Democratic Representation in Plurinational States: The Kurds in Turkey

260 Pages·2018·2.404 MB·English

by  Ephraim Nimni, Elçin Aktoprak

COMPARATIVE TERRITORIAL POLITICS
Democratic Representation
in Plurinational States
The Kurds in Turkey
Edited by Ephraim Nimni
and Elçin Aktoprak
Comparative Territorial Politics
Series Editors
Michael Keating
University of Aberdeen
Aberdeen, UK
Arjan H. Schakel
Maastricht University
Maastricht, The Netherlands
Michaël Tatham
University of Bergen
Bergen, Norway
Territorial politics is one of the most dynamic areas in contemporary
political science. Rescaling, new and re-emergent nationalisms, regional
devolution, government, federal reform and urban dynamics have
reshaped the architecture of government at sub-state and transnational
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democracy and the nature of political community. Important policy fields
such as health, education, agriculture, environment and economic devel-
opment are managed at new spatial levels. Regions, stateless nations and
metropolitan areas have become political arenas, contested by old and
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tional integration and the rise of supranational and international bodies
like the European Union, the North American Free Trade Area and the
World Trade Organization. The Comparative Territorial Politics series
brings together monographs, pivot studies, and edited collections that
further scholarship in the field of territorial politics and policy, decentral-
ization, federalism and regionalism. Territorial politics is ubiquitous and
the series is open towards topics, approaches and methods. The series
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Ephraim Nimni · Elçin Aktoprak
Editors
Democratic
Representation
in Plurinational States
The Kurds in Turkey
Editors
Ephraim Nimni Elçin Aktoprak
Centre for the Study of Ethnic Çankaya, Ankara, Turkey
Conflicts
Queen’s University Belfast
Belfast, UK
Comparative Territorial Politics
ISBN 978-3-030-01107-9 ISBN 978-3-030-01108-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01108-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018957440
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… to Academics for Peace
A
cknowledgements
Many people helped us in the development of this research project and
the production of this book. Primarily, British Council Newton Fund
who provided the generous funding that made possible the workshop
in Ankara. We are very grateful to them for their indispensable support.
Kami Asamani from the British Council in London provided us with
generous assistance in the development of the workshop. The British
Council in Turkey provided us with considerable help in the organiza-
tion of the workshop in Ankara. We are very grateful to Hande Diker
and Özlem Gökalp.
We are very grateful to Prof. Bill Bowring for his support for our
workshop and in the publication of the book. We would also like to
thank Prof. Rebecca Bryant, Prof. David J. Smith and Prof. Baskın Oran
for their support during the workshop process and to all participants for
creating a vibrant academic sphere.
We are also very grateful for the enthusiastic support of Timofei
Agarin, who was unable to come to the workshop in Ankara because
ways of the Home Office bureaucracy and we would like to thank
Uluhan Berk Öndül and Volkan Emeç for their assistance during the
workshop.
Queen’s University Belfast had the difficult task of managing the
funds for a workshop that took place in Turkey. We are very grateful to
administrative staff who handled this difficult task. Our special thanks
go to Deirdre O’Hare who managed the complicated financial invoices
that came from Turkey, and for managing the airfares of participants.
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are also very grateful for the support and considerable help provided
by Aine Egan and Teresa Cotton. Ronan Crossey from the Research
Office at Queen’s University liaised very efficiently and professionally
with the British Council and we are very grateful for his efforts.
Doctoral students at Queen’s University Belfast helped us diligently to
edit the articles from our non-English Speakers contributors. We are very
grateful to Laura Gillespie, Matthew Kirk Jamie McCollum, and Kayla
Rush.
We are very grateful to Ambra Finotello from Palgrave Macmillan for
her enthusiastic support at the start of the book proposal, and to Imogen
Gordon Clark and Katelyn Zingg for the continuous communication and
effective support at the various steps in the preparation of this book. We
also have a debt of gratitude to Palgrave Macmillan for the publication of
our book.
Finally, we are extremely grateful to our contributors some of whom
had to prepare their articles in very difficult circumstances because of
the current situation in Turkey. Without them our book would have not
been possible.
Ephraim Nimni wants to thank Elçin Aktoprak, for her enthusiastic
and dedicated work in the preparation of this book in very trying
circumstances.
c
ontents
1 Introduction 1
Ephraim Nimni and Elçin Aktoprak
Part I Theoretical Discussions
2 Liberal Nation States and the Antinomies of Minority
Representation: The Impact on the Republic of Turkey 11
Ephraim Nimni
3 In Search of an Alternative Perspective on Minority
Rights and Minority Group Formation: Re-politicizing
Non-territorial Autonomy 41
Ahmet Murat Aytaç and Zafer Yılmaz
4 Addressing the Kurdish Self-Determination Conflict:
Democratic Autonomy and Authoritarianism in Turkey 59
Naif Bezwan
ix
x CONTENTS
Part II Autonomy Models in Europe
5 National Cultural Autonomy in Central and Eastern
Europe: Challenges and Possibilities 85
Federica Prina, David J. Smith and Judit Molnar Sansum
6 A Nation-State or a Multinational State? National
Conceptions, Minorities and Self-Determination
in Spain 113
Lucía Payero-López
Part III Autonomy Discussions in Turkey and the
Kurdish Issue
7 Between Authoritarianism and Peace: The Kurdish
Opening in Turkey (2013–2015) 137
Elçin Aktoprak
8 Kurdish Movement’s Democratic Autonomy
Proposals in Turkey 159
Cengiz Gunes and Çetin Gürer
9 The Judiciary in Autonomy Arrangements:
Lessons for the Kurdish Case 177
Derya Bayır
10 Rethinking Democracy and Autonomy Through
the Case of Kurdish Movement 211
Dilan Okçuoğlu
11 Militancy, Reconciliation, Motherhood: A History
of Kurdish Women’s Movements 229
Bahar Şimşek
Index 253