Özal Leadership and Restructuring of Turkish Ethnic Policy in the 1980s

Abstract

The Ozal period, first prime minister (1983-89) and then president (1989-93), was an era of novelty and change in Turkey's domestic and foreign policy. Largely deviating from the Kemalist tradition, Ozal restructured Turkish politics in many areas. The following examines changes made by Ozal in Turkey's ethnic policy. The traditional ethnic policy of the state the denial of all other ethnic groups, and 'local or Anatolian Turkism' was shaken by internal and external developments in the 1980s and early 1990s Kurdish nationalism, the change of the leadership group, the influence of political Islam, and developments in the regional context.' The definition and policy implication of 'Turkish ethnicity' shifted substantially from denial of any relationship with outside Turks and the ideological creation of Turkishness to an acceptance of ethnic and cultural understanding of Turkishness and recognition of other ethnicities. The focus here is mainly on the Kurds because of their importance as the second largest ethnic group in the country and the fourth largest ethnic group in the Middle East. Although there are dozens of ethnic groups inside Turkey such as Bosnians, Albanians, Circassians, Arabs, Lazes, Abkhazians, Armenians, Greeks and Jews, the Kurds are the only evident threat to Turkish national integrity, because they constitute a high percentage (15-20 per cent) of the state's population and form the majority of the population in a particular geographic area (east and south-east regions of the country).2 Examination of the 'Kemalist outlook on ethnicity' in the country, is followed by a discussion of the major changes in ethnic policy that have occurred since 1983 when Turgut Ozal became prime minister and their implications for Turkey's foreign policy.