Building alternative communities within the state: the Kurdish Movement, local municipalities and democratic autonomy

Abstract

This chapter discusses the different forms of community development that the Kurdish Movement creatively makes use of and how funding is sourced in support of these practices. Since the mid-2000s, the Kurdish Movement has put increased focus on the development of alternative communities in the Kurdistan region in Turkey as part of an effort to establish ‘democratic autonomy’. The chapter is structured in three parts. The first section explains the historical and theoretical background of the paradigmatic shift within the Kurdish Movement from armed struggle for independence towards a movement for democratic autonomy. This is followed by a discussion of the central role of the municipalities in this model and an analysis of three exemplary forms of funding.