Seminar: Tyrkiet og det kurdiske spørgsmål

Time: Monday, 21 February at 14 – 16 hours

Venue: Danish Institute for International Studies, Main Auditorium, ground floor, Strandgade 71, Christianshavn, 1401 Kbn K

Background

Time: Monday, 21 February at 14 – 16 hours

Venue: Danish Institute for International Studies, Main Auditorium, ground floor, Strandgade 71, Christianshavn, 1401 Kbn K

Background

Literature outside of Turkey has studied the Kurdish Question only with relevance to international conflict, whereas until recently Turkish academia has devoted itself to proving there were neither Kurds nor a lingering Kurdish Question in Turkey.

Additionally, there are numerous studies which portray the Kurdish movements as a linear process, the aim of which has been to obtain independence from the Turkish Republic. These studies generally do not give any weight to the particular activities of different Kurdish groups or intra-group tensions in Turkey.

Whether academic or not, they suppose that Kurds’ awareness of their distinct identity and the Kurdish ambition to control their own destiny have been there since the advent of nationalism in the Ottoman Empire from whence that Kurdish Question in Turkey supposedly stems.

What is the Kurdish Question? Rather than giving an answer to this question, this seminar compares different discourses that have been put forward by various actors in Turkey and argues that there is no single answer since its evolution and transformation during the Young Turk Revolution in 1908.

Using available primary sources in Kurdish, Turkish and English, this seminar presents how different actors in Turkey – such as various Kurdish groups, Islamist groups/actors, Turkish nationalists and the Turkish state, as well as Anglo-Saxon academia – have perceived and presented the Kurdish Question.

SPEAKERS
* Ahmed Alis, Guest Researcher, DIIS
* Dietrich Jung, Professor, University of Southern Denmark (SDU)
* Lars Erslev Andersen, Senior Researcher, DIIS

PROGRAMME
14.00-14.05
Introduction by Lars Erslev Andersen, Senior Researcher, DIIS

14.05-14.45
Defining the Question: Different Aspects of the Kurdish Question in Turkey – Ahmed Alis, Guest Researcher, DIIS

14.45-15.00
Coffee Break

15.00-15.15
Discussant – Dietrich Jung, Professor, University of Southern Denmark (SDU)

15.15-16.00
Q & A

Chair: Lars Erslev Andersen, Senior Researcher, DIIS

The seminar will be held in English.

Participation is free of charge, but registration is required. Please use the online registration form.

And do so no later than Friday 18 February at 12.00 noon

Please await confirmation by e-mail from DIIS for participation.

Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), The Conference Section, Strandgade 56, 1401 Kbn K, tlf. 32 69 87 51, e-mail: [email protected] og web: www.diis.dk