Communal violence and ethnic polarization before and after the 2015 elections in Turkey: attacks against the HDP and the Kurdish population. Issue 1 (2nd January 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: O'Connor, Francis; Baser, Bahar
• Is Part Of: Journal of southeast European and Black Sea studies. Volume 18:Issue 1(2018)
• Page Start: 53
• Page End: 72
• Publication Date: 2018-01-02
• Subjects: HDP -- communal violence -- Turkey -- Kurdish question -- electoral violence; Balkan Peninsula -- Economic conditions -- 20th century -- Periodicals; Balkan Peninsula -- Politics and government -- 1989- -- Periodicals; Geopolitics -- Balkan Peninsula -- Periodicals; Black Sea Region -- Economic conditions -- 20th century -- Periodicals; Black Sea Region -- Politics and government -- 20th century -- Periodicals; Geopolitics -- Black Sea Region -- Periodicals; 330.9496
• DOI: 10.1080/14683857.2018.1451035
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1468-3857

Abstract

Abstract: Given its duration and intensity, the decades-old civil war in Turkey between the Turkish state and the PKK has resulted in relatively low levels of lethal inter-communal conflict between Kurdish and Turkish populations. However, around the June 2015 elections an unprecedented wave of systematic anti-Kurdish violence swept across western Turkey. The paper will assess these events in relation to literature on communal riots and electoral violence. It will consider the impact of state led anti-Kurdish discourse and the growth of the HDP, as potential factors that aggravated the dormant tensions and laid the groundwork for widespread inter-communal violence.