The Kurds in Iraq and Turkey
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NATION-BUILDING AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION : THE KURDS IN IRAQ AND TURKEY Miwa Saito A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2002 Full metadata for this item is available in St Andrews Research Repository at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/11083 This item is protected by original copyright Nation-building and Conflict Resolution: The Kurds in Iraq and Turkey :\Iiwa Saito 12 January 2002 Thesis subnlitted in fultilhnent of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of St. .:\ nurc\\s Declarations (i) I, Miwa Saito, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 80,000 words in length. has been written by me, that it is the record of work carried out by me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. Date rl J~. 1--00 ~ Signature (ii) I was admitted as a research student in September 1995 and as a candidate for the degree of Ph. D in July 1997; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St. Andrews between September 1996 and January 200 l. Minor corrections to this thesis were made between November 16th 2001 and January 1i h 2002 by request of the examining committee. (iii) I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of Ph. D in the University of St. Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. Date ~(~ {o "2.... Signature of Supervisor In submitting this thesis to the University of St. Andrews I understand that I am giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. I also understand that the title and abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker. Date 12 JCbvI. 2002 Signature of Candidate Contents Acknowledgements ... viii Abstract ". ix Chapter I Theoretical Framework Introduction ... 1 Different Approaches to Conceptualising Nations ... 2 Approaches to Study of the Kurds ... 4 Starting Point: 'Imposed Community' ... 7 Defining Nation-buildinglNational Integration ... 9 Part l. Prototypical National Integration A Nation as a Community ... 11 Why a Nation can be Integrati vc: The Relation between Community and Common Culture ... 12 A Nation is Not an Ethnic Group ... 14 The Making of an Integrative Nation: Political Mobilisation and Socialisation ... 17 The Variable Outcomes of Modernisation: National Assimilation or Ethnic Ditferentiation ... 21 Social Reinforcement Leallling: Prolonged Ethnic Differentiation ... 22 Interim Summary ... 25 Part 2. Revolution from Above ... 25 Survival and Stabilisation of the System ... 27 The Role of the Military in Revolution from Above ... 29 lnstitutionalising Mass Political Participation ... 30 Fla\\s in Revolution from Above ... 31 I. \\' eak state-citizen links ... 31 The :\liddle East f'.lanifestations of the Weak State-Citizen Link ... 32 A. Tribe and State ... 33 B. Land-ownership ... 33 C. Unc\cI1 De\~Iopment and the Sun'ival of Intermediaries ... 34 Military Regimes and Assimilationist Policies ... 37 2. High State Autonomy and Totalitarianism ... 38 Conditions under which Revolution from Above can Stimulate Successful National Integration ... 40 Failed Nation-building and Foreign Intervention ... 40 Summary ... 43 Methodology and Plan of the Study ... 44 Chapter II The Kurds as a Nation Introduction ... 47 Geopolitical Location ... 47 Linguistic Diversity ... 49 Social Structure ... 52 Leadership ... 53 Sectarian Division ... 55 The Pre nation-state Era: Coexistence of Tribes and States ... 57 From the Seventh to the Sixteenth Century ... 57 From the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Century ... 61 Interim Summary ... 63 The Birth of Nationalism and Competing Identities ... 64 Early Kurdish Nationalist Organisations ... 6-+ Islamic Reaction to the Young Turks ... 68 Turkish Ethnonationalism ... 69 Summary ... 71 Chapter III Nation-building of Turkey and Iraq Introduction ... 1'2 1. The legacy of Ottoman Centralisation Introduction ... 73 Turkey Decentralised Structure ... 73 External Threat and Internal Decay ... 74 Centralisation Campaign ... 77 A New Landed Class ... 79 Ottomanism ... 81 Abdul Hamid II's Era (1876-1909) ... 82 Summary ... 86 Iraq 'Iraq' in the Nineteenth Century ... 86 Ottoman Campaign ... 87 Emergence of Quasi-feudal Class ... 88 Summary ... 90 2. State Fonnation Introduction ... 92 Turkey 'Turk' as an Ideal Citizenship .. , 93 Sccularisation and Centre-building: A Strong State ... 9-+ Kemalist Reforms ., . 94 Regional Gap ... 97 Major Resistance to the State ... 98 Kurdish Rebellions 192-+-1937 ... 101 Sectarian Di\'ision ... 