The Kurdish Question, which dates back to the Ottoman Era, has been a constituent element of narratives of Turkish nationalism for the past 30 years. The Kurdish Question stands as the most prominent “other” of Turkish nationalism. The members of two groups, Kurds and Turks, became highly politicised throughout 30 years of internal conflict and through their daily encounters, giving way to a constant redefinition of the understanding of nationalism and ethnicity. The encounters and experiences of these two groups have facilitated the development of various narrative forms of personal nationalism in daily life. Accordingly, the daily manifestations of the Kurdish Question and Turkish nationalism have grown as an object of academic interest. The question of how ordinary people produce – and are produced in – personal narratives of nationalism is a subject that still needs to be addressed, and this thesis aims to fill this gap by examining the notion of “personal narratives”. Analysing nationalism through personal narratives enables us to see how hegemonic nationalist ideology is reproduced and practiced by individuals through various dynamics. The thesis finds that the determining theme in the personal narratives of Turks and Kurds follows fundamentally the official ideology of the state about the Kurds, which is based principally on „a strategy of denial‟. The macro political transformations of the 2000s and the increased potential of encountering the “other” in daily life underline the challenging nature of this ideological strategy of denial. Herein, while the Turkish participants define themselves as the benevolent party in their nationalist narratives, they mark Kurdish people as terrorists, separatists and primitives. In contrast, the narratives of the Kurdish participants are characterised by the adoption of a “self-defence” strategy against the dominant negative perceptions of Turkish society about their culture: they assert that they are in fact not ignorant; not terrorists; not disloyal citizens, and so on. The narratives of the Turkish participants about the ethnic “other”, the Kurds, generally follow a strategy of contempt and accusation; yet personal experiences give them the opportunity to politicise the problem on different grounds by empathising or humanising. On the Kurdish side, the subjects of the personal narratives are more often the state and the army than Turkish individuals, and again they construct a narrative that endeavours to reverse the dominant negative perceptions about Kurds. They attempt to negate the denial strategy through both collective and personal stories of the discrimination they have experienced over the years and generations. Vital questions such as through which mechanisms of resistance do ordinary people construct and practice their ethnic identities, again become visible through their personal narratives.

Despite the vast research on the protracted conflict between the PKK and the Turkish state, recent battles in the South-East of Turkey have increased the anti-Kurdish attitudes and discourses in Turkish society. I argue that Kurdish marginalized individuals conflict understandings are silenced in the Turkish social and political landscape.This study examines how Kurdish social identities narrate their conflict understanding between Kurds and Turks. The aim is to get a deeper understanding of the Kurdish participant’s feelings, attitudes, experiences and perspectives in an intergroup environment. This study contributes to the knowledge of intergroup relations and tensions in the Turkish social setting and sheds light into out-group prejudice and discrimination in Turkey. The study uses a theoretical framework linking peace and conflict theories such as prejudice, discrimination, in-group and out-group, enemy images, cultural- structural and direct violence, intergroup contact theory and reconciliation. The dataset consists of sixteen semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted in three different cities in Turkey; Ankara, Diyarbakir and Istanbul. The interview material was analyzed through a thematic analysis with a qualitative approach. The research found that the identifying characteristics of being a Kurd in today’s Turkey are to fight against injustice, oppression, assimilation and shared feelings of discrimination. Keywords: Kurdish perspectives, thematic analysis, Oral History, out-group, discrimination, enemy images, cultural violenceWords: 13944

This study investigates the attitudes of standard accented Turkish speakers towards non-standard Kurdish accented speakers of Turkish. Given the fact that there are strict language policies in Turkey, this paper analyzes the effect of such standard language ideologies on listener attitudes using a mixed-methods design. The study included 50 Turkish participants with ages ranging from 19 to 51. Participants completed a survey with 21 questions and could volunteer to also participate in an interview. The survey asked about biographical data, evaluations of various speakers and ratings of accents of Turkish. Using a matched guise technique in the survey, a Kurdish accented speaker was recorded both in standard and non-standard accented Turkish. To explore possible differences based on age, survey responses were divided into groups with young adults (under 30) and adults. For qualitative data, 13 respondents were interviewed to explore their language ideologies. The results show that the Kurdish accented speaker received the lowest scores among all the speakers in the survey and were perceived negatively in all categories such as pleasantness, correctness and educatedness When the standard accent was attained by the same speaker, the ratings increased. The attainment of the standard accent also effected the identification of the speaker as respondents identified the Kurdish speaker as “Kurdish” when they heard the non-standard and “Turkish” when they heard the standard accent. During the interviews, One nation-one language ideologies which was promoted in the country and the standard language ideologies have been observed.

