Pınar Dinç has received her Ph.D. degree in Political Science at the Department of Government, London School of Economics in January 2017. Her Ph.D. dissertation, "Collective memory, and competition over identity in a conflict zone: the case of Dersim"', explores the causes and mechanisms of ongoing competition over the nature of national identity through a case study of Dersim in the Turkish Republic. She worked on the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (Rojava Cantons) as a Swedish Institute and Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul fellow at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) in Lund University between September 2017 and 2018. In October 2018 she started as a Marie Curie Fellow at CMES with the FIRE (Fighting Insurgency Ruining Environment) project, which focuses on conflict and the environment in the Middle East.
The prevailing narrative on the Syrian Civil War attributes it to climate-induced migration resul... more The prevailing narrative on the Syrian Civil War attributes it to climate-induced migration resulting from a severe drought, which serves as a central link connecting climate change with the 2011 protests. However, limited research has involved interviews with Syrians, with most studies focusing on drought's meteorological aspects and estimated migrant numbers. Our interdisciplinary study we conduct surveys with 82 former Syrian farmers in Turkey, carry out 16 in-depth interviews, and analyse satellite images to explore land use activities. Our objective is to answer three questions: (1) How can we distinguish between 'forced displacement' and 'migration as an adaptive response' during the 2007-2009 drought in Syria and the subsequent civil war? (2) How do drought, land abandonment, and migration interact in Syria since 2006? (3) How can we enhance understanding of 'trapped' individuals, considering mobility restrictions in host countries rather than solely immobility in the country of origin? Our findings are threefold: firstly, Syrian farmers employed adaptive measures against drought before the war; secondly, land abandonment during the drought was less extensive than portrayed in literature linking climate, migration, and conflict; and finally, we emphasize that refugees may feel trapped even after leaving their homes.
This article contributes to the existing literature on the populist online communication of gover... more This article contributes to the existing literature on the populist online communication of governments. We look at the role of the micro-blogging social media platform Twitter under the authoritarian rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the wider Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi; AKP) during the peace process. We carried out a rhetorical analysis of the Twitter posts of four key AKP actors-Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ahmet Davutoglu, Yalçın Akdogan, and Efkan Alabetween July 1, 2012 and November 1, 2015. First, we show that the AKP actors persistently label the Kurdish political movement in Turkey and in Syria as a threat to the national security of Turkey, reflected in their rhetoric toward the remilitarization and resecuritization of Turkey's Kurdish question within and across its borders. Second, we argue that the AKP used the peace process and various persuasive communicative techniques not only to consolidate Kurdish electoral support, but also to reach its aim to remove the Kemalist military-bureaucratic tutelage in Turkey that was replaced with hyper-presidentialism under the strong personality cult of Erdogan. Third, we argue that Erdogan's increased one-man power has been reflected in the AKP's branding itself as the only viable choice for the Kurdish region's stability, which has blocked more constructive dialogue toward a peaceful resolution to the Kurdish question.
Environmental degradation is identified as a key factor that threatens the future of life on Eart... more Environmental degradation is identified as a key factor that threatens the future of life on Earth, but such generalised reading entails that conceal the uneven effects of environmental degradation. When environmental degradation takes place on the lands of the marginalised groups, it is often overlooked or further justified by hegemonic powers that view these areas as natural resources or hideouts for insurgent groups that need to be drained. The embedded prejudice and discrimination against the internal others are often inflamed through the media and followed by the dominant society. This commentary addresses this issue of differential significance attributed to environmental degradation in Kurdistan and discusses how the concept of ecological racism may help uncovering this variance. In doing so, this piece covers the existing literature about conflict and environment nexus in Kurdistan, and suggests ways forward to advance knowledge and work towards political and ecological just...
Environmental degradation is identified as a key factor that threatens the future of life on Eart... more Environmental degradation is identified as a key factor that threatens the future of life on Earth, but such generalised reading entails that conceal the uneven effects of environmental degradation. When environmental degradation takes place on the lands of the marginalised groups, it is often overlooked or further justified by hegemonic powers that view these areas as natural resources or hideouts for insurgent groups that need to be drained. The embedded prejudice and discrimination against the internal others are often inflamed through the media and followed by the dominant society. This commentary addresses this issue of differential significance attributed to environmental degradation in Kurdistan and discusses how the concept of ecological racism may help uncovering this variance. In doing so, this piece covers the existing literature about conflict and environment nexus in Kurdistan, and suggests ways forward to advance knowledge and work towards political and ecological justice.
