Turkey's elections and the Kurds

Middle East Report

Volumn , Issue 199, 1996, Pages 16-19

  Bozarslan, Hamit ^a  

^a Marc Block Center   (Germany)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CONFLICT RESOLUTION; ELECTIONS; KURDISH PEOPLE; MINORITY GROUP; POLITICAL SYSTEM;

TURKEY;

EID: 0030471643     PISSN: 08992851     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/3012886     Document Type: Article

References (11)

1. According to the figures of the Turkish Associations for Human Rights, 1500 villages were destroyed by the army during 1994. See the Bulletin de Liaison et d'Informations of Kurdish Institute in Paris, January 1995.
2. 20,OOO soldiers were involved in this excursion. According to the Turkish Probe (Istanbul) of April 21, 1995, it cost between 250 and 375 million dollars.
3. According to Turkish sources, 555 militants of the PKK, out of an estimated 2400-2800 have been killed and 13 arrested. While the figures seem to be highly exaggerated, the PKX seem to have taken important measures as far as its protection and spatial mobility is concerned.
4. This "micro-space" emerged at the beginning of the 1960s, during a period of large urban mobilizations. Since then it has known other important events like the election of Mehdi Zana as mayor of Diyarbakir, the urban demonstrations of the 1980s and the election of some 20 Kurdish deputies in 1991.
5. The Alevis of Turkey are part of a minority Muslim sect that deviates from traditional Sunni interpretations of the Qur'an and Islamic principles. In the next issue of Middle East Report (MER 200) see Martin van Bruinessen on the Alevis in Turkey.
6. HADEP obtained 27,792 votes in this province. It owes this success both to its mobilization and to its tribal alliances. In fact, it obtained the support of two major tribal leaders Macit Piruzbeyoglu from the Pinyanis tribe and Hamit Geylani of the Geylani tribe. See A. Harmanci, "Hakkari'de Dengeler HADEFten Yana," Özgür Politika, December 12, 1995.
7. During the 1991 elections, some 20 HEP deputies, presented on the lists of the SHP (Social Democratic Populist Party) were elected.
8. On the impact of the intra-Kurdish ethnicities see Martin van Bruinessen, "Nationalisme kurde et ethnicités intra-kurdes," in Peuples mediterranéens 68-69, 1994, 10-37.
9. The old mechanisms of clientelism which, in the past, allowed a large mobilization of social-democratic and conservative parties, have not disappeared; in fact, they were reinforced during the process of retribalization. At the same time, there has been some movement towards the Welfare (Refah) Party and, as in the case of Hakkari, towards HADEP.
10. See the interview with I. Alaton, Milliyet, January 8, 1996.
11. I have analyzed this aspect in my article "The Kurdish Issue and Political Crisis in Turkey," in R. Olson, A. Nigogosian, eds., The Kurdish Nationalist Movement and its Impact on Turkey since the Gulf War (University of Kentucky Press, forthcoming).