Between Majority Power and Minority Resistance Kurdish Linguistic Rights in Turkey Ucarlar, Nesrin
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Between Majority Power and Minority Resistance Kurdish Linguistic Rights in Turkey Ucarlar, Nesrin 2009 Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Ucarlar, N. (2009). Between Majority Power and Minority Resistance: Kurdish Linguistic Rights in Turkey. Lund University. 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LUND UNIVERSITY PO Box 117 221 00 Lund +46 46-222 00 00 BETWEEN MAJORITY POWER AND MINORITY RESISTANCE: KURDISH LINGUISTIC RIGHTS IN TURKEY Between Majority Power and Minority Resistance: Kurdish Linguistic Rights in Turkey Nesrin Uçarlar Lund Political Studies Department of Political Science Lund University Typesetting: Ilgot Liljedahl Printed by Media-Tryck, Lund University, Lund, Sweden 2009 Coverpicture: Özlem Akgündüz ©Nesrin U∏arlar 2009 ISBN – 10: 91-88306-76-3 ISBN – 13: 978-91-88306-76-0 Lund Political Studies 157 ISSN 0460-0037 Distribution: Department of Political Science, Lund University, Sweden http://www.svet.lu.se/lps/lps.html Contents Acknowledgements 7 Acronyms 9 c h a p t e r o n e Introductory Words 13 Aims of the Study 14 Deconstructing Binary Oppositions: Minority and Majority 18 Post-Structural Understanding of Power and Resistance 22 The Art of Hearing 24 c h a p t e r t w o Linguistic Minorities in Majority Languages 31 ‘Language’ of Nationalist Discourse 32 Deconstruction and Justice 40 The Violence of Law 46 Individual and Community 49 Community Reconceptualised 52 Public and Private Spheres 55 Spheres Connected 58 Injustice Deconstructed 61 chapter thre e Linguistic Rights in Inter-State Affairs 63 League of Nations 64 International and European Organisations 68 United Nations 69 Council of Europe 72 Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe 75 European Union 78 Linguistic Rights as a Non-State Affairs 87 The Fallacy of Law 94 chapter fou r Kurdish Language as a Reproof of Turkish Nationalism 97 Nationalist History Writing 98 The Rule of the Ottoman Empire 101 State-Building in Turkey 111 The Modernisation Project of Turkey 117 Nationalism as Statecraft 125 chapter fiv e Dilemma of Being Kurdish in the Political Life of Turkey 127 Democratisation in Turkey 128 Kurdish Political Parties 135 Turkey’s EU Expedition 142 ‘Kurdish’ Perceptions of the EU 153 EU as a Quest for Recognition 163 c h a p t e r s i x Power and Resistance 165 Conceptions of Power 166 Scenes of Resistance 169 Emancipatory Politics 174 Diaspora as Trans-nationality 179 Language and Trans-national Identity 184 Trans-national Resistance 188 chapter seve n Kurdish Language: Power or Resistance? 191 Kurdish Intelligentsia in the European Diaspora 192 The Status Planning for the Kurdish Language as a Struggle for Power 198 Political and Cultural Connotations of Linguistic Rights 209 The PKK Movement: A Case of Pragmatism of Language 214 Zazaki Movement: A Case of Linguistic Nationalism 219 The Kurdish Intelligentsia in Turkey 224 Kurdish: Language of Power and Resistance 237 chapter eigh t Kurdish Intelligentsia in the European Diaspora: Trans-nationality? 239 A Trans-national Kurdish Intelligentsia? 240 Language and Identity: Kurdishness for Diaspora 248 ‘Kurdish’ Approaches in the European Diaspora 255 Nationalist Approach 256 Cultural Approach 258 Trans-national Approach 261 Kurdish Language as a Site of Struggle 264 chapter nin e Concluding Remarks 267 Deconstructive Movement 268 Transformative Resistance 272 Trans-national Outlook 274 References 279 Acknowledgements This study owes much to all the people who have provided generous sup- port and assistance to me over the last five years. My greatest gratitude goes to Professor Bo Petersson for his meticulous supervision of this PhD dissertation and for the trans-national intellectual solidarity he showed for me in numerous ways. I am extremely grateful to the invaluable guidance of Professor Günay Göksu Özdo»an, who co-supervised this study and helped to keep my courage and enthusiasm alive. I would like to express my thanks to Professor Füsun Üstel, who contributed significantly to this study with her remarks and criticisms. I am thankful to my colleagues in the Department of Political Science at Lund University. My sincerest thanks go to Sara Kalm and Mia Olsson for their vital criticisms from