The Kurds in Erdoğan’s Turkey

Investigates Kurdish political identity under the tightening rule of the Justice and Development Party in Turkey

• Examines Kurdish identity in the Republic of Turkey and inquires whether there is room for pluralism in Turkey’s political sphere
• Incorporates data gathered in the streets, bazaars and teahouses of Istanbul and Diyarbakır, the most important Kurdish-populated cities in Turkey
• Documents Kurds’ participation in electoral politics and traditions of civilian resistance within the context of Turkey’s pursuit of liberal democracy
• Considers central elements of Kurdish identity – language, culture, and geography – and how these are contested between government and Kurdish narratives
• Provides a detailed examination of the Kurds’ struggle in Turkey at a time of rising Islamism and authoritarianism and emerging trans-national Kurdish mobilisation

This 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.