Why do women and children join insurgency groups? The subject has been a matter of extensive debate, with experts offering theories of motivation on well-known groups such as the National Liberation Front (FLN) or the Irish Republican Army (IRA). However, there has been a small amount of work comparing two insurgency groups and their participants to one another. This paper addresses the underlying reasons for why women and children join insurgencies, explicitly focusing on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey from their origins to the present. The paper uses interviews from other scholarly works on the two groups and their participants. In doing this, the paper showcases that despite differences across geographic location and each group's motivation, there are similar indicators that motivate women and children to join insurgency groups. This paper finds that women and children are primarily motivated to join the FARC because of harsh gender inequality and economic poverty. Regarding women and children joining the PKK, their motivations primarily concern ethnic discrimination and gender inequality. The implications of this research will provide information about dynamics leading large numbers of women and children to join violent organizations. Furthermore, it will find that despite regional differences and group’s overall goals, there are universal motivating factors, like gender inequality, which influence women and children to participate in political violence.

The thesis examines the undergoing peace process in Turkey between the Turkish state and the PKK organisation and seeks to assess how this development is affected by one of the principles of the Turkish national state: territorial integrity. Examining the preservation of territorial integrity as a factor shaping the pacification is crucial to understanding the dynamics of the current peace process and how distant the prospect of achieving a long lasting peace is. I investigate the PKK peace process using the works of scholars developing on conflict resolution and the specificities of Turkish politics and I address the relevance of their theories to the case of the PKK.

The purpose of this study was to investigate statements made by the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (the PKK), Abdullah Öcalan. The selection of material and scope were motivated by a rhetorical shift of strategy of the historically violent PKK, proposing cooperation as a solution to the suppression of the Kurdish minority within the Turkish nation-state. Investigation of the statements was done using Carol Bacchi’s “What’s the problem represented to be?” approach. It was chosen as both methodological frame and theoretical approach. The primary objective is to interrogate problem representations. The “WPR approach” constitutes a reflective research practice enabling critical assessment of what presuppositions and assumptions constitute a particular problem representation. Critically investigating a problem representation and its proposed solution resulted in an advanced understanding of the conflict between the Kurdish minority and the Turkish nation-state. What showed most interesting in the conducted study was not merely investigating this representation, but rather unraveling its underlying and supportive components such as presuppositions, assumptions, dichotomies and categorisations. A central finding was the discovery of what was left unproblematic and silenced in this particular problem representation.

This thesis represents a comprehensive analysis of the geographical and geopolitical position of the Kurdistan regional government (KRG) as an official political institution of the Kurdistan region of Iraq (KRI). Firstly, it focuses on the internal issues of this institution and its division between two main Iraqi Kurdish political parties: KDP and PUK. Secondly, it examines the form of the relationships between the KRG and central government in Baghdad. The regional position of the KRG is explained by capturing the relationships among the KRG, the governments of the key regional countries (Turkey, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Israel) and important Kurdish political parties operating in this area (PKK, PYD, PJAK, HDP, ENKS and KDPI). Thirdly, the global actors (United States of America, Russian Federation and China) and their position towards the Iraqi Kurds, is also included. And finally, this thesis deals with the problematics of the Kurdish referendum of independence in 2017 and the role of ISIS as an "game changing" actor in the regional dynamics. This thesis builds on extensive search of scientific literature (about 70 titles), field research in the Kurdistan region of Iraq in the form of the interviews with 20 respondents and media reports on this topic and region. Additionally, this thesis...

Especially for last three decades many of the scholars have tried to provide general terrorist profile, which is commonly usable for all terrorists. They were seeking to identify the process of becoming terrorist (Sageman, 2004; Russel&Miller, 1977; Strentz, 1988; Hassan, 2001). The main problem on those studies is that, without looking at degree of involvement of terrorist they just focus on “who becomes a terrorist and why” and they prefer to ignore different type of characteristics about terrorist. Yilmaz (2009) tried to underline and answer this subject by studying on arrest results about DHKP/C and Hizbullah terrorist organizations in Turkey. This study aims to analyze socio-demographic and motivational differences of PKK terrorist organization members who are belong to different involvement degrees (active participant and supporter).

