-centred, literature on the relation between
terrorist organisations and historiography is still being
formulated. While this literature has studied terrorist
organisations such as the IRA and ISIS, the Kurdistan Workers’
Party (PKK) has not been examined sufficiently. In this research,
conducting document analysis, we see how Abdullah Öcalan, the
imprisoned leader of the PKK, uses historical facts in his texts
addressed to varying interlocutors at different times. When these
facts are assessed based on their themes, it is established that
such titles as ‘Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, National Pact, and Republic’
are at the forefront. It is observed that the mentioned historical
facts are being used to create a perception that the PKK is the
continuation of the Kurdish movement from the early twentieth
century and to foster the political motivation of its cadres and
audience. This paper concludes that Öcalan used historical
references to create an image of the state with an unchanging
character from the past in order to prove that the organisation’s
recent political aims are legitimate and necessary.

Turkish nationalism was a latecomer to the Ottoman lands. Defensive in nature, it aimed to deter the disintegration of the Empire at the hands of the Great Powers and the minority groups which had already endorsed nationalist ideals. When this target proved unrealistic, it aimed at the formation of a strong Turkish nation-state. Under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, it proved successful in that aim. The abolition of the Caliphate and the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 launched a rigorous nation-building campaign. The need for national unity and cohesion required an intensive programme of national homogenization. As the large Ottoman non-Muslim populations of Anatolia had been reduced to a numerically insignificant minority by 1923, nation-building efforts could only focus on the Muslim majority of the population. Every Muslim citizen of the Republic, regardless of his ethnic origins, was invited – and obliged – to adopt the republican Turkish national identity. There was no room for separate ethnic or religious groups. Kurdish, Alevi or any other group identities were persistently denied by the state. These efforts were intensified in the aftermath of the 1925 Kurdish insurrection led by Sheikh Said in south-eastern Turkey. The most famous of the measures was a campaign named ‘“Vatandaş, Türkçe konuş!”–“Citizen, speak Turkish!”’. This was launched in 1928 aiming to impose the universal use of Turkish by all minorities, while a series of additional measures aimed to further advance national homogenization. Preventing the formation of villages by non-Turkish-speaking refugees, resettling small groups of non-Turkish-speaking populations in Turkish-speaking villages, emphasizing the honour and benefits of being a Turk and speaking Turkish were all tools in a state effort to bring about the Turkification of Anatolian Kurds, Arabs, Circassians, Laz, Albanians, Roma and other Muslim ethnic groups. Non-Muslims were accepted as separate ethnic groups, but for that very reason, their citizenship rights were often questioned. The denial of the existence of any minorities other than the Istanbul Armenians, Greeks and Jews, which in turn faced persistent discrimination, became one of the cornerstones of Turkish minority policy.3 This nation-building programme met with considerable success until the rise of the Kurdish question in the late 1970s questioned its fundamental premises. Severe repressive measures throughout the 1980s and 1990s did not seem to offer a long-lasting solution; on the contrary, they further alienated Turkey's Kurdish population from the Turkish state. It also reinforced the appeal of the Kurdish Workers' Party (Partiya Karkaren Kurdistan – PKK), a Kurdish secessionist group that had launched guerrilla warfare and terrorist attacks in south-eastern Turkey since the late 1970s.
This study will first focus on the recent reform of minority rights legislation, which was influenced by Turkey's efforts to meet the Copenhagen Criteria4 and start accession negotiations with the European Union. It will then explore a report of a state-affiliated committee, which was prepared in the context of this reform process and sparked a heated and interesting discussion on the reconsideration of Turkish national identity. It will be argued in this study that the suggestion to introduce a new civic Turkish national identity based on citizenship of the Republic of Turkey (Türkiyeli) – instead of the current ethnic one (Türk) – bears strong similarities with the civic identity sponsored by Ottomanism in the late Ottoman era. While Ottomanism attempted to co-opt Ottoman non-Muslim minorities, it is now Turkey's Kurds whose concerns the report is mainly trying to address. Nonetheless, the historic failure of Ottomanism cannot be considered as a clear sign that this new attempt to develop a novel civic national identity in Turkey would fail. The prospect of Turkey's EU membership and the anchor role of the European Union in Turkey's political reform programme create conditions that may assist in the future redefinition of Turkish identity on more liberal and inclusive lines.

