The rising racist paradigm in the Turkish nationalism in the first decade of the 2000s: the discourse of the “Kurdish Invasion”

Abstract

This thesis looks at the discourse of the “Kurdish invasion” within the framework of the rising racist practices in Turkish nationalism in the first decade of the 2000s. The position of the Turkish nationalism that pursed denial policy against the Kurds from early Republican era to the early 2000s has changed recently. This transformation has occurred as a result of various conditions such as the increasing possibility of the establishment of a Kurdish political authority in Northern Iraq after the American occupation, the constitutional and legal reforms in the harmonization process with the European Union, the growing Kurdish opposition, and the ongoing low- intensity war in the southeast since the beginning of the 1980s. Unlike the previous periods, the Kurdish identity has become a reality expressed in the public opinion. However, in this new period, the Kurds, who are no longer recognized as a separate ethnic group, are also coded as an element threatening the survival of the Republic of Turkey. The claim that the Kurdish population has been increasing more than the Turkish population and the belief that it is a conscious invasion policy have contributed to the resurgence of the perception of threat among the Turks. A number of columnists, the Türksolu Dergisi(The Journal of Turkish Left) and Türkçü Toplumcu Budun Derneği(The Association of Turkist- Socialist Nation)which adopted the discourse of “Kurdish invasion” have utilized these claims as an argument in order to legitimize their racist discourse. Therefore, the perception of threat created on the basis of the Kurdish population increase has prepared the ground for the reinforcement of an increase in racism that problematizes the Kurdish presence.