Turkey's Kurds: A Theoretical Analysis of the PKK and Abdullah Ocalan

Ali Kemal Özcan
Routledge

The Kurdish Worker's Party (PKK) is examined here in this text on Kurdish nationalism. Incorporating recent field-based research results and newly translated material on Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK's long-time leader; it explores the nature and the organizational working of the party, from its growth in the late 1970s to its recent shrinkage. A variety of issues are addressed including:

* the views and philosophy of Abdullah Ocalan

* the successes and failures of the PKK in bringing about the Kurdish opposition in Turkey

* the role of PKK's philosophy of recruitment, organizational diligence, use of arms and other contextual factors in Kurdish resistance

* factors involved in the development of the nationalism of the Kurds in Turkey.

The text also reappraises the Kurdish movement in Turkey and presents insights into the nature of Kurdish social structure, thinking, and the particularities of the Kurdish ethnic distinctness.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part 1: Nationalism

1. Distilling the 'Mongrelized' Twin Concepts of Modernity

2. The Twilight of 'Communist Nationalism'

3. Kurds' Nationness and Nationalism in Modern Turkey

Part 2: The Seeds of Turkey's Kurdish Question

4. The Last Push for the Last Refuge

5. The Vital Concerns of the Republican Turkish Political Elite: A 'National War' without Nationalism

6. The Sharp Contrast between the Two Policies

Part 3: Enter the PKK

7. The Accumulative Period

8. The Emergence of the 'Apocular' Group

Part 4: The Discourse and the Objectives of the PKK

9. The Theoretical Development of the Party and Its Programme from its Foundation to Ocalan's Arrest

10. Following Ocalan's Arrest: The 'Second Manifesto'

Part 5: Sources and Motivations

11. Tribe and Treason: The 'Twin Heritage' of Kurdishness

12. The Nature and Resource Field of the Organization

13. Messianic Charisma: For Whom it Operates

Part 6: The Rise and Fall of the PKK

14. The Organizational Ascent

15. The Organizational Vicious Circle and Its Shrinkage

Part 7: Conclusion Epilogue Tables Appendices Bibliography

http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780203019597/