The encounter of Kurdish women with nationalism in Turkey

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Notes

A very large number of people in Turkey and North America have provided spiritual and intellectual assistance since the very beginning of the formulation of this study as a master's thesis. It is not possible to compile the entire list here. The author thanks the nine Kurdish women who participated in this research. Without them sharing their invaluable experiences, this study would never come into existence. The author is wholeheartedly grateful to his supervisor Professor A. Holly Shissler who led him to reinterpret the original research. The author is also thankful to the following people: Handan Çagˇlayan, Zelal Ayman, Melissa Bilal, Professor Yeşim Arat, Professor Fatma M. Göçek, Yigˇit Akın, Nazik Işık, Aksu Bora, Mazhar Yüksel, Professor Hakan Özoğlu, Professor Amir Hassanpour, Professor Orit Bashkin, Megan Clark, Bike Yazıcıoğlu and the participants of the Middle Eastern History and Theory Workshop at the University of Chicago.

 This study is a revised version of the master's thesis that the author wrote at Bilkent University in 2003 under the supervision of Professor Tahire Erman. An earlier version of this study was delivered at the annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association in 2004 in San Francisco.

1. For further elaboration on the political implications of this distinction in Republican Turkey, see A. Kadıoğlu, Cumhuriyet İradesi, Demokrasi Muhakemesi [Republican Will, Democratic Reasoning] (İstanbul: Metis, 1999).

2. In this article, I use ‘Kemalism’ in the sense that Taha Parla defines. According to Parla, ‘Kemalism is a political ideology’ and it is the dominant-official (egemen-resmi) ideology in Turkey. T. Parla, Türkiye'de Siyasal Kültürün Resmi Kaynakları: Kemalist Tek-Parti İdeolojisi ve CHP'nin Altı Ok'u [The Official Sources of the Political Culture in Turkey: Kemalist Single-Party Ideology and the Six Arrows of the RPP] (İstanbul: İletişim, 1992), pp.21 and 9.

3. Within the confines of this essay, I use the nation in the sense that Benedict Anderson defines. According to Anderson, the nation ‘is an imagined political community – and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign’. B. Anderson, Imagined Communities (London: Verso, 2003), p.6.

4. This study is of the persuasion that in Turkey there is a group of women who can be categorized as Kurdish women. This is by no means to imply that they present a monolithic and/or homogeneous picture. Despite their heterogeneity in several respects, however, they can be categorized as such primarily because the oppression and subordination that they undergo originates, to a large extent, from their being both Kurds and women. Indeed that is why this piece restricts itself to ethnic and gender aspects of their experiences, which does not necessarily mean that these are the sole factors behind their oppression and subordination.

5. The Kemalist modernization of women, however, received much criticism from feminist scholars in Turkey. I will focus on their critique below.

6. B. Oran, ‘Linguistic Minority Rights in Turkey, the Kurds and Globalization’, in F. Ibrahim and G. Gürbey (eds.), The Kurdish Conflict in Turkey: Obstacles and Chances for Peace and Democracy (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000), pp.154–5.

7. H. Gülalp, ‘Islamism and Kurdish Nationalism: Rival Adversaries of Kemalism in Turkey’, in T. Sonn (ed.), Islam and the Question of Minorities (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1996), p.94.

8. H. Bozarslan, ‘Les révoltes Kurdes en Turquie Kémaliste (quelques aspects)’, Guerres Mondiales et Conflits Contemporains, Vol.38, No.151 (1988), p.121.

9. Ibid., p.121.

10. Ibid., p.121.

11. A. İçduygu, D. Romano and İ. Sirkeci, ‘The Ethnic Question in an Environment of Insecurity: the Kurds in Turkey’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol.22, No.6 (1999), p.993.

12. Ibid., p.991.

13. Ibid., p.996.

14. Ibid., p.997.

15. A. Gündüz-Hoşgör and J. Smits, ‘Intermarriage between Turks and Kurds in Contemporary Turkey’, European Sociological Review, Vol.18, No.4 (2002), p.424.

16. Gülalp, ‘Linguistic Minority Rights in Turkey, the Kurds and Globalization’, p.93.

17. K. Kirişci and G.M. Winrow, The Kurdish Question and Turkey: An Example of a Trans-state Ethnic Conflict (London: Frank Cass, 1997), p.103.

