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 Öcalan, the PKK’s long-time leader, it explores the ideational 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 Öcalan
• 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.
Turkey’s Kurds 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. Turkey’s Kurds is essential reading for those with interests in the
PKK, Turkey, and Turkish politics.
Ali Kemal Özcan holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Kent. His recent
publications include Humanisation Movement (Berlin, 1999); The Nature and Resource
Field of the Kurdish Resistance in Turkey: A Dormant Resource’, Middle Eastern Studies
Vol. 41, No. 3 (May 2005); ‘Nationalism: Distilling the Cultural and the Political’,
Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Summer 2005). His research interests
include nationalism, democratization and civil society.