Authoritarian Neoliberalism and Resistance in Turkey
During the early years of the ruling Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party, A... more During the early years of the ruling Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party, AKP), Turkey was seen as a burgeoning democratic power propped up by economic prosperity in line with the reforms for European Union (EU) accession and International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditionality. However, 20 years later, it is considered an emblematic case of democratic backsliding in line with rising poverty and inequalities that have been amplified as a result of sweeping neoliberal reforms and authoritarian consolidation in the country. The recent literature has identified these concomitant and complementary modes of authoritarian governance and neoliberal policies in Turkey as ‘authoritarian neoliberalism’. In this chapter, we discuss the dynamics of consolidation of authoritarian neoliberalism in Turkey as well as the acts of contention against it. Building mainly on the eight case studies presented in this volume, we put forward a framework that explains the consolidation of a...
Authoritarian Neoliberalism and Resistance in Turkey
During the early years of the ruling Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party, A... more During the early years of the ruling Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party, AKP), Turkey was seen as a burgeoning democratic power propped up by economic prosperity in line with the reforms for European Union (EU) accession and International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditionality. However, 20 years later, it is considered an emblematic case of democratic backsliding in line with rising poverty and inequalities that have been amplified as a result of sweeping neoliberal reforms and authoritarian consolidation in the country. The recent literature has identified these concomitant and complementary modes of authoritarian governance and neoliberal policies in Turkey as ‘authoritarian neoliberalism’. In this chapter, we discuss the dynamics of consolidation of authoritarian neoliberalism in Turkey as well as the acts of contention against it. Building mainly on the eight case studies presented in this volume, we put forward a framework that explains the consolidation of a...
During the early years of the ruling Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party, A... more During the early years of the ruling Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party, AKP), Turkey was seen as a burgeoning democratic power propped up by economic prosperity in All authors have contributed equally. The author names are in alphabetical order. The authors would like to thank the Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies and the Strategic Research Area (SRA): Middle East in the Contemporary World (MECW) at Lund University for providing the open-access funding for this chapter.
Environmental destruction has long been used as a military strategy in times of conflict. A long-... more Environmental destruction has long been used as a military strategy in times of conflict. A long-term example of environmental destruction in a conflict zone can be found in Dersim/Tunceli province, located in Eastern Turkey. In the last century, at least two military operations negatively impacted Dersim's population and environment: 1937-38 and 1993-94. Both conflict and environmental destruction in the region continued after the 1990s. Particularly after July 2015, when the brief peace process that began in 2013 ended, conflict between the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) resumed and questions arose about the cause of forest fires in Dersim. In this research we investigate whether there is a relationship between conflict and forest fires in Dersim. This is denied by the Turkish state but asserted by many Dersim residents, civil society groups, and political parties. We use a multidisciplinary approach, combining methods of qualitative analysis of print media (newspapers), social media (Twitter), and local accounts, together with quantitative methods: remote sensing and spatial analysis. Interdisciplinary analysis combining quantitative datasets with in-depth, qualitative data allows a better understanding of the role of conflict in potentially exacerbating the frequency and severity of forest fires. Although we cannot determine the cause of the fires, the results of our statistical analysis suggest a significant relationship between fires and conflict in Dersim, indicating that the incidence of conflicts is generally correlated with the number of fires.
There is limited understanding of the geopolitics of fire, conflict, and land, for example, how c... more There is limited understanding of the geopolitics of fire, conflict, and land, for example, how conflict and fire are related and how conflict impacts the biophysical environment. Since 2014, the natural environment in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has been negatively affected by recurrent conflict that coincided with a sharp increase in the number of reported fires. Against this background, this study explores the spatiotemporal aspects of conflict, fire, and land use and land cover in this region. We combine several satellite-derived products, including land use and land cover, active fire, and precipitation. We apply a partial correlation analysis to understand the relationship between fire, conflict, climate, and land use and land cover. Conflict events and fires have increased since 2014 and have followed a similar temporal pattern, and we show that certain conflicts were particular to certain land use and land cover contexts. For example, the conflict involving the Islamic State was concentrated in southern areas with bare soil/sparse vegetation, and the conflict involving Turkey largely took place in northern mountainous areas characterized by natural vegetation and rugged topography. This dichotomy indicates divergent effects of conflict on the land system. A surprising finding was that fire hotspots had a low positive correlation with the amplitude of distance to conflict while accounting for other variables such as land cover and climate. The high statistical significance of this relationship indicates nonlinearity and implies that a larger range of distances to conflict creates more space for the fires to spread in the surrounding landscape. At the same time, fire hotspots had a weaker but negative correlation to distance from conflict events, which is somewhat expected as areas farther away from conflict locations have lower exposure risk to fires. We discuss the implications of these findings within the geopolitical context of the region and acknowledge the limitations of the study. We conclude with a summary of the main findings and recommendations for future research.
