Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency in Turkey
Title | Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency in Turkey PDF eBook |
Author | Spyridon Plakoudas |
Publisher | Springer |
Pages | 111 |
Release | 2018-04-04 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 3319756591 |
This book seeks to answer the “why” and “how” questions about the insurgency of the PKK, a militant left-wing group of Turkey’s Kurds, in Turkey. The PKK has been inter-locked in an intermittent war against Turkey since 1984 in the name of Kurdish nationalism. The author combines insights of Strategy and IR - from strategy and tactics in irregular warfare to peace negotiations between state authorities and insurgents, with data from qualitative research, to achieve two inter-related objectives: first, assess the current state of affairs and predict the future course of the conflict and, secondly, draw general conclusions on how protracted conflicts can end and how.
Understanding Insurgency
Title | Understanding Insurgency PDF eBook |
Author | Francis O'Connor |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 297 |
Release | 2021-08-26 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 1108983057 |
Focusing on the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), the armed group which has attracted global attention in recent years for its efforts in resisting the ISIS campaign in Syria and Iraq, this study examines how, since the 1970s, the PKK obtained and maintained popular support, and the role of violence in this relationship in Turkey.
Police, Provocation, Politics
Title | Police, Provocation, Politics PDF eBook |
Author | Deniz Yonucu |
Publisher | Cornell University Press |
Pages | 135 |
Release | 2022-03-15 |
Genre | Social Science |
ISBN | 1501762184 |
In Police, Provocation, Politics, Deniz Yonucu presents a counterintuitive analysis of contemporary policing practices, focusing particular attention on the incitement of counterviolence, perpetual conflict, and ethnosectarian discord by the state security apparatus. Situating Turkish policing within a global context and combining archival work and oral history narratives with ethnographic research, Yonucu demonstrates how counterinsurgency strategies from the Cold War and decolonial eras continue to inform contemporary urban policing in Istanbul. Shedding light on counterinsurgency's affect-and-emotion-generating divisive techniques and urban dimensions, Yonucu shows how counterinsurgent policing strategies work to intervene in the organization of political dissent in a way that both counters existing alignments among dissident populations and prevents emergent ones. Yonucu suggests that in the places where racialized and dissident populations live, provocations of counterviolence and conflict by state security agents as well as their containment of both cannot be considered disruptions of social order. Instead, they can only be conceptualized as forms of governance and policing designed to manage actual or potential rebellious populations.
Turkish Culture and Its Influence on the Counter-insurgency Campaign Against the Kurdistan Worker's Part (Pkk)
Title | Turkish Culture and Its Influence on the Counter-insurgency Campaign Against the Kurdistan Worker's Part (Pkk) PDF eBook |
Author | School of Advances Military Studies |
Publisher | CreateSpace |
Pages | 72 |
Release | 2014-06-03 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 9781499762464 |
Turkish Culture had a profound influence on the conduct of its counter-insurgency campaign against the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK). The variables shaping Turkey's response to the insurgency were a unique brand of nationalism, Islamic traditions, aspirations towards Westernization, and political legacies from the Ottoman Empire. Based on these variables, the culturally accepted response to Kurdish nationalism and separatism was a militarily dominated strategy of suppression. The Kurds, for their part, leveraged the inconsistencies found in the inherent Turkish cultural tensions and military response to propagate their struggle. Multi-disciplined programs, fostering true democracy, an integrated strategy, and use of existing Kurdish social and political structures must be incorporated in a new approach by the Turkish government. American policymakers can derive three lessons: pragmatism must override dogma, conflict resolution requires understanding and leveraging of cultural dynamics and complex problems require multi-disciplined approaches.
Turkish Culture and Its Influence on the Counter-Insurgency Campaign Against the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK).
Title | Turkish Culture and Its Influence on the Counter-Insurgency Campaign Against the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK). PDF eBook |
Author | |
Publisher | |
Pages | 75 |
Release | 2006 |
Genre | |
ISBN |
Turkish Culture had a profound influence on the conduct of its counter-insurgency campaign against the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK). The independent variables shaping Turkey's response to the insurgency were a unique brand of nationalism, Islamic traditions, aspirations towards Westernization, and political legacies from the Ottoman Empire. A perpetual and dynamic tension existed between these elements that produced a complicated, though ironically, one dimensional approach to resolve the insurgency. Based on these conflicting variables, the culturally accepted response to Kurdish nationalism and separatism was a militarily dominated strategy of suppression. This strategy, though achieving clear military victories, did not resolve the underlying problems. The Kurds, for their part, leveraged the inconsistencies found in the inherent Turkish cultural tensions and military response to propagate their struggle. The PKK, with its socialist dominated vice ethnically based ideology, was not the perfect representation of the Kurdish cause, but remained the only viable form of Kurdish expression. The Turkish-Kurdish struggle was a complex problem that required a multi-faceted solution. Violence subsided in 1999, but re-emerged in 2002 and suggested that the Kurdish discontent was not completely suppressed. Multi-disciplined programs, separating democracy from military dominance, an integrated strategy, and use of existing Kurdish social and political structures must be incorporated in a new approach by the Turkish government. American policymakers can derive three lessons: pragmatism must override dogma, conflict resolution requires understanding and leveraging of cultural dynamics and complex problems require multi-disciplined approaches.
Counterterrorism in Turkey
Title | Counterterrorism in Turkey PDF eBook |
Author | Mustafa Coşar Ünal |
Publisher | Routledge |
Pages | 302 |
Release | 2012-03-12 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 1136578552 |
Counterterrorism in Turkey comprehensively analyses Turkey’s counterterrorism policies in the context of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party), an ethnicity-based guerrilla insurgency group employing terrorism. Contrary to most of the counterterrorism studies that focused on single aspect of the phenomenon, this book offers multi-level analyses from a variety of perspectives using both quantitative and qualitative data sets. Examining what measures have been taken so far, and what these policies really mean to the PKK and its sympathisers, Unal examines counterterrorism policies from both the perspective of the government and the PKK. The work evaluates whether policy choices so far have been effective (and in what circumstances) and how they have affected both levels of terrorist violence in Turkey and the nature of this violence. This work provides a valuable contribution to the literature on counterterrorism and will be of interest to both practitioners and scholars of terrorism studies, extremism and ethnic conflict.
Counterterrorism in Turkey
Title | Counterterrorism in Turkey PDF eBook |
Author | Mustafa Unal |
Publisher | Routledge |
Pages | 266 |
Release | 2012-03-12 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 1136578560 |
Counterterrorism in Turkey comprehensively analyses Turkey’s counterterrorism policies in the context of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party), an ethnicity-based guerrilla insurgency group employing terrorism. Contrary to most of the counterterrorism studies that focused on single aspect of the phenomenon, this book offers multi-level analyses from a variety of perspectives using both quantitative and qualitative data sets. Examining what measures have been taken so far, and what these policies really mean to the PKK and its sympathisers, Unal examines counterterrorism policies from both the perspective of the government and the PKK. The work evaluates whether policy choices so far have been effective (and in what circumstances) and how they have affected both levels of terrorist violence in Turkey and the nature of this violence. This work provides a valuable contribution to the literature on counterterrorism and will be of interest to both practitioners and scholars of terrorism studies, extremism and ethnic conflict.