Tyrkish nasjonalisme og kurdisk frigjoring. En tilstandsrapport

In: Internasjonal politikk, Band 64, Heft 4, S. 533-552

Abstract

In this article, the way the Turkish state treats Kurds is put under the spotlight. The Kurds in Turkey have been subjected to extensive oppression since the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in 1918. The author places oppression of the Kurds in the context of official dogmatic Turkish nationalistic ideology, Kemalism, which is based on the political philosophy of the founder of the Turkish republic, Mustafa Kemal "Ataturk." The military have assumed the position of his foremost spokesmen after Ataturk's death. It was hoped that the process of adaptation to the ED would result in ending the 80-year-long oppression of the Kurds & the other minorities, after Turkey acquired candidate status to the EU in 1999, but the country's powerful military are trying to thwart this process. The article is discussing how the military are using their role in the Kurdish question to hamper the democratization process. In Turkey there is widespread agreement that the unsolved Kurdish question is the main reason for the problems which have arisen in connection with the process of adaptation to the EU. References. Adapted from the source document.