The conflict between ethnic minorities and nation-states has been subject to one of the most searching debates in the study of ethno-nationalism. The dominant approach among scholars is that ethnic conflicts stem from states' failure to recognize minority rights. Within the framework of this approach, it is assumed that ethnic conflicts occur due to the discriminatory policies on the part of the state. As a reaction to those policies, ethnic groups resist with rebellious elements. However this assimilation-resistance paradigm only considers the civic integration efforts of the state and fails to acknowledge the role of state's territorial integrity efforts and ethnic groups' demands to self-government in generating the conflict. Anchored in an ethno-symbolist framework, the purpose of this thesis is to explore the historical interpretational obstacles over the ownership of homeland between the states and ethnic groups when working towards a conflict resolution. Through a case study of Kurdish-Turkish conflict, this thesis addresses the different meanings of territory held by the state and the ethnic groups as one of the major causes of ethnic conflicts. / Master of Arts

In “Money Talks: Turkey, The Kurdish Regional Government, and the Shaping of a Future Kurdish State”, I aim to explore the puzzle of why Turkey is establishing economic and diplomatic relations with the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) considering its violent conflict with its Kurdish population. I was able to solve this puzzle by collecting and analyzing various works of literature surrounding Turkish foreign policy towards the KRG. Through my research, I learned about the complex and nuanced partnership between the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) and Ankara, and the potential effect this partnership will have on Kurdish statehood. This issue is important because it highlights a controversial debate surrounding minority groups’ right to statehood in the Middle East and points to shifting economic and political dynamics in the Middle East.

Official state ideology (Kemalism) whose core principles are Turkish nationalism and secularism excluded Kurds and Islamists from the newly formed social and political structure of modern Turkey. By insisting on a Kemalist modernization project in which assimilation of Kurdish ethnic identity within Turkish nationalism, and a top down imposition of secular policies on public and state affairs, Turkey has had to deal with two profound issues—the Kurdish question, and political Islam. As these social and political rivals of official state ideology present an alternative way of modernization projects, the Kemalist state apparatus has until recently considered their existence and development within Turkish society as a menace to their core existence. That is why the nearly century-long Kurdish question and Islamism (reactionism-gericilik) have occupied the agenda. The striking point of this reality of Turkey is that while Kurdish nationalist and Islamist social and political groups, whether they are legal or illegal, have sought to supersede the official state ideology with their understandings, they have never united or operated joint activities against their, roughly speaking, enemy. The research, because of this focuses on the reasons why these two social and political groups in Turkey did not work together to eliminate their common rival. Regarding pro-Kurdish and pro-Islamic groups, ideological distinctiveness and rigidity led them to consider each other as a part of or as an extension of official state ideology which tries to eliminate its rivals. Despite the fact that they both ideologically and practically confirmed the existence of repression towards Kurds and religious people, the leftist-oriented pro-Kurdish political stream considered religion as a component of denial and assimilationist policy of official state ideology, so that they did not differentiate between Islamist groups and the established state structure, whereas the pro-Islamic political stream refused to co-operate with any member of the leftist-oriented pro-Kurdish stream because of its secular characteristic. The reaction of these groups towards assimilation of Kurdish ethnic origin, and repression over religion, initially embodied itself in several uprisings and revolts in the Kurdish populated eastern areas of Turkey, and religiously sensitive cities, respectively. Thanks to the multi-party system, these groups have found a way in which they can express themselves through political parties, labour unions, associations and foundations so that they have become social movements forcing the Kemalism dominated state to meet their demands. As long as these demands are not met, the interaction between these two social movements and the official state ideology has been hostile. Within this process, the hostile approach to their common enemy reflected in each other’s activities and understandings as they see each other as a part of official state ideology. In the next phase in which their transformation from social movements to a legal political stream competed, the inherited ideological rigidity between pro-Kurdish and pro-Islamic political streams preserved itself. Overall, the research will indicate that since the mid-20th century, ideological barriers between pro-Kurdish and pro-Islamic streams have become the fundamental determinant of how they perceive each other.