102 Propagation of Kemalism ... 106 Other Opposition to the Republican People's Party ... 107 Summary ... 107 III Iraq A State of Minorities ... 109 Elite-biased Integration ... 110 The Landed-class ... III The Constituent Assembly and Tribal Politics ... 113 Fragmented State of the Army ... 114 Failure of Integration: Major Communal Resistance to the State ... 116 (1) The Assyrians ... 116 (2) The Yazidi Kurds ... 118 (3) The Kurds ... 119 The Rise of pan-Arab ism ... 121 Interim Summary ... 123 The Kurdish Democratic Party ... 124 Weak Mass Base ... 126 Summary ... 128 3. Political Mobilisation Introduction ... 130 Turkey From Elitism to Clientelism ... 130 The Democrat Party and Multi-Party Competition ... 131 Islamic Revival and the Kurds ... 133 Regional Gap ... 134 Interim Summary ... 138 The 1960 l\lilitary Intervention ... 139 Kl'malism Restored ... 1-W Lcgacics of Military Intervention ... 1..+ 1 The Justice Party ... 1"+~ Rc\i\a\ of Kurdish Nationalism ... 1..+..+ (~ro\\th of Islamic Opposition ... 1..+..+ SllIllIllar~ .. 1-l(1 Iraq Free Officers ... 147 National Union Front ... 148 The July 1958 Revolution ... 150 Early Days: Arab-Kurd Partnership ... 150 Divisive Issues ... 152 Riots in Mosul and Kirkuk ... 153 Slow Economic Expansion ... 156 Agrarian Reforms and Kurdish Resistance '" 157 Final Days of Qassem Era ... 160 Anti-nationalist Tribes ... 163 Alliance against Qassem ... 164 Summary ... 164 4. Integration or Containment? Introduction ... 167 Turkey The 1971 Military Intervention ... 167 National Salvation Party (1972) ... 168 Political Right Wing and the Islamists ... 169 The Turkish Left and the Kurdish Nationalism ... 170 The Rise of the PKK ... 171 Interim Summary ... 173 The 1980 Intervention ... 174 Turkish-Islamic Synthesis ... 175 Structural Reforms ... 176 Transition to Civilian Rule ... 177 Escalation of Terrorism ... 179 Roots of Insurgency and Social Structure Problem ... 180 Turkish State and the Right Wing ... 184 Intemationalisation of the Conflict ... 185 First Official Recognition .,. 186 \ Initiatives for a Solution from Mainstream Political Parties ... 188 Expansion of the Islamist Party ... 189 Pro-Kurdish Political Parties ... 190 Hurdle to the National Assembly ... 192 Pressure from Industrialist Organisations ... 194 Summary ... 196 Iraq Totalitarian State ... 197 The First Baathist Regime ... 197 Aref Brothers' Regime (1963 - 1968) ... 199 Brief Initiative for Peace ... 200 The Second Baath Regime (1968 - present <31/03/01» ... 204 The 1970 Autonomy Plan and Baath Motives '" 204 The Kurds' Divided Response ... 207 Resumption of War and Defeat ... 208 Establishment ofPUK ... 210 Totalitarian Structure ... 211 Control over the Society ... 213 Monopoly of Economic Resource ... 214 Interim Summary ... 216 Iran-Iraq War (1980 - 1988) ... 216 Kurds and Iran ... 21 7 Turkey and Iraq ... 21 7 Ethnic-cleansing Policy ... 218 Incompatible Opposition Groups ... 220 Summary ... 221 Chapter IV Great Power Intervention and Nation-building Introduction .,. 223 Part 1. The First World War VI Introduction '" 224 Secret Diplomacy ... 224 The Wilsonian Principle and Self-Determination ... 226 New Developments in Anatolia ... 228 Developments in Northern Iraq and the Syrian Region ... 23.+ The Turkish-British Handshake ... 236 Summary of Part (1) ... 238 Part 2. The 1991 Gulf War Introduction: The Kurds Between Western Intervention and Iraqi Threat ... 241 Iraq's Suppression of the Kurdish Uprising in 1991 ... 244 Military Actions after the Ceasefire ... 248 Safe Haven and its Legal Basis ... 249 The UN Sanctions Continued ... 254 The UN, State Sovereignty and Relief Operation (1991-1996) ... 257 Impact of Intervention on the Kurds ... 260 (1) Establishment of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) '" 260 (2) Kurds and the UN Sanctions ... 263 Foreign States' Motives ... 266 (l) The West ... 266 (2) The Regional States ... 268 Oil for Food Programme (1996 - present <31/03/01» ... 271 Foreign Interventions' Impact on Iraq ... 273 The Socioeconomic Base of the KDP and the PUK in the 1990s ... 276 Chapter V Conclusive Ren1arks ... 278 Bibliography ... ,2l).+ .. Vll Acknowledgements I would like to thank the following people for their moral and material support without which I would not have been able to complete this thesis. Except for a brief period of liying in France as an infant, I spent my entire life in Japan until I was twenty-six when I made a decision to study international relations at St. Andrews. Having enrolled to an M. Litt. course, I could barely complete my first essay assignment of three thousand words