Between Respect and Rebellion An Interpretation of Reports on Kurds in Turkey

Abstract

This paper seeks to evaluate the reports which have been written on Kurds and the Kurdish problem in Turkey from the early Republic till the recent time. The article is based on primary sources such as reports submitted by political parties and government officers to the government and the Turkish National Assembly for a given period; it analyzes them in a chronological framework. Based on the sources, this article suggests that since the inception of the Republic of Turkey, the state and political parties from different ideological backgrounds, except the Kurdish party, have tended to formulate the Kurdish problem in terms of socio-economic underdevelopment; their suggestions mostly focus on solving such a problem and not addressing the oppression of the Kurdish population in Turkey. In addition, the paper argues that with the foundation of Partiya Karkeran Kurdistan (PKK), the problem that the state seeks to solve has shifted from a solely socioeconomic approach toward more security concerns. middle est