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The PKK

The PKK

Doctor Paul White

(2015)

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Book Details

Abstract

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is infamous for its violence. The struggle it has waged for Kurdish independence in southeastern Turkey has cost in excess of 40,000 lives since 1984. A less-known fact, however, is that the PKK now embraces a non-violent end to the conflict, with its leader Abdullah Öcalan having ordered a ceasefire and engaging in a negotiated peace with the Ankara government. Whether these tentative attempts at peacemaking mean an end to the bloodshed remains to be seen, but either way the ramifications for Turkey and the wider region are potentially huge. Charting the ideological evolution of the PKK, as well as its origins, aims and structure, Paul White provides the only authoritative and up-to-date analysis of one of the most important non-state political players in the contemporary Middle East.
Dr Paul White works as an independent consultant in Jakarta, Indonesia. He has taught Middle East Politics courses at Deakin University in Melbourne; at Macquarie University in Sydney; and at the University of Sydney’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies. He is the author of Primitive Rebels or Revolutionary Modernizers? The Kurdish National Movement in Turkey (Zed Books, 2000). He was a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Arabic, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies and serves on the board of directors of the Kurdish Institute, Washington DC.

'At this most dramatic moment in the history of the Kurdish people, Paul White's timely book offers an indispensable guide to the PKK's organizational and ideological evolution, its years of bitter struggle with the Turkish state, and the prospects for a peaceful outcome.'
Bill Park, King's College London

'A timely analysis of the evolution of the Kurdish national movement and the PKK over the last fifteen years, which reveals important insights into the complex history and dynamics of the conflict ... a key resource for anyone seeking an in-depth understanding of the Kurdish Question.'
Kerim Yildiz, director of Democratic Progress Institute

'Turkey's politics and the Kurdistan Workers' Party have all changed a great deal in the last fifteen years, and Paul White elegantly and clearly traces these changes. Of interest to both academics and non-academics, his extremely timely and important book will help readers better understand the current context - and how it came to be.'
David Romano, author of The Kurdish Nationalist Movement


Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Front Cover Front cover
Rebels i
About the Author ii
Title Page iii
Copyright iv
Contents v
Glossary of Organizations, Cities and Towns vi
Glossary of Key Figures ix
Chronology of Significant Events xii
Introduction 1
1: ‘The Time of Revolution Has Started’ 5
Figure 1 Map of Kurdistan 6
Precursors of the PKK 8
Emergence of the Modern Kurdish National Movement 9
The Catalyst of Racist Provocation 11
2: PKK Origins and Ideological Formation 16
From Disorientation to Refounding 18
The PKK’s Organization and Membership 23
3: Early Years of Struggle 29
Towards Armed Struggle 30
Armed Struggle Unfolds 31
The PKK in Europe 34
4: From Ceasefire to All-Out War 42
The Unilateral Ceasefire Ends 44
The 2009 ‘Kurdish Opening’ 50
2010: Serok Abandons Rapprochement with Turkey 54
Turkey Responds by Bombing PKK Bases in Iraqi Kurdistan 87
The Kurdish Diaspora’s Role 89
Breaking the Deadly Pattern? 97
5: The Move Towards Peace 100
31 December 2012: Peace Negotiations Announced 100
Turkish Responses to the Turkish/Kurdish Peace Process 104
Peace: Reality or Illusion? 124
6: Democratic Confederalism and the PKK’s Feminist Transformation 126
From Independent Kurdistan to ‘Democratic Confederalism’ 126
Transformation into an Autonomist Movement of Democratic Confederalism 129
Repression of the KCK 133
The PKK and Women 133
The PKK’s Feminist Transformation 136
PKK Women’s Organizations 140
A Radical Transformation 148
7: Coming Down from the Mountains 150
From Terrorists to Legitimate Rebels? 151
Economic Factors 153
A ‘Turkish Spring’? 156
Return to Armed Conflict? 157
References 168
Index 192
Back Cover Back cover