which I benefited enormously. I am grate- ful to Dalia Mukhtar-Landgren, who provided great help by reading and discussing drafts of the manuscript. My gratitude goes to Kerstin Frygner and Håkan Magnusson, my colleague, for their gracious hospitality, who turned their lovely home into my home-office during the last months of my stay in Lund. I am indebted to Kristine Goulding for her great effort in polishing up my English. Acknowledgement is also due to the Swedish Institute that granted me the scholarship funding for studies and research work between October 2005 and December 2006, and between February and November 2008, without which this dissertation would not have been possible. I am espe- cially grateful for the kind support of Ingmar Karlsson, ex-Consul General of Sweden in êstanbul, and ex-Vice Consul, Annika Svahnström. The interviews that I conducted with the prominent Kurdish intellec- tuals constituted one of the most important components of this study and the interviewees are worthy of special thanks for accepting my invitation to participate in such a work. I would also like to thank my colleagues in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Yeditepe University. Ebru êlter Akarçay’s constant support and warm interest was priceless. My special thanks also go to Bilgen Sütçüo»lu and Mehtap Söyler, who never re- frained from providing their academic support and friendship. Being a member of Seyyar Sahne, I owe much to my friends, who share not only the stage but also their innovative ideas with me. The experimen- tal work on theatre that we conducted at Seyyar Sahne has always been a source of great insight for me. Many thanks are due to Mehmet Çetin for his inspiring love and encouraging support. He never failed to share with me his knowledge of life that books never tell. I want to express my grati- tude to my lifelong friend Özlem Akgündüz for her unrelenting love and everlasting compassion, which is embodied in the cover of this book as a piece of art. Last but not least, I am grateful to my mother and father, who granted me a wonderful brother and nurtured my sense of conscience and justice. Nesrin Uçarlar Lund, September 2009 Acronyms AKP Justice and Welfare Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi) CHF Republican People Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Fırkası) CoE Council of Europe DDKD Association of Revolutionary Democratic Culture (Devrimci Demokratik Kültür Derne»i) DDKOs Revolutionary Cultural Hearths of the East (Devrimci Do»u Kültür Ocakları) DEHAP Democratic People Party (Demokratik Halk Partisi) DEP Democracy Party (Demokrasi Partisi) DP Democratic Party (Demokrat Parti) DTP Democratic Society Party (Demokratik Toplum Partisi) DYP True Path Party (Do»ru Yol Partisi) EBLUL European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages ECHR European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms ECJ European Court of Justice ECtHR European Court of Human Rights EP European Parliament EU European Union HADEP People’s Democracy Party (Halkın Demokrasi Partisi) HAK-PAR Rights and Freedoms Party (Hak ve Özgürlükler Partisi) HCNM High Commissioner on National Minorities HEP People’s Labour Party (Halkın Emek Partisi) ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ILO International Labour Organization êTC Committee of Union and Progress (êttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti) KADEP Participatory Democracy Party (Katılımcı Demokrasi Partisi) KAMER Center of Woman (Kadın Merkezi) KKTC Society for the Advancement of Kurdish Women (Kürt Kadınları Teali Cemiyeti) KNMD Association for the Dissemination of Kurdish Education (Kürt NeÍr-i Maarif Derne»i) KOMKAR The Union of Kurdistan Associations (Kürdistan Dernekler Birli»i) KON-KURD Confederation of Kurdish Associations in Europe (Avrupa Kürt Dernekleri Konfederasyonu) KTC Society for the Advancement of Kurdistan (Kürdistan Teali Cemiyeti) KTêC Society for Kurdish Social Organisation (Kürt TeÍkilat-ı êçtimaiye Cemiyeti) KTMNC Society for the Dissemination of Kurdish Education and Publication (Kürt Tamim-i Maarif ve NeÍriyat Cemiyeti) KTTC Kurdish Society for Mutual Aid and Progress (Kürd Teavün ve Terakki Cemiyeti) KTTG KTTC newspaper (Kürt Teavün ve Terakki Gazetesi) OSCE Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe PKK Workers’ Party of Kurdistan (Partîya Karkerên Kurdistan/