Highlighting the modernity of state institutions, Hobsbawm defines the nation as a modern territo... more Highlighting the modernity of state institutions, Hobsbawm defines the nation as a modern territorial state (the nation-state) and argues that nation and nationality cannot be discussed unless they refer to the nation-state. Hobsbawm's conception of nations and nationality in the context of the nation-state warrants readdress by comparing Westphalian models of states with subjects that do not attempt a territorial model but arguably still invest in the nation and a sense of nationality. This article compares the discourses of building nations and national identities fostered in the content of school textbooks in the Republic of Turkey-a modern, territorial nation-state-and the Autonomous Administration of North and East of Syria (hereafter Rojava)-an alternative state system model established in the power vacuum proceeding Bashar al-Assad regime withdrawal from expansive territory in northern Syria. In doing so, the article revisits the existing literature on the correlation between the content and political associations of school textbooks through a comparative analysis of primary school course materials in Turkey and Rojava, neighbouring and conflicting political entities that occupy contrasting domains of statehood and military capacity.
Is the Rojava model really deconstructing the model of a state or is it potentially a new state f... more Is the Rojava model really deconstructing the model of a state or is it potentially a new state form? Does the ‘democratic confederalism’ model that the Kurdish movement claims to be implementing in Northern Syria draw on/reproduce different modes of identity/belonging than that of the nation and the state? This paper argues that the shift from a nationalist movement towards a project that offers a stateless solution seems to be incomplete and needs to be further questioned. The first section begins with a brief discussion of the notion of statelessness and the historical background and ideological transformation of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its ‘paradigm-shift’. The second section shows that despite positive aspects towards a post-national stateless model, the narratives of the representatives of the Kurdish political movement in Rojava display nationalist elements by prioritizing the Kurds and their cultural identity and a political power at the top of which Öcalan’s personality cult stands; and engages with the concept of the multitude, proposed by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri whose work on radical democracy is theoretically relevant to the Rojava model.
This article focuses on the construction and competition over Dersim identity that takes place in... more This article focuses on the construction and competition over Dersim identity that takes place in Dersim’s diaspora, which also creates the necessity to critically engage with the concepts of Euro-Turks and Euro-Kurds. In doing so, it argues that while the activities of Dersimlis in the Dersim diaspora in Europe and in Turkey enable new identity claims, they also perpetuate a sense of belonging that builds upon ethnic, religious and/or linguistic domination. The first section broadly reviews the theoretical discussions on the complexity and fluidity of collective identities, diasporic movements, and the role the intelligentsia plays in the construction and competition over the definition of collective identities in diasporas. Building on this framework, the second section introduces the case of Dersim, the region and its history, and discusses the role Dersim diaspora and its intelligentsia play in (re)defining Dersim’s collective memory and competing over the definition of Dersim’s identity.
Nationalities Papers The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity, 2018
This article focuses on the novels and short stories written about the ethnic cleansing of Dersim... more This article focuses on the novels and short stories written about the ethnic cleansing of Dersim in the Turkish Republic in 1937–1938. Dersim 1937–1938 has become increasingly popular both as a political debate as well as a storyline in cultural productions over the last decade. The historical episode, once kept a secret, is almost an “industry” (“Memory: Concepts and Theory,” 2014) and an example of “memory boom” [Winter, Jay. (2002). Remembering War: The Great War Between Memory and History in the Twentieth Century. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press]. The aim of this article is to analyze the politics of memory and identity through literary works. It examines novels and short stories that focus on Dersim 1937–1938, or consider the ethnic cleansing in Dersim in a specific part of their storyline. By examining competing descriptions of Dersim memory and identity in these works, my purpose is to understand the mechanisms of literary competition, as well as Dersim’s fragmented collective memory and identity.
In 1974, the dispute between Turkey and Greece over Cyprus resulted in Turkish military intervent... more In 1974, the dispute between Turkey and Greece over Cyprus resulted in Turkish military intervention in the island. The same year, the Turkish Court of Cassation issued a legal decision that rendered possible the confiscation of properties belonging to minority foundations in the years to come. I argue that the case of minority foundations in 1974 was not a coincidence but a conscious reciprocal discrimination applied in both official and unofficial spheres. I support my argument with the following indicators: (1) the wider historical Greek-Turkish conflict and its 'recip-rocal' nature of discrimination against non-Muslim minorities; (2) the laden interpretation of the non-Muslim minorities as the internal enemies in the Turkish mind-set and its direct reflections on the 1974 case of foundations; and (3) the nature of the press coverage, which I assess using detailed reading and content analysis of three Turkish newspapers (Hürriyet, Tercüman, Cumhuriyet) and one Rum minority newspaper (Apoyevmatini).
