Kurdish Self-Determination, Turkish Anxiety: The Making of the Republican Raison D'état

Abstract

How did the First World War (1914-1918) and its aftermath shape and transform the Kurdish political activism and Kurdish nationalism in the Middle East? How did the Treaty of Sèvres (1920) and its clauses offering the Kurds an opportunity for self-determination influence the Turkish nationalism and the worldview of the founding fathers of the Republic? In the light of these questions, this article seeks to understand and explain the inter-dependent relationship between the Kurdish aspirations for self-determination and the making of the modern Turkish state and the Republican mindset in the early twentieth century. In doing so, the global market of ideas and the transnational historical context (e.g. debates over Wilsonian self-determination and nationhood, centralization vs. decentralization) will be taken into account as well as the ruptures and continuities in the Ottoman-Turkish state tradition against the state-seeking nationalisms. Understanding this historical context influenced by the transnational and local societal and political forces would shed light to unpacking the state-minority relations in Turkey in general and the modern Kurdish question in the Middle East in particular.

Keywords

• Turkish nationalism
• Kurdish nationalism
• self-determination
• World War I

Xweçarenivîsa Kurdan û Endîşeya Tirkan: Çêbûna Aqlê Dewletê yê Cumhuriyetê

Abstract

Gelo Şerê Cîhanê yê Yekem (1914-1918) û encamên wê, çawa dirûv dan aktîvîzma Kurdî ya polîtîk û neteweperwerîya Kurdan li Rojhilata Navîn û ew çawa veguherandin? Gelo Peymana Sewrê (1920) û maddeyên wê yên ku di biwara mafê çarenûsê (self-determînasyonê) de derfetek pêşkêşî Kurdan dikirin, tesîreke çawa li neteweper werîya Tirkan û zihnîyeta pîrên damezirîner ên Cumhurîyetê kir? Armanca vê gotarê ew e ku di bin ronahîya van pirsan de, pêwendîya dualî-pevgirêdayî ya bidestxistina mafê çarenûsa Kurdan û avakirina dewleta modern a Tirkîyeyê û zihnîyeta Cumhûrîyetê ya destpêka sedsala XXem têbigehe û şîrove bike. Di heman demê de, bazara cîhanî ya hizran û peywenda tarîxî ya dernetewî (wek mînak, prensîba bidestxistina mafê çarenûsê ya Wîlsonî, gengeşeyên li ser netewebûnê û yên li ser sîyaseta ‘edemê merkezîyetê li dijî merkezîyetê), herweha qutbûn û domandina nerîta dewletê ya Osmanî-Tirkan li hemberî neteweperwerîya dewletparêz jî dê li ber çavan bên girtin. Têgihîştina vê peywenda tarîxî ya ku ji hêzên civakî û polîtîk yên dernetewî û xwemalî bandor wergirtîye, dê ronîyê bavêje ser çareserîya pêwendîyên dewlet-kêmaran li Tirkîyeyê bi giştî û kêşeya modern a Kurdan a li Rojhilata Navîn bi taybetî.

Keywords

• neteweperwerîya Kurdan
• neteweperwerîya Tirkan
• mafê çarenûsê
• Şerê Cîhanê yê Yekem
• ewlehîya ontolojîk

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