This paper focuses on the political participation of Turkey’s two largest minorities, the Kurds and the Alevis. It argues that the political participation of Kurds and Alevis is disproportionately weak compared with their population size both for historical reasons and due to state practices. Creating an environment conducive to strong political participation of Turkey’s Kurds and Alevis will comprise a decisive step in the course of Turkey’s transformation from a procedural to a substantive democracy. Political integration of Kurds and Alevis would also mean the removal of a potential source of domestic conflict and enhance the long‐term stability of the Turkish political system.

Historically known as one of the main Roman cities in the Middle East, Afrin has always been the center for commercial activities as it rises at the border with Turkey and benefits from the passage of the Afrin River. The province of Afrin is mostly populated by the Kurdish community, many of which Christians, who have been controlling and protecting the area since the Syrian government withdrew its forces in 2012. The People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) have since declared a de facto autonomy, controlling the area (often referred to as Rojava – which means “west” in Kurdish) from attacks led by both by the Islamic State and the Turkish military forces.

... pp. 199–278; Ayşe Buğra and Osman Savaşkan, 'Yerel Sanayi Ve Bugünün Türkiyesínde İş Dünyası', Toplum ve Bilim, 118, 2010; Ayşe Buğra, 'The claws of the tigers', Private View, 4, 1997; Pamuk, op. cit. View all notes. . Moreover ...

O fotoğraflar, Terörün Sona Erdirilmesi ve Toplumsal Bütünleşmenin Güçlendirilmesine Dair 6151 sayılı Kanun’un uygulaması olarak Kandil’e resmen yapılmış ziyaretin fotoğrafları. O sırada İmralı’da resmî yetkililer Öcalan’la görüşmekte, milletvekilleri de Kandil’de PKK’yla.

This article deals with the role of judicial mechanisms in the JDP’s approach to the Kurdish issue. Specifically, it examines the KCK case, which began in April 2009 and is still continuing in some courts. The article places this criminal prosecution into a political setting and attempts to construct its political role and meaning. Studying the KCK case as a part of the JDP’s Kurdish policy shows how the government uses both repressive and peaceful means in parallel. Therefore, the article asserts that examining the political role of criminal justice can provide a more comprehensive picture of the JDP’s Kurdish policy in the last decade.

Osmanli Arşiv Belgelerine Göre Resûl Mestî’nin (1823-1908) Hayati ve Eserleri ÖZ
Kürt edebiyatı tarihinde birçok yazar ve şair halen birer isimden ibaret olup onların hayat ve eserlerine dair kayda değer bulgular elde edilememiştir. Bu çalışmada Osmanlı arşiv belgelerinin incelenmesi sayesinde Kürt edebiyatçı, eğitimci, alim ve fizikçi Resûl Mestî’nin hayatının kimi yönlerine ışık tutulmuştur. Osmanlıca belgelere istinaden ilk defa onun hayatının karanlıkta kalan kimi yönleri aydınlığa kavuşturulmuş ve tümüyle belge ve kaynaklara bağlı kalınarak onun basılı ve kayıp eserleri gün yüzüne çıkarılmış ve benzer şekilde onun şiir denemeleri, Şeyh Rızâ Tâlabânî ile olan edebî münasebetleri ve derlenen birkaç şiiri vasıtasıyla bir şair olarak oynadığı rol gösterilmiştir. Öte yandan onun bilimsel mucitlik çabaları ve hayatının eğitim sahasını alakadar eden önemli aşamaları incelenmiş ve bu yolla Kürt toplumu içerisinde eğitim tarihinin ne suretle şekillendiği betimlenmiştir.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Resûl Mestî, Şiir, Fizik, Eğitim, Osmanlı Belgeleri.

Rasul Masti (1823-1908) His Life and Works in Ottoman Archives ABSTRACT
In the history of Kurdish Literature, there are so many authors and writers who are still known by their names, that is, not so much information of their lives and works can be obtained. In this paper, based on the searches in Ottoman Archives, some aspects of Rasul Masti's life are described. Rasul Masti was a Kurdish tutor, educator, scientist, and physicist. The paper attempts to shed a light on his life and works relying on Ottoman Archive documents and references. Also, according to these references and documents, the paper demonstrates his published books and lost works. It also shows his poetic experience, his relation with the poet, Sheikh Razay Talabani through collecting some of his poems. Despite of all that, the paper studies his creative scientific efforts and various stages of his life in education, in this way, it depicts in writing style, the history of education in Kurdish society.
Keywords: Rasul Masti, Poetry, Physics, Education, Ottoman Documents