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This book examines some of the most pressing issues facing the Turkish political establishment, in particular the issues of political Islam, and Kurdish and Turkish nationalisms. The authors explore the rationales of the main political actors in Turkey in order to increase our understanding of the ongoing debates over the secularist character of the Turkish Republic and over Turkey's longstanding Kurdish issue.
Original contributions from respected scholars in the field of Turkish and Kurdish studies provide us with many insights into the social and political fabric of Turkey, exploring Turkey's secularist establishment, the ruling AKP government, the Kurdistan Workers' Party and the Institutions of the European Union. While the focus of concern in this book is with the social agents of contemporary politics in Turkey, the convictions they have and the strategies they employ, historical dimensions are also integrated in their analyses. In its approach, the book makes an important contribution to a widening investigation into the making of politics in the contemporary world.
Incorporating the importance of the growing transnational connections between Turkey and Europe, this book is particularly relevant in the light of the ongoing negotiations over Turkey's membership to the European Union, and will be of interest to scholars interested in Turkish studies, Kurdish studies and Middle Eastern Politics.
List of contents
Introduction Part I: Political Islam and Turkey’s Secularist-Nationalist Project 1. Turkey’s Present Ancient Regime and the Justice and Development PartyMenderes Cinar 2. Democratization, Clashing Narratives, and ‘Twin Tolerations’ between Islamic-Conservative and Pro-Secular ActorsMurat Somer 3. ‘Nationalist’ Reconstructions in the Light of Disappearing BordersFerhat Kental Part II: Facing the Kurdish Issue 4. The Kurdish Question in Turkey Mesut Yegen 5. Turgut Ozal and the Kurdish Question Michael Gunter 6. The Justice and Development Party and the Kurdish QuestionTozun Bahceli and Sid Noel Part III: Challenging the State 7. Born from the Left: The Making of the PKK Joost Jongerdenand Ahmet Akkaya 8. The PKK in the 2000s: Continuity Through Breaks?Ahmet Akkayaand Joost Jongerden Part IV: Calling upon Turkey: Agents of Long-Distance Nationalism 9. Constructing Communities in theTurkish Diaspora: A Quest for PoliticsAyhan Kaya 10. Bringing the Organization Back in: Pro-Kurdish Protest in EuropeOliver Grojean 11. The Politics of Solidarity: The Kurdish Question in European ParliamentMarlies Casier
About the author
Marlies Casier is research affiliate of the Middle East and North Africa Research Group at Ghent University in Belgium, interested in (trans)nationalism, political mobilization, Kurds and Turkey. She has published on the transnational politics of Turkey’s Kurds in Ethnicities and on the institutionalization of human rights protection in Turkey in European Journal of Turkish Studies.
Joost Jongerden is Assistant Professor in the Social Sciences Department at Wageningen University, the Netherlands. He is a sociologist by training, and mainly interested in development and conflict studies, with a focus on Turkey and Kurdistan.
Summary
This book examines some of the most pressing issues facing the Turkish political establishment, focusing in particular on the issues of nationalism, the Kurds and political Islam.
