'Exclusive recognition': the new dimensions of the question of ethnicity and nationalism in Turkey

2009-01-01
Saraçoğlu, Cenk
This article aims to unravel some common aspects of the recently intensifying antipathy towards migrants from Eastern Anatolia in certain Turkish cities. Based on the fact that every manifestation of this antipathy in everyday life involves a logic that recognizes and excludes these migrants as 'Kurdish', the article conceptualizes these sentiments as 'exclusive recognition'. This concept helps us see the fact that the rising anti-migrant discourse is not an ideology that is imposed by the state or any other political organization in Turkey but a historically specific ethnicization process that takes place in the everyday life of cities. As one of the new dimensions of the question of ethnicity and nationalism in Turkey, 'exclusive recognition' shows the insufficiency of reducing the Kurdish question to a problem of democratization of the Turkish political system, and encourages us to turn our attention to the transformation of urban life.
ETHNIC AND RACIAL STUDIES

Suggestions

Turkish nationalism and the Kurdish question
Yegen, Mesut (2007-01-01)
This article addresses the ways in which Turkish nationalism has perceived the Kurdish question. It is shown that both Turkish nationalism and the Kurdish question have passed through some paradigmatic moments in the twentieth century. This, I argue, has shaped the way that the Kurdish question has been perceived by Turkish nationalism. While the Kurdish question had been seen by Turkish nationalism mostly in terms of a fatal rivalry between the backward, pre-modern and tribal past and the prosperous presen...
The Question of integration to urban life: a case study of the immigrants from Turkey in Kiel-Germany
Özkan, Özgür Dirim; Ersoy, Melih; Department of Urban Policy Planning and Local Governments (2002)
The aim of this thesis is to examine the integration problem of the immigrants from Turkey in Germany from an urban perspective. It aims to demonstrate how and to what extent the social, economic, and ideological- cultural levels of integration determine the urban integration, which is the outcome of these three levels. It is an attempt to explain the reasons of disintegration come about such as immigrant urban segregated spatial formations in Germany from a critical point of view, using the outcomes of the...
'Complete Neutrality' or 'Controlled Enmity'? The Role of the Turkish Press during the Italo-Ethiopian War of 1935-36
Dogar, Mehmet (Brill, 2020-03-01)
This article examines the relationship between the Turkish government and the Turkish press by taking the Italo-Ethiopian War of 1935-36 as a case study. The Turkish press attached much importance to the conflict and covered two main issues: the increasingly insecure environment in world politics and how Turkey should position itself in the face of these changing dynamics. Emphasising the divergences between the rhetoric of the government and the coverage of the press about these issues, this article argues...
Gender roles and community formation in Kurdish migrant women
Akbay, Hivda; Kalaycıoğlu, Hediye Sibel; Department of Gender and Women's Studies (2003)
The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of the intersecting dynamics of gender and ethnic identities for Kurdish migrant women in Turkey. For this aim it attempts to investigate Kurdish migrant women's everyday lives in their private and public domains, which include in-family, out-family social and economic relations. It is expected that Kurdish women's gender and ethnic identities will intersect in these domains and will be effective in creating a specific ethnic community identity. For this re...
Forced population movements in the Ottoman Empire and the Early Turkish Republic: An attempt at reassessment through demographic engineering
Şeker, Nesim (2013-07-01)
This article uses the concept of “demographic engineering” for the purpose of analyzing forced migration in the Ottoman Empire and early Turkish Republic. It defines demographic engineering in a wide sense, as ‘deliberate state intervention in population figures’ for political, ideological, strategic and economic reasons. It argues that reconsidering the issue of forced migration in the Ottoman Empire and the early Turkish Republic as a case of demographic engineering provides us with an analytical tool ena...
Citation Formats
C. Saraçoğlu, “‘Exclusive recognition’: the new dimensions of the question of ethnicity and nationalism in Turkey,” ETHNIC AND RACIAL STUDIES, pp. 640–658, 2009, Accessed: 00, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/62327.