The prevailing narrative on the Syrian Civil War attributes it to climate-induced migration resul... more The prevailing narrative on the Syrian Civil War attributes it to climate-induced migration resulting from a severe drought, which serves as a central link connecting climate change with the 2011 protests. However, limited research has involved interviews with Syrians, with most studies focusing on drought's meteorological aspects and estimated migrant numbers. Our interdisciplinary study we conduct surveys with 82 former Syrian farmers in Turkey, carry out 16 in-depth interviews, and analyse satellite images to explore land use activities. Our objective is to answer three questions: (1) How can we distinguish between 'forced displacement' and 'migration as an adaptive response' during the 2007-2009 drought in Syria and the subsequent civil war? (2) How do drought, land abandonment, and migration interact in Syria since 2006? (3) How can we enhance understanding of 'trapped' individuals, considering mobility restrictions in host countries rather than solely immobility in the country of origin? Our findings are threefold: firstly, Syrian farmers employed adaptive measures against drought before the war; secondly, land abandonment during the drought was less extensive than portrayed in literature linking climate, migration, and conflict; and finally, we emphasize that refugees may feel trapped even after leaving their homes.
This article contributes to the existing literature on the populist online communication of gover... more This article contributes to the existing literature on the populist online communication of governments. We look at the role of the micro-blogging social media platform Twitter under the authoritarian rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the wider Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi; AKP) during the peace process. We carried out a rhetorical analysis of the Twitter posts of four key AKP actors-Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ahmet Davutoglu, Yalçın Akdogan, and Efkan Alabetween July 1, 2012 and November 1, 2015. First, we show that the AKP actors persistently label the Kurdish political movement in Turkey and in Syria as a threat to the national security of Turkey, reflected in their rhetoric toward the remilitarization and resecuritization of Turkey's Kurdish question within and across its borders. Second, we argue that the AKP used the peace process and various persuasive communicative techniques not only to consolidate Kurdish electoral support, but also to reach its aim to remove the Kemalist military-bureaucratic tutelage in Turkey that was replaced with hyper-presidentialism under the strong personality cult of Erdogan. Third, we argue that Erdogan's increased one-man power has been reflected in the AKP's branding itself as the only viable choice for the Kurdish region's stability, which has blocked more constructive dialogue toward a peaceful resolution to the Kurdish question.
Environmental degradation is identified as a key factor that threatens the future of life on Eart... more Environmental degradation is identified as a key factor that threatens the future of life on Earth, but such generalised reading entails that conceal the uneven effects of environmental degradation. When environmental degradation takes place on the lands of the marginalised groups, it is often overlooked or further justified by hegemonic powers that view these areas as natural resources or hideouts for insurgent groups that need to be drained. The embedded prejudice and discrimination against the internal others are often inflamed through the media and followed by the dominant society. This commentary addresses this issue of differential significance attributed to environmental degradation in Kurdistan and discusses how the concept of ecological racism may help uncovering this variance. In doing so, this piece covers the existing literature about conflict and environment nexus in Kurdistan, and suggests ways forward to advance knowledge and work towards political and ecological just...
Environmental degradation is identified as a key factor that threatens the future of life on Eart... more Environmental degradation is identified as a key factor that threatens the future of life on Earth, but such generalised reading entails that conceal the uneven effects of environmental degradation. When environmental degradation takes place on the lands of the marginalised groups, it is often overlooked or further justified by hegemonic powers that view these areas as natural resources or hideouts for insurgent groups that need to be drained. The embedded prejudice and discrimination against the internal others are often inflamed through the media and followed by the dominant society. This commentary addresses this issue of differential significance attributed to environmental degradation in Kurdistan and discusses how the concept of ecological racism may help uncovering this variance. In doing so, this piece covers the existing literature about conflict and environment nexus in Kurdistan, and suggests ways forward to advance knowledge and work towards political and ecological justice.
Authoritarian Neoliberalism and Resistance in Turkey
During the early years of the ruling Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party, A... more During the early years of the ruling Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party, AKP), Turkey was seen as a burgeoning democratic power propped up by economic prosperity in line with the reforms for European Union (EU) accession and International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditionality. However, 20 years later, it is considered an emblematic case of democratic backsliding in line with rising poverty and inequalities that have been amplified as a result of sweeping neoliberal reforms and authoritarian consolidation in the country. The recent literature has identified these concomitant and complementary modes of authoritarian governance and neoliberal policies in Turkey as ‘authoritarian neoliberalism’. In this chapter, we discuss the dynamics of consolidation of authoritarian neoliberalism in Turkey as well as the acts of contention against it. Building mainly on the eight case studies presented in this volume, we put forward a framework that explains the consolidation of a...
Authoritarian Neoliberalism and Resistance in Turkey
During the early years of the ruling Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party, A... more During the early years of the ruling Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party, AKP), Turkey was seen as a burgeoning democratic power propped up by economic prosperity in line with the reforms for European Union (EU) accession and International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditionality. However, 20 years later, it is considered an emblematic case of democratic backsliding in line with rising poverty and inequalities that have been amplified as a result of sweeping neoliberal reforms and authoritarian consolidation in the country. The recent literature has identified these concomitant and complementary modes of authoritarian governance and neoliberal policies in Turkey as ‘authoritarian neoliberalism’. In this chapter, we discuss the dynamics of consolidation of authoritarian neoliberalism in Turkey as well as the acts of contention against it. Building mainly on the eight case studies presented in this volume, we put forward a framework that explains the consolidation of a...
