It is common to see Turkish democracy as supportive and politically engaged, but many Kurds now feel that violence is an ineffective means of achieving their rights. They view the violent acts committed by the PKK against the Turkish security and military forces as a criminal form of sympathy for the immense suffering they have endured over the past few decades. These acts swiftly alienated large segments of the Kurdish population, and all other views were framed as support for Kurdish rights. The PKK emerged in 1978 and was revived in the 1970s as a separatist Kurdish movement. Following decades of repression, including various forms of economic and political repression, as well as the banning of Kurdish-language devotional activities, television and radio programs, and publications, the Turkish state officially prohibited or discouraged the unique ethnic Kurdish identity until the 1990s. Kurdish minorities, like other Turkish minorities, were subjected to nationalist policies of Turkification under early nationalist regimes. These policies set the tone for the state’s relations with Kurds across Turkey and had strong nationalist implications. In response to the Reforms Tanzimat in the 1830s, a strong nationalist Kurdish movement emerged in the 1925, which was crushed by a new secular state led by Sufi sheikhs in eastern Turkey.
The PKK has been targeted by the Gülen-inspired schools, as police reports indicate a decrease in PKK violence wherever a Gülen-inspired school opens. Kurdish youth who attend the movement’s schools, which they do in large numbers, are unlikely to join the PKK. The Gülen Movement has perhaps had the biggest impact on the Kurdish nationalist discussion, which has adopted the movement’s focus on nonviolence. Its interpretation of Islam has limited appeal due to its criticism of Sufism. The Hizbullah lost popularity in the 1990s after kidnapping and executing individuals in the Southeast, and has since restructured itself as an Islamic social services organization. Hizbullah launched attacks against the PKK during the 1980s, accusing it of causing division, promoting secularism, and murdering Muslims, which gained support from the Turkish government. While the PKK offered a radical leftist perspective, Islamic Kurdish groups also emerged in the 1980s, including Hizbullah (unrelated to the Shi’a Hizbullah of Lebanon).
Sources:.
The book titled “Revival of the Islamic Kurdish Sphere and the Revitalization of Hizbullah in Turkey: Questioning Turkey’s Understanding of Kurdish” edited by Sarihan Ali and Bilgin Fevzi, which was published in 2013 by Lexington Books, explores the revival of the Islamic Kurdish sphere and the revitalization of Hizbullah in Turkey.
179-194 pages, 2013 Books Lexington: (New York) edited by Sarihan Ali and Bilgin Fevzi, explores the understanding of Turkey’s Kurdish question and the Hizmet movement. The Koç Doğan
Neophytos G. Loizides, in his publication “State Beliefs and the Kurds in Turkey,” featured in the periodical Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 46, No. 4 (2010), investigates the connection between the Turkish government and the Kurdish community, analyzing their belief systems and interactions.