The Kurds in Erdoğan’s Turkey : : Balancing Identity, Resistance and Citizenship / / William Gourlay.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Edinburgh University Press Complete eBook-Package 2020
• VerfasserIn: Gourlay, William,
• Place / Publishing House: Edinburgh : : Edinburgh University Press, , [2022]; ©2020
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Series: Edinburgh Studies on Modern Turkey : ESMT
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (266 p.) :; 10 B/W illustrations

Investigates Kurdish political identity under the tightening rule of the Justice and Development Party in TurkeyExamines Kurdish identity in the Republic of Turkey and inquires whether there is room for pluralism in Turkey’s political sphereIncorporates data gathered in the streets, bazaars and teahouses of Istanbul and Diyarbakır, the most important Kurdish-populated cities in TurkeyDocuments Kurds’ participation in electoral politics and traditions of civilian resistance within the context of Turkey’s pursuit of liberal democracyConsiders central elements of Kurdish identity – language, culture, and geography – and how these are contested between government and Kurdish narrativesProvides a detailed examination of the Kurds’ struggle in Turkey at a time of rising Islamism and authoritarianism and emerging trans-national Kurdish mobilisationThis book examines the circumstances of the Kurds in 21st century Turkey, under the hegemony of the AKP government. After decades of denial, oppression and conflict, Kurds now assert a more confident presence in Turkey’s politics – but does increasing visibility mean a rejection of Turkey?Recording Kurdish voices from Istanbul and Diyarbakır, Turkey’s most important Kurdish-populated cities, this book generates new understandings of Kurdish identity and political aspirations. Highlighting elements of Kurdish identity including Newroz, the Kurdish language, connections to religion, landscape and cross-border ties, it offers a portrait of Kurdish political life in a Turkey increasingly dominated by its president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Within the context of Turkey’s troubled trajectory towards democratisation, it documents Kurdish narratives of oppression and resistance, and enquires how Kurds reconcile their distinct ethnic identity and citizenship in modern Turkey.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- List of Figures -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: Eruption in Diyarbakır -- 1 Identity, ethnicity, politics: from Kemalism to ‘New Turkey’ -- 2 Talking to Kurds about ‘Identity’ -- 3 Demarcating Kurdish culture -- 4 The Kurds and Islam: defying hegemony and the ‘caliphate’ -- 5 Contesting homeland(s): city, soil and landscape -- 6 Kurdayetî: Pan-Kurdish sentiment and solidarity -- 7 Oppression, solidarity, resistance -- 8 Kurds as citizens -- Conclusion: reconciling ethnic identity, citizenship and the ‘ideal’ in Erdoğan’s Turkey? -- Bibliography -- Index