During the early years of the ruling Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party, A... more During the early years of the ruling Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party, AKP), Turkey was seen as a burgeoning democratic power propped up by economic prosperity in All authors have contributed equally. The author names are in alphabetical order. The authors would like to thank the Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies and the Strategic Research Area (SRA): Middle East in the Contemporary World (MECW) at Lund University for providing the open-access funding for this chapter.
Environmental destruction has long been used as a military strategy in times of conflict. A long-... more Environmental destruction has long been used as a military strategy in times of conflict. A long-term example of environmental destruction in a conflict zone can be found in Dersim/Tunceli province, located in Eastern Turkey. In the last century, at least two military operations negatively impacted Dersim's population and environment: 1937-38 and 1993-94. Both conflict and environmental destruction in the region continued after the 1990s. Particularly after July 2015, when the brief peace process that began in 2013 ended, conflict between the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) resumed and questions arose about the cause of forest fires in Dersim. In this research we investigate whether there is a relationship between conflict and forest fires in Dersim. This is denied by the Turkish state but asserted by many Dersim residents, civil society groups, and political parties. We use a multidisciplinary approach, combining methods of qualitative analysis of print media (newspapers), social media (Twitter), and local accounts, together with quantitative methods: remote sensing and spatial analysis. Interdisciplinary analysis combining quantitative datasets with in-depth, qualitative data allows a better understanding of the role of conflict in potentially exacerbating the frequency and severity of forest fires. Although we cannot determine the cause of the fires, the results of our statistical analysis suggest a significant relationship between fires and conflict in Dersim, indicating that the incidence of conflicts is generally correlated with the number of fires.
There is limited understanding of the geopolitics of fire, conflict, and land, for example, how c... more There is limited understanding of the geopolitics of fire, conflict, and land, for example, how conflict and fire are related and how conflict impacts the biophysical environment. Since 2014, the natural environment in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has been negatively affected by recurrent conflict that coincided with a sharp increase in the number of reported fires. Against this background, this study explores the spatiotemporal aspects of conflict, fire, and land use and land cover in this region. We combine several satellite-derived products, including land use and land cover, active fire, and precipitation. We apply a partial correlation analysis to understand the relationship between fire, conflict, climate, and land use and land cover. Conflict events and fires have increased since 2014 and have followed a similar temporal pattern, and we show that certain conflicts were particular to certain land use and land cover contexts. For example, the conflict involving the Islamic State was concentrated in southern areas with bare soil/sparse vegetation, and the conflict involving Turkey largely took place in northern mountainous areas characterized by natural vegetation and rugged topography. This dichotomy indicates divergent effects of conflict on the land system. A surprising finding was that fire hotspots had a low positive correlation with the amplitude of distance to conflict while accounting for other variables such as land cover and climate. The high statistical significance of this relationship indicates nonlinearity and implies that a larger range of distances to conflict creates more space for the fires to spread in the surrounding landscape. At the same time, fire hotspots had a weaker but negative correlation to distance from conflict events, which is somewhat expected as areas farther away from conflict locations have lower exposure risk to fires. We discuss the implications of these findings within the geopolitical context of the region and acknowledge the limitations of the study. We conclude with a summary of the main findings and recommendations for future research.
Highlighting the modernity of state institutions, Hobsbawm defines the nation as a modern territo... more Highlighting the modernity of state institutions, Hobsbawm defines the nation as a modern territorial state (the nation-state) and argues that nation and nationality cannot be discussed unless they refer to the nation-state. Hobsbawm's conception of nations and nationality in the context of the nation-state warrants readdress by comparing Westphalian models of states with subjects that do not attempt a territorial model but arguably still invest in the nation and a sense of nationality. This article compares the discourses of building nations and national identities fostered in the content of school textbooks in the Republic of Turkey-a modern, territorial nation-state-and the Autonomous Administration of North and East of Syria (hereafter Rojava)-an alternative state system model established in the power vacuum proceeding Bashar al-Assad regime withdrawal from expansive territory in northern Syria. In doing so, the article revisits the existing literature on the correlation between the content and political associations of school textbooks through a comparative analysis of primary school course materials in Turkey and Rojava, neighbouring and conflicting political entities that occupy contrasting domains of statehood and military capacity.
