Today, the Kurdish nationalist struggle is often portrayed as somehow synonymous with the armed struggle of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK). In reality, the pro-Kurdish movement is far more diverse, and the legal political and cultural movements have played an important role in the peace process between the Turkish state and the PKK, not least during the last two national elections during which the pro-Kurdish party – the HDP – entered parliament. In this seminar we will investigate the implications of these developments.
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The pro-Kurdish movement is diverse; consisting of NGOs, legal political parties, and local governmental bodies in Turkey and the Kurdish diaspora in Europe. In fact, a large part of this Kurdish nationalist struggle has occurred within the Turkish political space as well as within the cultural arena inside Turkey.
The legal political and cultural movements have created a new visibility of Kurdish language and culture in public life in Turkey and have played an important role in the peace process between the Turkish state and the PKK, not least during the last two national elections during which the pro-Kurdish party – the HDP – entered parliament.
In this seminar we will investigate the implications of these developments from several perspectives:
• How was the cultural domain mobilized by Kurdish activists to open up space for their movement?
• How did the political struggle influence women’s rights’ and gender roles more generally?
• How as the recent violence between government troops, the PKK, and the YDG-H impacted the legal political struggle within Turkey?
Programme
Key speaker: Selahattin Demirtas, co-leader of People’s Democratic Party (HDP).
Comments by Fafo researcher Nerina Weiss and by Wendelmoet Hamelink from Leiden University, currently a visiting scholar at Fafo.
The seminar will be chaired by Mark Taylor, Research Director at Fafo.
Final programme will be announced.
Practical information
The seminar is co-hosted by Fafo and the House of Literature. It will be held in English and Turkish, with simultaneous translation.
Coffee/tea is served from 08:00. The seminar lasts 08:30-09:45. The event is free of charge and open to the public. Limited seating.
READ MORE AND REGISTER HERE (http://www.fafo.no/index.php/en/events/all-events/item/turkey-the-kurds-and-the-politics-of-inclusion)
Wergeland Litteraturhuset Fafo-breakfast seminar with Selahattin Demirtas and others