KURDISH NATIONALISM AND POLITICAL INSTABILITY IN TURKEY

Authors

  • ELENA SIMONA VRÂNCEANU
  • GEORGIANA-MĂDĂLINA COMORAȘU

Keywords:

nationalism, identity, conflict, kurds, Turkey

Abstract

Nationalism has been continuously drawing the public attention because of the conceptual content and its proteiform approach, because of the effects that it produces, which sometimes are taken to extremes, and most of all because of the particularities of the cultural spaces that host it. In a perfect symbiosis with the concept of nation, nationalism brings an undeniable contribution to the identitary configuration of a group. A nation’s identity outlines its distinctive characteristics from other nations or peoples and it draws its cultural, spiritual, historical and linguistic specificities by creating the premises of the identitary pattern. There are several nations with a significant historical path in terms of conflicts that have defined their evolution, and the Kurdish population in Turkey is a relevant example. This is why we propose a theoretical approach of the Kurdish nationalism, from conceptualizing strong terms of our speech such as ‘identity' or the ‘politics of recognition’ to profiling the most important milestones of the Kurdish-Turkish conflict from 1978 to present. The purpose of this article resides in a theoretical approach of one important statement: taking ownership on the national identity goes farther than just the feeling of belonging to a nation-state. In the case of the Kurdish minority, this claim is strongly confirmed, as the Kurdish population has very significant presences in countries like Turkey, Iran, Iraq or Syria.

Author Biographies

ELENA SIMONA VRÂNCEANU

Lector universitar doctor Departamentul de Stiinţe Politice, Relaţii Internaţionale şi Studii Europene, Universi-tatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza din Iaşi.

GEORGIANA-MĂDĂLINA COMORAȘU

Studentă în cadrul masteratului Studii de dezvoltare internațională, Universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza din Iaşi.

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Published

20-12-2019