This thesis is concerned with extrapolating some central issues of the so-called Kurdish Question in the Republic of Turkey by applying political anthropological theory and methodologies. It attempts to guage the political identities of five Kurdish University students and understand their perspectives on what constitutes and propogates Kurdish political discontents in the Republic. The following research questions have been addressed: How is Turkey&amp / #8223 / s Kurdish question (K&uuml / rt Meselesi) perceived and defined by Kurdish, post-graduate university students from a university in Ankara? How have individual experiences shaped the participants&amp / #8223 / political identities? What are the relevant macro-level factors informing their political identities and their perceptions of the Kurdish question? For the sample group studied, the Kurdish identity has been found to be a highly political and socially stigmatized identity in Turkey. According to the respondents, the Kurdish identity (both group and personal) and its political overtures have developed in an ongoing dialect with an everchanging official Turkish nationalist doctrine that is executed through a state outfit whose legitimacy is anchored largely in the legacy of Mustafa Kemal Atat&uuml / rk. The Kurdish Question itself represents a broad range of issues. According to these university students, these issues are beginning to be addressed in line with attempts at political liberalisation and democratisation in the country that are a part of the EU-accession process as well as a product of developing education and an ever-enlightened population. Despite this, the respondents are hesitant to believe in positive political change for the Kurds in Turkey as much discussion of the &amp / #8222 / Kurdish Question&amp / #8223 / remains focused on the outlawed PKK and ongiing conflict in the South East of the country. Kurdish discontents may also be seen to present and call for the recognition of a historical narrative which is divergent from the official line of state, a narrative which remains highly taboo at state and society levels.

Diss. Linköping : Linköpings universitet, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

This research work is a detailed feminist reading of the poetry of a selected group of Kurdish women poets which has been written in Sorani Kurdish. The poets come from two different locations, but are originally from Iraqi Kurdistan. A group of them live in the diaspora and the rest are home-based. Thus, it is the study of the Sorani-written poetry produced by Kurdish women poets locally and externally. The study chooses the time extending from 1990 to 2009 as its scope. There are clear reasons for the selection of this time as it stands for the most hectic period when Kurdish women’s poetry flourishes at a fast pace in southern Kurdistan. The study argues that the liberation of southern Kurdistan in 1991 from the overthrown Iraqi Ba’th regime plays a vital role in the productive reemergence of Kurdish women’s poetry after decades of silence and suppression being inflicted by the male-dominated Kurdish literature. Reliance on Anglo-American feminist criticism, Showalter’s gynocritics and some limited theories about the relation between gender and nationalism for the thematic analysis of the poetry of Kurdish women poets is another influential aspect of this study. The study justifies the importance of these theories for giving Kurdish women’s poetry the literary and social value it deserves and placing it within the larger repertoire of Kurdish literature. It is these theories that reveal the misjudgment and misapprehension of Kurdish women’s poetry by Kurdish male critics. Meanwhile, an extensive thematic analysis of the poetry of diasporic and home Kurdish women poets forms the core content of this work. The work studies the poetic texts of seventeen Kurdish women poets, seven from the diaspora, and ten from home. The themes to be focused on significantly represent the life realities of Kurdish women and the attitudes of Kurdish society towards their rights and existence. Through the exposition of the themes, this study aims to present a realistic picture of Kurdish women and urge for actions required to guarantee gender justice in southern Kurdistan. The themes symbolise a long-term war waged jointly by Kurdish women poets at home and in exile against the classic Kurdish patriarchy and its misogynistic laws. They reflect the injustice committed against women in a century when the respect of women’s rights have taken big steps forward elsewhere and should theoretically be ensured. The conclusion the study reaches is an emphasis on the overall condition of Kurdish women’s poetry and the challenges lying ahead of it. It indicates the level of progress Kurdish women’s poetry has made in southern Kurdistan and the role feminist criticism in unison with certain gender theories that criticise the link between women and nation can play in further developing this type of poetry. Moreover, a rather detailed comparison between the thematic structure and form of the poetry of diasporic and home Kurdish women poets is what enriches the conclusion. The influence of exile on diasporic Kurdish women poets and its relation to freedom of expression is also underlined and measured against opposite conditions back at home. Finally, the point where the poets of the two different localities converge is not omitted.

The aim of this dissertation is to discuss the image of the city of Diyarbakır as emerging from Kurdish and Turkish literature throughout the twentieth century. Diyarbakır city represents a highly contentious place in socio-political and cultural terms for the Kurdish vis-à-vis the Turkish imagined community. The first chapter is dedicated to the image of the city previous to the foundation of the Turkish Republic in 1923 as emerging from accounts of travellers from different ages and different languages. Then, in four different chapters, four different corpuses of Turkish and Kurdish literature are taken under the focus of the analysis. Each corpus allows the discussion of certain aspects and themes related to the city. Overall, each chapter and each corpus constitute a piece of the deconstructed literary image of the city, which is at the centre of this research. Since Diyarbakır is a contested city, its representations are deeply involved in processes of appropriation and symbolization of place. Therefore, in the shaping of literary Diyarbakır throughout the twentieth century, the conflicting political dynamics between the Turkish State and local Kurdish actors play a crucial role.