Is the Rojava model really deconstructing the model of a state or is it potentially a new state f... more Is the Rojava model really deconstructing the model of a state or is it potentially a new state form? Does the ‘democratic confederalism’ model that the Kurdish movement claims to be implementing in Northern Syria draw on/reproduce different modes of identity/belonging than that of the nation and the state? This paper argues that the shift from a nationalist movement towards a project that offers a stateless solution seems to be incomplete and needs to be further questioned. The first section begins with a brief discussion of the notion of statelessness and the historical background and ideological transformation of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its ‘paradigm-shift’. The second section shows that despite positive aspects towards a post-national stateless model, the narratives of the representatives of the Kurdish political movement in Rojava display nationalist elements by prioritizing the Kurds and their cultural identity and a political power at the top of which Öcalan’s personality cult stands; and engages with the concept of the multitude, proposed by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri whose work on radical democracy is theoretically relevant to the Rojava model.
This article focuses on the construction and competition over Dersim identity that takes place in... more This article focuses on the construction and competition over Dersim identity that takes place in Dersim’s diaspora, which also creates the necessity to critically engage with the concepts of Euro-Turks and Euro-Kurds. In doing so, it argues that while the activities of Dersimlis in the Dersim diaspora in Europe and in Turkey enable new identity claims, they also perpetuate a sense of belonging that builds upon ethnic, religious and/or linguistic domination. The first section broadly reviews the theoretical discussions on the complexity and fluidity of collective identities, diasporic movements, and the role the intelligentsia plays in the construction and competition over the definition of collective identities in diasporas. Building on this framework, the second section introduces the case of Dersim, the region and its history, and discusses the role Dersim diaspora and its intelligentsia play in (re)defining Dersim’s collective memory and competing over the definition of Dersim’s identity.
Nationalities Papers The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity, 2018
This article focuses on the novels and short stories written about the ethnic cleansing of Dersim... more This article focuses on the novels and short stories written about the ethnic cleansing of Dersim in the Turkish Republic in 1937–1938. Dersim 1937–1938 has become increasingly popular both as a political debate as well as a storyline in cultural productions over the last decade. The historical episode, once kept a secret, is almost an “industry” (“Memory: Concepts and Theory,” 2014) and an example of “memory boom” [Winter, Jay. (2002). Remembering War: The Great War Between Memory and History in the Twentieth Century. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press]. The aim of this article is to analyze the politics of memory and identity through literary works. It examines novels and short stories that focus on Dersim 1937–1938, or consider the ethnic cleansing in Dersim in a specific part of their storyline. By examining competing descriptions of Dersim memory and identity in these works, my purpose is to understand the mechanisms of literary competition, as well as Dersim’s fragmented collective memory and identity.
In 1974, the dispute between Turkey and Greece over Cyprus resulted in Turkish military intervent... more In 1974, the dispute between Turkey and Greece over Cyprus resulted in Turkish military intervention in the island. The same year, the Turkish Court of Cassation issued a legal decision that rendered possible the confiscation of properties belonging to minority foundations in the years to come. I argue that the case of minority foundations in 1974 was not a coincidence but a conscious reciprocal discrimination applied in both official and unofficial spheres. I support my argument with the following indicators: (1) the wider historical Greek-Turkish conflict and its 'recip-rocal' nature of discrimination against non-Muslim minorities; (2) the laden interpretation of the non-Muslim minorities as the internal enemies in the Turkish mind-set and its direct reflections on the 1974 case of foundations; and (3) the nature of the press coverage, which I assess using detailed reading and content analysis of three Turkish newspapers (Hürriyet, Tercüman, Cumhuriyet) and one Rum minority newspaper (Apoyevmatini).
Populist ideology, political parties, leaders, and
discourse are on the rise, spanning from Ameri... more Populist ideology, political parties, leaders, and discourse are on the rise, spanning from America to Europe and from the Middle East to East Asia. However, there is still a lack of an agreed definition— or measurement—of this phenomenon. Populism has diverse meanings within different geographies, historical contexts, and ideologies. For example, leftwing populism in Venezuela under Hugo Chávez in the late 1990s and 2000s is different from right-wing populism in Hungary under Viktor Orbán. Similar yet diverging examples of the recent populist trend are seen around the world. In June 2016, the UK voted to enact “Brexit,” Donald Trump officially became the Republican Party’s candidate for the 2016 U.S. presidential elections, and the Alternative für Deutschland met with considerable success in regional elections in Germany. The increasing popularity of leaders such as India’s Narendra Modi, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin has broadened the global populist trend. Populist parties came to the fore across Europe after the left-wing political party Syriza won the general elections in Greece in early 2015 and Podemos significantly raised its votes in Spain’s national elections the same year. Current studies on populism are useful yet vary due to the absence of a clear and operationalizable definition. What do we mean when we say “populism?” How do we measure it? What links does it have with other key ideas such as democracy, globalization, neoliberalism, and majoritarianism? Who can be defined as a populist? Is populism something to be cured? These were the key questions that arose during our one-day roundtable discussion on populism. This report provides a brief overview of these issues through a theoretical discussion supported by empirical cases from across the world. It concludes with suggestions for further research.