18. Yet it should also be noted that this distinction should not lead to a view that the Turks and the Kurds are two polarized and socially, culturally and geographically isolated social groups. For example, there are numerous Kurds living in the western parts of Turkey and there are a lot of intermarriages between Kurds and Turks. To give an example, not all the parents of respondents in this study are Kurds. Two of them have a Turkish mother or father. Thus, while the above-mentioned distinction on the basis of ethnicity is valid, one should be aware of social intermixtures between Turks and Kurds. But still it should be noted that, strikingly enough, intermarriages between Turks and Kurds are not to the advantage of Kurdish women. See Gündüz-Hoşgör and Smits, ‘Intermarriage between Turks and Kurds in Contemporary Turkey’.

19. It should be noted that recently there have been noteworthy developments regarding the recognition of the Kurdish identity and language in the process of Turkey's accession into the European Union. Moreover, there have been discussions going on about ‘multi-cultural constitutional citizenship’ rather than ‘ethno-cultural citizenship’. See among others, F. Keyman, ‘Çok Kültürlü Anayasal Yurttaşlık’ [Multi-cultural Constitutional Citizenship], Radikal İki, 21 Nov. 2004; M. Yeğen, ‘Cumhuriyet ve Kürtler’[The Republic and the Kurds], Radikal İki, 5 Dec. 2004. It is also important to note that the process of Turkey's integration with the EU seems to have had a very positive impact on the Kurds of Turkey. See Y. Odabaşı, ‘Kürtler Ne İst(eyem)iyor?’[What cannot/do the Kurds Want?], Radikal İki, 19 Dec. 2004.

20. M.H. Yavuz, ‘Five Stages of the Construction of Kurdish Nationalism in Turkey’, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Vol.7, No.3 (2001), pp.1–24.

21. There might be other contributory dynamics to this process, though. Globalization could be one of these. For instance, Ergun Özbudun argues that: ‘Both challenges [the rise of political Islam and Kurdish nationalism]– obviously the products of numerous factors – are related in some degree to the cultural effects of globalization, which include the growth of ultranationalist and religious fundamentalist parties, increased demands for recognition of cultural and other differences, and the rise of identity politics as a reaction to the culturally homogenizing effects of globalization’. E. Özbudun, Contemporary Turkish Politics: Challenges to Democratic Consolidation (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2000), p.141. Yet since it is beyond the scope of this article to give consideration to all possible dynamics that might have impacts on the issue at hand, I have not included a debate on globalization.

22. For a nuanced analysis of the changing position and representation of Kurdish women in the Kurdish nationalist discourse in the 1990s, see L. Yalçın-Heckmann and P. van Gelder, ‘90’larda Türkiye'de Siyasal Söylemin DönüşümüÇerçevesinde Kürt Kadınlarının İmajı: Bazı Eleştirel Değerlendirmeler'[The Image of Kurdish Women in the Framework of the Transformation of the Political Discourse in Turkey in the 1990s: Some Critical Evaluations], in A.G. Altınay (ed.), Vatan, Millet, Kadınlar [Homeland, Nation, Women] (İstanbul: İletişim, 2000), pp.308–38. Another very interesting analysis of the representation of women in the Kurdish nationalist discourse is provided by Necla Açık's article, which is referred to below. It would also be very interesting, however, to examine the representation of women in the Kurdish nationalist imagination, with reference to the framework provided by Partha Chatterjee's monumental work. See P. Chatterjee, The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993), especially chapters 6 and 7.

23. These points will best be demonstrated below with particular attention to Kurdish women's experiences.

24. For some critical theoretical reflections on the relationship between gender and nationalist projects and processes, see the followings: N. Yuval-Davis, Gender and Nation (London: Sage, 1997); S. Ranchod-Nilsson and M.A. Tétreault, ‘Gender and Nationalism: Moving Beyond Fragmented Conversations’, in S. Ranchod-Nilsson and M.A. Tétreault (eds.), Women, States and Nationalism: At Home in the Nation? (London and New York: Routledge, 2000), pp.1–17; L. Racioppi and K. O'sullivan See, ‘Engendering Nation and National Identity’, in Ranchod-Nilsson and Tétreault (eds.), Women, States and Nationalism, pp.18–34; J. Nagel, ‘Masculinity and Nationalism: Gender and Sexuality in the Making of Nations’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol.21, No.2 (1998), pp.242–69; A.G. Altınay, ‘Giriş: Milliyetçilik, Toplumsal Cinsiyet ve Feminizm’[Introduction: Nationalism, Gender and Feminism], in Altınay (ed.), Vatan, Millet, Kadınlar, pp.11–28.

