The ethnic question in an environment of insecurity: the Kurds in Turkey

Icduygu, A; Romano, D; Sirkeci, I

Abstract

This article examines the effect that a poor structural context, what we term an "environment of insecurity", has on the Kurdish ethnic nationalist mobilization in Turkey. The empirical evidence for this analysis is based on data from the 1993 Turkish Demographic and Health Survey [TDHS]. The data provide, to the best of our knowledge, the first reliable and representative figures on the situation of Kurds in Turkey. Our key claim is that the Kurdish population in Turkey is relatively much worse off than the Turkish population in the country. This claim is strongly supported by the data. Many other factors also account for the ethnic nationalist mobilization, but we argue that the Turkish Kurds' environment of insecurity, materially and non-materially, stands out as a key package of both causal and intermediate variables behind the ethnic revival.

Citation

Icduygu, A., Romano, D., & Sirkeci, I. (2010). The ethnic question in an environment of insecurity: the Kurds in Turkey. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 22(6), 991-1010. https://doi.org/10.1080/014198799329215

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Dec 7, 2010
• Publication Date: Dec 7, 2010
• Deposit Date: Nov 10, 2022
• Journal: Ethnic and Racial Studies
• Print ISSN: 0141-9870
• Publisher: Routledge
• Volume: 22
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 991-1010
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/014198799329215
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/014198799329215