Overview

Since the founding of the Republic of Turkey, the Kurdish issue has undergone many transformations, and different dynamics have been influential in these transformations. The aim of this course is to examine the dynamics and transformations that have been most influential in resolving the Kurdish issue. The course, which will consist of three sections, will begin with the first section (Dynamics and Transformations in the Kurdish Issue), where the Kurdish issue will be discussed in its historical and contemporary dimensions, and the transformations it has undergone and the dynamics influencing these transformations will be examined. The second part of the course (The Role of Macro Politics in the Kurdish Question) will focus on how Turkey’s changing regional and global relations have affected its policies towards the Kurdish question. In particular, it will discuss how Turkey’s changing relations with Iraq, Iran and Syria at the regional level and with the European Union and the United States at the global level have affected its policies on the Kurdish question. The third part of the course (The Transformation of Kurdish Society and Micro-Level Conflict Resolution) will discuss how the macro Kurdish issue has affected micro-level conflict resolution within Kurdish society, and how Kurdish society, and Kurdish women in particular, have undergone a transformation alongside the Kurdish issue. After examining the dynamics and transformations that have influenced the Kurdish issue in Turkey, participants will engage in a debate on the future of the Kurdish issue, projecting it as either ‘potential peace’ or ‘endless conflict.’