The scientific debate about the Syrian civil war being linked to climate change that manifested t... more The scientific debate about the Syrian civil war being linked to climate change that manifested through a prolonged drought took off in 2014, with two key publications: De Châtel’s article in the Middle Eastern Studies in January, and Gleick’s article in Weather, Climate, and Society in July. In 2015, Kelley published an article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which yielded massive media attention and has been cited more than 1300 times, according to Google Scholar. The debate reached a peak in 2017 (fig. 1 below) when Selby et al. (2017b) published an article criticising Gleick (2014) and Kelley et al. (2015). This led to three consecutive responses (Gleick, 2017; Hendrix, 2017; Kelley et al., 2017) and a rejoinder (Selby et al., 2017a). Since 2017, there has been on average one article per year, suggesting that the debate is still ongoing. This annotated bibliography is an article-by-article summary of the peer reviewed literature published on the climate-conflict nexus in Syria. It currently includes 19 articles where drought after 2005 is discussed together with the Syrian uprising turning into a civil war in 2011. The existing literature on the topic reflects both quantitative (e.g. Ash and Obradovich, 2020; Kelley et al., 2015), qualitative (e.g. De Châtel, 2014; Feitelson and Tubi, 2017; Fröhlich, 2016; Gleick, 2014; Gürcan, 2019; Selby, 2018) and more mixed approaches (e.g. Eklund and Thompson, 2017; Selby et al., 2017b). Herein we list the purpose, methods and data used, and the findings/conclusions of each article. The articles are listed in chronological order.
Nations are not becoming conflict-free zones as once envisioned. They remain zones of conflict an... more Nations are not becoming conflict-free zones as once envisioned. They remain zones of conflict and of competition. It has been argued that competition over the memory of foundational events or of national identity can strengthen national identities. In some cases, however, competition brings more competition, leading only to fragmentation. When such competition continues without producing a definite outcome, the question remains: why is there continuous competition? This thesis answers this question through a case study, that of Dersim in the Turkish Republic. Despite appearing from the outside to be a unified zone of insurgent conflict against the Turkish state, Dersim is, in fact, a contested ground and a zone of conflict where multiple insurgent movements struggle not only against the state but also against each other. Why is it that Dersim remains a conflict zone in which the number of conflicting groups simply increases? Why do we not see a victorious or dominant movement but, rather, continuous competition that does not strengthen the nation but engenders new, ‘sub-nation(alism)s’? This thesis does two things. Firstly, it explains why there is this incessant competition. Secondly, it maps out the arenas in which this competition takes place, tracing its origins further back than the 1990s. I argue that competition continues because nationalist movements impose concepts of ethnicity and nationalism on the region in order to homogenise what remains a heterogeneous community. The outcome of this competition may not be ‘nation-building’ nor ‘strong collective identity,’ but neither does Dersim totally fragment. On the one hand, Dersimlis have been torn apart particularly by ethno-linguistic definitions of their collective identity that are unsuitable for the type of community it is. On the other, such is the tradition of resistance to the central authority in Ankara, that Dersimlis exhibit the same degree of solidarity that one finds in more cohesive nationalist movements.
This project is designed to explore the complex relationship between two fragile groups in Turkey... more This project is designed to explore the complex relationship between two fragile groups in Turkey: the Syrians “under temporary protection” (hereafter refugees) and the Alevi religious/cultural community. This ongoing project is funded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (KVA).
Despite the urgency and vitality of these needs, the primary focus of the proposed project is to explore the relationship between Alevi Turkish citizens and Syrian refugees in predominantly Alevi regions from a sociopolitical perspective. How do local Alevis view Syrians, e.g. as Sunnis, refugees or criminals? How do Syrian refugees living in these regions view their host community, e.g. as Alevis or hostile landlords? Are these communities in contact or isolated from each other? What are the causes of the tension/mutual suspicion/conflict between the host and guest communities? What role do AFAD, local governments, civil society organizations and other organizations in the region play in establishing (or failing to establish) a relationship between these two communities? What role do/can international, national, and local stakeholders play to alleviate existing/potential social tensions between the host and guest communities?
FIRE (Fighting Insurgency Ruining the Environment) is a project funded by the Marie Sklodowska-Cu... more FIRE (Fighting Insurgency Ruining the Environment) is a project funded by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions research grants created by the European Commission.
The aim of this project is to reverse the causality and look into how conflicts lead or contribute to environmental degradation. It will do this by focusing on forest fires in the Middle East through a detailed study of the cases of Turkey, Syria, and Israel. The questions that will be addressed in this context are:
Is there a positive correlation between inter- and intra-state conflict and forest fires? How do conflicts affect ecosystems and biodiversity as well as the lives of inhabitants? How are forest fires used discursively by conflicting groups?
