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“Turkish Penitents” from Political Violence As Rite of Passage: Voices from the Cracks of the Social Structure

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“Turkish Penitents” from Political Violence As Rite of Passage: Voices from the Cracks of the Social Structure Individual Disengagement of “Turkish Penitents” from Political Violence as Rite of Passage: Voices from the Cracks of the Social Structure Kamil Yilmaz Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the Executive Committee of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2012 © 2012 Kamil Yılmaz All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT Individual Disengagement of “Turkish Penitents” from Political Violence as Rite of Passage: Voices from the Cracks of the Social Structure Kamil Yilmaz This dissertation explores the notion of individual disengagement from political violence in Turkey by reconstructing the lives of 13 ‘formers’ whom I call the “Turkish Penitents.” Its specific aim is to compare and contrast the experiences of those individuals who left various politically motivated leftist/revolutionary groups and of those who desisted from an ethnic/separatist organization, the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party). In an effort to provide a more comprehensive understanding, this study focuses on the preceding and aftermath phases of Turkish Penitents’ disengagement, i.e., “how and why they took part in violent actions in the first place” and “who they have become after desisting from political violence.” There is currently a lack of conceptual framework in order to account for the notion of individual disengagement from political violence, largely due to the dearth of empirical and ethnographic studies on this notion. Therefore, by reconstructing the personal experiences of the Turkish Penitents through oral-history research, and combining methods and theory from political anthropology, criminal justice and political psychology, this study aims to make its largest contribution to the efforts of social theorizing on this relatively unexplored phenomenon. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF MAPS, TABLES, FIGURES AND PHOTOS ................................................................ v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... vi MAP OF TURKEY......................................................................................................................... 1 MAP OF KURDISH POPULATION ............................................................................................. 2 PKK CAMPS IN IRAQ AND IRAN.............................................................................................. 2 Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................... 3 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 3 2. Statement of the problem ................................................................................................ 7 3. Significance of the research ............................................................................................ 9 Chapter 2: HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL CONTEXTS .............................................................. 15 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 15 2. Society and politics in Turkey ...................................................................................... 16 3. The notion of stratification in the Ottoman and Republican periods ............................ 22 4. Late 19 th century, the establishment of the Republic and the problems of differential incorporation (1923-present) ................................................................................................ 25 5. The Turkish polity between 1923-1960 ........................................................................ 33 a) Sheikh Said Rebellion (Sunni Kurdish)-1925 ..................................................... 34 b) Dersim rebellion (Alewite Kurdish)-1938 .......................................................... 37 c) Democrat Party’s ascendance to power and 1960 military coup ........................ 39 6. The rise of the Turkish Left and the emergence of revolutionary groups and the PKK (1961-1980)........................................................................................................................... 41 7. September 12 military coup, the rise of the PKK and its evolution (1980-present) ..... 51 8. Instead of a conclusion: Praetorian army and the concept of deep-state in Turkey ..... 58 i Chapter 3: THE STUDY DESIGN- Proposal for a theoretically-informed methodology ........... 69 1. Defining the Turkish Penitents and the method ............................................................ 69 2. Description of the interview.......................................................................................... 73 3. Conceptual framework: Rite of Passage (ROP) Model for political violence .............. 76 SEPARATION Stage - Paths to political violence: ................................................ 78 TRANSITION Stage - Life in terrorist groups and paths from political violence . 78 INCORPORATION Stage – Politics of repentance and life after violence ........... 78 4. Guiding questions & objectives .................................................................................... 80 5. The sampling procedure ................................................................................................ 83 6. Presentation of results ................................................................................................... 84 7. Limitations .................................................................................................................... 85 Chapter 4: SEPARATION Stage – (Turkish Penitents’ paths to political violence) .................... 89 1. Conceptual Framework: A psychological-anthropological approach ........................... 89 2. Frustration-aggression hypothesis, relative deprivation and the role of ideology ........ 91 3. Individual motivations for violence: “Significance quest” as an integrative approach 96 4. Turkish Penitents’ paths to political violence: A theoretical exploration ..................... 98 a) Paths to political violence: Cases of Turkish Penitents from ‘revolutionary groups’ 100 b) Paths to political violence: Cases of Turkish Penitents from ‘the PKK’ .................... 122 5. Concluding remarks: Turning points as ‘triggering effect’ ........................................... 137 Chapter 5: TRANSITION Stage-I (Life in the PKK and revolutionary groups) ........................ 146 1. Legitimate peripheral participation in communities of practice: An Overview ......... 148 2. Turkish Penitents’ lives in communities of violent practices ..................................... 150 Life in the PKK: Membership, the domain and goals ................................................ 151 Life in revolutioary groups: Membership, the domain and goals ............................... 159 CHAPTER 6: TRANSITION Stage II (Causes of disillusionment and exit from the groups) .. 173 ii 1. Didactic teaching and indoctrination: the PKK and revolutionary groups as “Cults” 173 2. “Imagined” communities of practice and the effects of “postponed imaginations” 202 3. The problem of access in participation ................................................................. 211 a) Master-novice and peer-to-peer relations and the issue of transparency ................ 212 b) Problem of access and sequestration ...................................................................... 216 4. Summary of the theoretical explanations related to individual disengagement ... 229 CHAPTER 7: TRANSITION Stage III (Difficulties and Resources for disengagement) .......... 231 1. Extended stay in groups: Voluntariness to stay and difficulties related to disengagement................................................................................................................. 231 2. Resources for disengagement ............................................................................... 236 a) Change of mentality and adoption of new approaches and philosophies of life .... 236 b) Personality orientations and styles of coping related to disengagement ................ 243 Reward- and Cost-Orientation ........................................................................................ 244 Internal and external locus of control ............................................................................. 246 Inner- and Other-directedness ......................................................................................... 248 Styles of coping with stress and conflict......................................................................... 249 3. The role of turning points and serendipities related to disengagement ................ 257 4. Conclusion (related to the ‘Transition stage’ as a whole)..................................... 265 CHAPTER 8: REINCORPORATION—(Politics of repentance and life after violence) .......... 279 1. Mauss’s concept of gift-exchange: A brief introduction ............................................ 284 2. The evolution and politics of “Repentance Laws” in Turkey ..................................... 286 3. Gift-exchange with the state and deep-state: Production of two types of repentants . 297 4. Life after violence: Protracted conflict and absence of healing mechanisms in Turkey 311 5. Concluding remarks- (Lives in the cracks of social structure) ................................... 317 iii CHAPTER 9: CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................
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