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Continuities and Changes in Kurdish Nationalism

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Continuities and Changes in Kurdish Nationalism Sina Godamoradpoer Master Thesis in Political Science University of Amsterdam Kurdish Nationalism Continuities and Changes in Kurdish Nationalism Author: Sina Godamoradpoer Student number: 5881706 Due date: 24th of June 2016 Words: 25,600 Master Thesis in Political Science University of Amsterdam -- The picture on the First page is of a mural in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq depicting the proclamation of the Republic of Kurdistan in Mahabad. 2 Abstract: In this research it is attempted to explain the continuities and changes in Kurdish nationalism from the 1920s until the present day, this is done by employing the insights generated by the more important approaches to nationalism. These approaches are primordialism, modernism and ethno-symbolism. The method employed to this end, is the method of process tracing, which entails that evidence will be used from a detailed historical narrative to explain the outcome of interest. It is contended in this thesis that nationalism has been present in Kurdistan since at least the 1920s, the date that is considered to be the starting point of the politicization of Kurdish nationalism. Yet in those days Kurdish nationalism is not considered to have had a mass presence among ordinary Kurds. It is also observed in this research that there have been two paths that Kurdish nationalism has traversed, leading to two different variants of Kurdish nationalism, which have been named the conservative and the radical form of Kurdish nationalism. The conservative variant, which is represented by the Kurdistan Regional Government, is the type of nationalism that is less compatible with a modernist account of nationalism, the current orthodox approach to questions relating to nationalism. The other type of Kurdish nationalism, the more radical form, represented by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, is considered to have underwent a transformation in the second half of the 20th century due to processes of modernization in Turkey. Therefore, this variant in turn seems to be less compatible with primordialist or ethno-symbolist accounts of nationalism. The central thesis in this research is therefore that it is difficult to account for the existence and overall development of Kurdish nationalism through the existing paradigms alone. All three approaches to nationalism can be seen to have their merits, yet all three also seem only partially correct. 3 Table of Contents: Introduction: ------------------------------------------------------------- 7-9 Theoretical Framework: Introduction: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 9-12 Primordialism: --------------------------------------------------------------------- 12-16 Modernism: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 16-23 Ethno-symbolism: ----------------------------------------------------------------- 23-27 Conclusion: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 27-28 Methods: Introduction: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 28 Case study design: ----------------------------------------------------------------- 29-31 Process Tracing: ------------------------------------------------------------------- 31-34 Data Collection: ------------------------------------------------------------------- 34-35 Operationalization: ---------------------------------------------------------------- 35-37 Conclusion: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 37-38 4 The Analysis of the continuities and changes in Kurdish nationalism: Introduction: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 39-41 Kurdish nationalism in Turkey: Introduction: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 41-43 Koçgiri rebellion: --------------------------------------------------------- 43-45 Sheikh Said rebellion: ------------------------------------------------------------ 45-47 The republic of Mount Ararat: -------------------------------------------------- 48-49 The Dersim rebellion: ------------------------------------------------------------- 50-52 The PKK and Kurdish nationalism: --------------------------------------------- 52-56 Conclusion: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 56-57 Kurdish nationalism in Iran: Introduction: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 58 The Republic of Mahabad: ------------------------------------------------------- 59-61 After the republic of Mahabad: -------------------------------------------------- 61-63 Conclusion: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 63-64 5 Kurdish nationalism in Iraq: Introduction: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 64-65 First signs of Kurdish nationalism in Iraq: ------------------------------------- 65-66 Kurdish nationalism in Iraq as a mass movement: ---------------------------- 67-72 Conclusion: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 72-73 Kurdish nationalism in Syria: Introduction: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 73-74 The Kurds of Syria: ---------------------------------------------------------------- 74-79 The ‘Arab Spring’ and the Kurds of Syria: ------------------------------------- 79-81 Conclusion: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 81-82 Final Conclusion: ------------------------------------------------------ 82-85 Bibliography: ----------------------------------------------------------- 86-89 6 Introduction: It was on the sixth of March 2016 that exactly one quarter of a century had passed since the Kurds in Iraq took to the streets and spontaneously started an uprising that would set the foundations of what is now the Kurdistan Regional Government or KRG in Iraq (Rudaw 2016). The Kurdistan Regional Government is the as of yet only internationally recognized Kurdish political entity in the historical geographic region called Kurdistan. Since 2013 however a new de-facto autonomous Kurdish region has established itself in northern Syria called Rojava, meaning there where the sun sets in Kurdish, in reference to the western part of a Kurdish homeland. In the dramatic events that have unfolded since the Arab uprisings and the subsequent struggle of the international community with the regime of Bashar al- Assad as well as numerous terrorist groups including the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Jabhat al-Nusra and others, the Kurdish people have gained international attention for their struggle against these aforementioned actors. Yet not only have the Kurdish people attracted attention for their struggle against enemies that have gained worldwide notoriety for cruel behavior, in which case Kurdish female fighters are presented in the starkly contrasting picture of heroines fighting these enemies by international media (CNN 2014, BBC 2014, TIME 2015). The Kurds have also risen in influence and are more powerful an actor in the Middle-East than ever before, with this rise in importance there obviously should also be a concomitant rise of the international community’s understanding of this increasingly important actor. The Kurdish question goes back longer than the present conflicts in the Middle-East however, indeed the Kurds have since long before revolted against the circumstances under which they have lived and still live. In Turkey, for example, from the 1920s onwards there were various uprisings against the Turkish state and a long running guerilla war has been ravaging the country since 1984. Understanding who the Kurds are and more importantly 7 what motivates them in their political behavior should provide for a more solid bases for sound policy towards the Kurds and the geo-strategically important Middle-East. Kurdistan, the geographical area that Kurdish nationalists intend on turning into a state, is approximately the size of France and even though there are hardly any reliable figures on the number of Kurds in the Middle East, the Kurds are generally considered one of the four largest peoples of that region. Yet surprisingly little is known about the Kurdish people, and even though most Kurdish political movements are referred to as ‘nationalist’ in international media (despite claims to the contrary by some of the movements concerned) very little is known about Kurdish nationalism too. It is this gap in knowledge that this thesis will try to address, in an attempt to understand Kurdish nationalism, and thereby the collective behavior of the Kurds, it will be attempted to explain the continuities and changes of Kurdish nationalism since the 1920s (the start of the division of the Kurdish people into the different contemporary states) until the present. To this end, the following research question will be posed: How can we explain the continuities and changes in Kurdish nationalism from the 1920s until the present. Using this research question will allow for a better understanding of Kurdish nationalism over the course of its development. For questions concerning the Sykes-Picot agreements, rivalry between the Persian, the Arab and the Turkish states and generally the geopolitical state of affairs in the Middle-East, to name a few, all to some extent relate to the Kurdish nation. Thus to understand their nationalism is to gain insight in their political behavior, at least to some extent,
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