Suchergebnisse

No insurgent movement can survive without some degree of popular support, but what does it mean to support an armed group? Focusing on the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), which has come to global attention in recent years for its efforts in resisting ISIS in Iraq and Syria, but has been present and active in the region for much longer, Francis O'Connor explores the first three decades of the PKK's insurgency in Turkey. Looking at how the relationship between armed groups and their supporters should be conceptually understood, how this relationship varies spatially and what role violence has in their relationship, he draws on Civil War, Social Movements and Rebel Governance literatures to outline how the PKK survived a military coup in 1980 and slowly won popular support through incipient forms of rebel governance, the targeted use of violence and a nuanced projection of its ideology and objectives. In doing so, it provides an historical narrative to an organisation which has managed to successfully resist NATO's second largest army with limited weapons for decades and has become a key player of Kurdish rights in the wider region.

This article analyses the political mobilisation of the Kurdish internal diaspora outside of the Kurdish region in Turkey. The paper engages with the long held proposition that diasporas tend to support more radical political actors. It discusses the PKK's mobilisation in western Turkey and the manner in which it has contributed to the revival of a broader Kurdish collective identity. The paper considers historic patterns of Kurdish migration before detailing the role of state repression, ethnic alienation and socio-economic marginalisation on recent Kurdish migrants. It concludes by proposing that it was the specific ideological and spatial strategies deployed by the PKK rather than broader contextual factors which permitted the PKK to win mass support among Kurds in western Turkey. Keywords: Kurdish migration; the PKK; political violence; diaspora; social movements.Beşdariya siyasî ya radîkal û diyasporaya kurdî ya navxweyî li TirkiyeyêEv nivîsar vekolînek e li ser çalakgeriya siyasî ya diyasporaya navxweyî ya Kurdên li derveyî herêma kurdnişîn a Tirkiyeyê. Ev gotar tevî wê fikr û pê$niyaza kevn dibe ya ku dibêje meyla diyasporayan bêtir li ser bizavên siyasî yên nisbeten tundrewtir e. Nivîsar berê xwe dide çalakgeriya PKKyê li rojavayê Tirkiyeyê û lê dikole ka wê çalakgeriyê bi çi rengî tesîr li vejandina nasnameyeka Kurdî ya cemawerî û berfirehtir kiriye. Di vê xebatê de, pê$iyê şikl û corên koçberiya Kurdan ji nezera tarîxî ve hatine pê$kê$kirin, pa$ê, rola fakterên wek zordestiya dewletê, nebankirina (vederkirina) qewmî û perawêzxistina civakî-aborî ya li ser koçberên heyamên dawî bi hûrgilî hatine nîqa$kirin. Wekî encam, ev xebat pêşniyar dike ku piştgiriya girseyî ku PKK ji Kurdên li rojavayê Tirkiyeyê wergirtiye, ne ew qas ji $ert û mercên gi$tî û çarçoveya berfireh, lê zêdetir bi saya wan stratejiyên taybet yên îdeolojîk û mekanî ne ku PKKyê dane ber xwe. بەشداری سیاسییانەی رادیكاڵ و تاراوگەی ناوخۆیی كورد لە توركیائەم گوتارە شیكردنەوەیەكە لە سەر مۆبایلیزە كردنی سیاسییانەی تاراوگەی ناوخۆیی كورد لە دەرەوەی دەڤەرە كوردییەكان لە توركیا. ئەم لێكۆڵینەوەیە لەو پێشنیازە دەكۆڵێتەوە كە دەلێت، تاراوگە پشتیوانی لەو ئەكتەرە سیاسییانە دەكات كە زیاتر رادیكاڵن. ئەم گوتارە باس دەکا لە مۆبایلیزە كردن لە لایەن پ.ك.ك وە لە رۆژاوای توركیا و ئەو شێوانەی کە ئەو ڕێکخراوەیە بە ڕەچاوکردنیان توانیویەتی ناسنامەیەکی بەرفراوانی كۆمەڵی كوردی ببووژێنێتەوە. ئەم لێكۆڵینەوەیە بەر لەوەی تاوتوێی رۆڵی چەوساندنەوە لە لایەن دەوڵەتەوە بکات و سەرنج بداتە هەڵاواردنی ئینتنیکی و پەراوێز خستنی ئابووری-كۆمەڵایەتی لە سەر كۆچبەرە كوردەكانی ئەو ساڵانەی دوایی، شێوازە مێژووییەكانی كۆچ كردنی كورد راڤە دەكا. لە كۆتاییدا، ئەم گوتارە پێشنیار دەكات كە ھۆكاری بە دەستھێنانی ئەو پشتگیریە جەماوەرییەی پ.ك.ك لە ناو كوردی رۆژئاوای توركیا دەگەڕێتەوە بۆئەو ستراتیژییە تایبەتە فەزایی و ئایدیۆلۆژییانەی كە ئەو ڕێکخراوەیە پەیڕەوی كردووە، نەك فاكتەرە بەربڵاوە ژینگەییەکان (contextual).

On the 28th of July, a 26 year old man, Ahmad A. launched a knife attack in a supermarket in the Barmbek area of Hamburg, wounding four people and killing one. He fled the scene of the attack before being forcefully apprehended by some bystanders. The attacker, a rejected asylum seeker, was understood by the police to have been recently religiously radicalised. Hamburg's Interior Minister Andy Grote explained that he was known to the police as an "Islamist but not a jihadist" and was suspected of having psychological problems. Prosecutors have asserted that he had no known connections with any organized radical network or group and that he had planned on dying as a martyr.

Defence date: 18 November 2014 ; Examining Board: Professor Donatella della Porta, European University Institute (Supervisor); Professor Olivier Roy, European University Institute; Professor Joost Jongerden, Wageningen University; Professor Jocelyn Viterna, Harvard University. ; The supportive environments which sustain armed groups are arguably an understudied aspect of political violence; it is widely acknowledged that all armed groups necessitate a degree of popular support if they are to be successful but the relationship between armed movements and their supporters is often underdeveloped or considered self-explanatory. This project puts forth the argument that the relationship between armed groups and their supporters is of fundamental importance to how and where armed groups mobilise and the repertoire of contention they adopt. Making use of Malthaner's concept of "constituency" (2011a), the PKK's armed struggle from its foundation in the 1970s until 1999 will be analysed. The particular manner in which the PKK actively constructed and maintained extensive support networks across contrasting socio-spatial contexts ensured its ongoing legitimacy and the material resources necessary for its survival. Although a noted power disparity exists between armed and unarmed actors, the relationship between them is always characterised by degrees of reciprocal influence; influence that is often expressed in a variety of subtle and contextually specific fashions. The project will therefore examine the dialectic between the PKK and its communities of support and how this has evolved over time and space from rural Kurdistan to the urban centres of western Turkey, and consider how it has impacted on the nature of violence deployed by the PKK in the course of its insurgency.

The content of insurgent movements' publications can be telling, yet the issues which it decides to exclude or deny can be of even greater illustrative value. Downplaying violence against civilians or sources of illicit funding can be expected, but what of movements who ignore practises of rebel governance, which are not only popular with their supportive constituencies but also bestow legitimacy with the international public? This paper looks at the puzzling case of the PKK whose publications systematically neglected forms of governance – in particular its alternative justice systems - it implemented at the height of its insurgency in Turkey through the 1980's and 1990s.