“Although, according to the founders of the Republic of Turkey, a Turkish ethnic nationalist ideology had to become the fabric of society, the irony is that this ideology is at the same time the...Show more“Although, according to the founders of the Republic of Turkey, a Turkish ethnic nationalist ideology had to become the fabric of society, the irony is that this ideology is at the same time the main source of political conflict and violence” (Jongerden 2001, 81). The establishment of the Turkish Republic under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal, consolidating Turkish Nationalism as State Ideology, was the beginning of a history full of paradoxes and contradictions. Especially the Turkish central government and the Kurdish community entered a century of ups and downs what would become known as the ‘Kurdish Question’. While the Turkish Nationalists have remained constant in their ideology, the Kurds have witnessed a turbulent ideological development throughout history, which has both divided as unified the Kurdish community on different occasions. Although the dream of an independent Kurdistan has always been in the background, the Kurdish community has not always been able to pursue this dream, or been willing to. In the more modern days, however, when the Kurds in Turkey became more active again in their struggle for independence, the PKK gained prominence among the Kurds, with Abdullah Ocalan as its leader. Thereupon, since the late 1990s, Ocalan would become to represent the PKK, whereas the PKK in its turn would represent the entire Kurdish Nation (Bozarslan 2008, 351). Thus, when Abdullah Ocalan came up with the ideology of democratic confederalism, the Kurdish community followed. How did Ocalan, however, after all these years, come up with this ideology one may wonder, and how does this democratic confederalism apply to the ‘Kurdish Question’? In order to be able to research this complicated issue in the most effective ways, the theoretical framework of the issue must be determined and defined correctly, prior to the actual analysis of the case. This means that in order to fully comprehend concepts such as the ‘Nation-State’, it must be established what the concepts of the ‘Nation’ and the ‘State’ individually withhold, after which, the concept of the ‘Nation-State’ can be explained and analyzed in the light of the Kurdish Question. Furthermore, to properly grasp these conceptions, we must understand their foundations. Therefore, by means of chronological order, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Ernest Renan, and Max Weber will be examined, to lay down the basic rationale behind ‘State formation’, ‘the Nation’ and the ‘State’. In addition, the contexts of ‘Nationalism’ and the Right to Self-Determination will be assessed. Based on this theoretical framework the ideological development of the Kurds in Turkey will be decomposed and analyzed to investigate how the direct secessionist Kurdish ambitions for an independent Nation-State evolved into an ideology of Democratic Confederalism.Show less