This book offers new clarity on three important political concepts: authoritarianism, neoliberali... more This book offers new clarity on three important political concepts: authoritarianism, neoliberalism, and resistance. While debates on authoritarian resurgence have been limited to the examination of political factors (e.g., polarisation, conflict) until recently, the rising literature on ‘authoritarian neoliberalism’ highlights how the neoliberal restructuring of political economy bolsters the authoritarian tendencies of elected governments both in the Global South and the Global North. This book will be an invaluable resource not only to scholars of Turkey and the Middle East but also to researchers into authoritarianism and neoliberalism around the world.
Chapters 2 and 10 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.
Ecological Solidarity and the Kurdish Freedom Movement: Thought, Practice, Challenges, and Opportunities, 2021
Ecological Solidarity and the Kurdish Freedom Movement examines the ideas about social ecology an... more Ecological Solidarity and the Kurdish Freedom Movement examines the ideas about social ecology and communalism behind the evolving political structures in the Kurdish region. The collection evaluates practical green projects, including the Mesopotamian Ecology Movement, Jinwar women’s eco-village, food sovereignty in a solidarity economy, environmental defenders in Iranian Kurdistan, and Make Rojava Green Again. Contributors also critically reflect on such contested themes as Alevi nature beliefs, anti-dam demonstrations, human-rights law and climate change, the Gezi Park protests, and forest fires. Throughout this volume, the contributors consider the formidable challenges to Kurdish initiatives, such as state repression, damaged infrastructure, and oil dependency. Nevertheless, contributors assert that the West has much to learn from the Kurdish ecological paradigm, which offers insight into social movement debates about development and decolonization.
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discourse are on the rise, spanning from America
to Europe and from the Middle East to East Asia.
However, there is still a lack of an agreed definition—
or measurement—of this phenomenon. Populism
has diverse meanings within different geographies,
historical contexts, and ideologies. For example, leftwing populism in Venezuela under Hugo Chávez in
the late 1990s and 2000s is different from right-wing
populism in Hungary under Viktor Orbán. Similar yet
diverging examples of the recent populist trend are
seen around the world. In June 2016, the UK voted to
enact “Brexit,” Donald Trump officially became the
Republican Party’s candidate for the 2016 U.S. presidential elections, and the Alternative für Deutschland
met with considerable success in regional elections in
Germany. The increasing popularity of leaders such
as India’s Narendra Modi, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin has broadened
the global populist trend. Populist parties came to the
fore across Europe after the left-wing political party
Syriza won the general elections in Greece in early
2015 and Podemos significantly raised its votes in
Spain’s national elections the same year.
Current studies on populism are useful yet vary due to
the absence of a clear and operationalizable definition.
What do we mean when we say “populism?” How do
we measure it? What links does it have with other key
ideas such as democracy, globalization, neoliberalism,
and majoritarianism? Who can be defined as a populist? Is populism something to be cured? These were
the key questions that arose during our one-day roundtable discussion on populism. This report provides a
brief overview of these issues through a theoretical
discussion supported by empirical cases from across
the world. It concludes with suggestions for further
research.
on average one article per year, suggesting that the debate is still ongoing.
This annotated bibliography is an article-by-article summary of the peer reviewed literature published on
the climate-conflict nexus in Syria. It currently includes 19 articles where drought after 2005 is discussed together with the Syrian uprising turning into a civil war in 2011. The existing literature on the topic reflects both quantitative (e.g. Ash and Obradovich, 2020; Kelley et al., 2015), qualitative (e.g. De Châtel, 2014; Feitelson and Tubi, 2017; Fröhlich, 2016; Gleick, 2014; Gürcan, 2019; Selby, 2018) and more mixed approaches (e.g. Eklund and Thompson, 2017; Selby et al., 2017b). Herein we list the purpose, methods and data used, and the findings/conclusions of each article. The articles are listed in chronological order.
Despite the urgency and vitality of these needs, the primary focus of the proposed project is to explore the relationship between Alevi Turkish citizens and Syrian refugees in predominantly Alevi regions from a sociopolitical perspective. How do local Alevis view Syrians, e.g. as Sunnis, refugees or criminals? How do Syrian refugees living in these regions view their host community, e.g. as Alevis or hostile landlords? Are these communities in contact or isolated from each other? What are the causes of the tension/mutual suspicion/conflict between the host and guest communities? What role do AFAD, local governments, civil society organizations and other organizations in the region play in establishing (or failing to establish) a relationship between these two communities? What role do/can international, national, and local stakeholders play to alleviate existing/potential social tensions between the host and guest communities?
The aim of this project is to reverse the causality and look into how conflicts lead or contribute to environmental degradation. It will do this by focusing on forest fires in the Middle East through a detailed study of the cases of Turkey, Syria, and Israel. The questions that will be addressed in this context are:
Is there a positive correlation between inter- and intra-state conflict and forest fires?
How do conflicts affect ecosystems and biodiversity as well as the lives of inhabitants?
How are forest fires used discursively by conflicting groups?
Chapters 2 and 10 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.