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This thesis seeks to contribute to the literature exploring the prospects and obstacles to peace processes. The case study is based on the failed peace process between the Republic of Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) during 2009-2015. It offers a conceptual analysis of the changes in interests, attitudes and relationships that led to the emergence of a peace process but also which influenced its collapse. In doing so, the study draws from conflict resolution theories to analyse the case using the five transformers framework: context transformation, structural transformation, actor transformation, issue transformation, and personal and group transformation (Ramsbotham et al. 2005; 2016). The study found that the conflict became tractable not through external interventions or hurting stalemates as classical theories would hold, but through powerful intellectual leadership that moved beyond strict nationalist imaginaries to adopt different post-nationalist frameworks that emphasised solving the Kurdish question non-violently. Little is known about this type of endogenous peace process in the literature. Likewise, the study also found that, contrary to conventional wisdom on hurting stalemates, talks failed when parties reached near power parity following large and rapid shifts in the distribution of power in the region due to war in Syria and Iraq. A substantially empowered PKK emerged, causing great Turkish fears and uncertainty about implications to status quo, as well as PKK overconfidence and disinterest in settlement. Adversaries resumed war in order to weaken each other and gain more from future concessions.

The paper provides an analysis of Kurdish question in Turkey at the period from 1960 to 2009. The author explores the main features of Kurdish national liberation struggle, activity of Kurdistan Workers’ Party, Turkish government’s policy in regard to Kurdish question. Also the author exposes the main factors of Kurdish question influencing international situation. / Работа посвящена исследованию курдского вопроса в Турции в период с 1960 г. по 2009 г. Автор раскрывает основные особенности национально-освободительной борьбы курдского народа, деятельности Рабочей партии Курдистана, политики турецкого правительства по курдскому вопросу, а также выявляет основные факторы курдского вопроса, влияющие на международную обстановку.

Terrorism is a historical problem; however, it becomes one of the biggest problems in 21st century. September 11 and the following Madrid, Istanbul and London attacks showed that it is the most significant problem threatening world peace and security. Governments have started to deal with terrorism by improving security measurements and making new investments to stop terrorism. Most of the governments' and scholars' focus is on immediate threats and causes of terrorism, instead of looking at long-term solutions such as root causes and underlying reasons of terrorism, and the recruitment style of terrorist organizations If terrorist recruitment does not stop, then it is safe to say terrorist activities cannot be stopped. This study focused on the recruitment process by observing two different terrorist organizations, DHKP/C and Turkish Hezbollah. The researcher brings 13 years of field experience and first-person data gathered from inside the terrorist organizations. The research questions of this study were: (i) How can an individual be prevented from joining or carrying out terrorist activities?; (ii) What factors are correlated with joining a terrorist organization?; (iii) What are the recruitment processes of the DHKP/C, PKK, and Turkish Hezbollah?; (iv) Is there any common process of being a member of these three terrorist organizations?; and (v) What are the similarities and differences these terrorist organizations? As a result of this analysis, a terrorist recruitment process map was created. With the help of this map, social organizations such as family and schools may be able to identify ways to prevent individuals from joining terrorist organizations. Also, this map will also be helpful for government organizations such as counterterrorism and intelligence to achieve the same goal.

A suicide attack is an extreme modus operandi of terrorism. This research examines the application of two similar sociological theories to terrorism and specifically, to suicide terrorism. Three models are built to test if Merton‘s strain theory can explain the propensities of provinces to produce terrorists and suicide bombers in the first phase. Next, in Phase 2 one model is built on a combination of altruistic and fatalistic type variables to test if Durkheim‘s anomie theory can explain the probability of a terrorist to become suicide bomber or not. The analyses of models 1, 2, and 3 are performed in Phase 1 using aggregate secondary data and the analysis of model 4 is performed in Phase 2 using individual level secondary data. While models 1 and 2 are employing multiple regression, models 3 and 4 use logistic regression analyses. Model 1 tests the propensity of a province to produce terrorists relative to six strain variables, while model 2 develops an optimum model, testing the same associations by using only three significant independent variables. Model 3 tests the probability of a province to produce a suicide bomber(s) using the same six indicators. Model 4 tests the probability of a terrorist to become a suicide bomber relative to anomie theory driven by seven indicators. The results reflect support for the overall model 1, while only the indicators of unemployment rate and political representation in the legislative assembly significantly contribute in explaining the propensity score of a province to produce a terrorist. However, the optimum model (2) includes three statistically significant indicators of unemployment rate, political representation in the legislative assembly, and quality of life. Although model 3 also emerged significant in its overall effect, only educational opportunity significantly contributes to explaining the probability of a province to produce a suicide bomber. Model 4 is also supported. The individual effects reveal that the indicators of age group, income level, and hierarchical position in the organization statistically contribute to explaining the probability of a terrorist to become a suicide bomber. In general, the research provides partial support for the application of strain and anomie theories to terrorism and suicide attacks.