25. ‘Kürt Kadınlarının AyrıÖrgütlenme Tarihine İlişkin Notlar’[Notes Concerning the History of Kurdish Women's Separate Organization], Roza: Cinsiyetçiliğe ve Irkçılığa Karşıİki Aylık Kürt Kadın Dergisi [Roza: A Bimonthly Kurdish Women's Journal against Racism and Sexism], No.7 (1997), pp.3–4. At this point, one should also point to the praiseworthy activities of the women's organizations in the predominantly Kurdish regions. These organizations have been doing an amazing job for the immediate improvement of the lives of the women in these regions. For one of these organizations, see N. Akkoç, ‘Diyarbakır Ka-Mer'in Kuruluş Hikâyesi ve YürüttügˇüÇalışmalar’ [The Story of the Establishment of Diyarbakır Ka-Mer and the Works that It Carries Out], in A. Bora and A. Günal (eds.), 90'larda Türkiye'de Feminizm [Feminism in Turkey in the'90s] (İstanbul: İletişim, 2002), pp.205–16.

26. N. Açık, ‘Ulusal Mücadele, Kadın Mitosu ve Kadınların Harekete Geçirilmesi: Türkiye'deki Çağdaş Kürt Kadın Dergilerinin Bir Analizi’[National Struggle, the Myth of Woman and Mobilizing Women: An Analysis of the Contemporary Kurdish Women's Journals in Turkey], in A. Bora and A. Günal (eds.), 90'larda Türkiye'de Feminizm [Feminism in Turkey in the '90s] (İstanbul: İletişim, 2002), pp.280–2.

27. Ibid., pp.279–80.

28. Cited in N. Göle, The Forbidden Modern (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1996), p.59.

29. Such an assertion definitely does not imply that there is a strictly clear-cut differentiation between the two aspects of the Kemalist modernization project. Rather, they are the two complementary faces of Kemalism. For the sake of analytical purposes, such a differentiation and its interrelations with both the Kurdish and woman questions seem useful.  One important and interrelated point is the tension brought about by the establishment of the Republic in Turkey in the context of the much sharper divide between the traditional/Islamic and the modern/western. From the inception of the Republic, through the gradual rise of political Islam in the 1980s and 1990s, the question of this divide and particularly its implications for the experiences of Kurdish women are beyond the scope of this article.

30. For an excellent critique of the Republican reforms concerning women, see M. Yeğenoğlu, Colonial Fantasies: Towards a Feminist Reading of Orientalism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp.131–6.

31. Z.F. Arat, ‘Turkish Women and the Republican Reconstruction of Tradition’, in F.M. Göçek and S. Balaghi (eds.), Reconstructing Gender in the Middle East: Tradition, Identity and Power (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994), pp.62–3.

32. Although these were very radical changes, it can well be argued that the full picture could not be grasped without referring to women's social and political activism from the late Ottoman Empire through the early decades of the Turkish Republic. For more on the women's movement in this period, see the following works, among others: A. Demirdirek, Osmanlı Kadınlarının Hayat Hakkı Arayışının Bir Hikayesi [A Story of Ottoman Women's Search for the Right to Life] (Ankara: İmge, 1993); S. Çakır, Osmanlı Kadın Hareketi [Ottoman Women's Movement] (İstanbul: Metis, 1996); Ş. Tekeli, ‘Birinci ve İkinci Dalga Feminist Hareketlerin Karşılaştırmalıİncelemesi Üzerine Bir Deneme’[An Essay on the Comparative Examination of the First and Second Waves of Feminist Movements], in A.B. Hacımirzaoğlu (ed.), 75 Yılda Kadınlar ve Erkekler [Women and Men in 75 Years] (İstanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yayınları, 1998), pp.337–46; A. Baykan and B. Ötüş-Baskett, Nezihe Muhittin ve Türk Kadını (1931): Türk Feminizminin Düşünsel Kökenleri ve Feminist Tarih Yazıcılığından Bir Örnek [Nezihe Muhittin and Turkish Woman (1931): The Intellectual Origins of the Turkish Feminism and an Example from the Feminist Historiography] (İstanbul: İletişim, 1999); R. Alakom, ‘Araştırmalarda Fazla Adı Geçmeyen Bir Kuruluş: Kürt Kadınları Teali Cemiyeti’[A Not-often-mentioned Organization in Researches: Association for the Advancement of Kurdish Women], Tarih ve Toplum, Vol.29, No.171 (1998), pp.36–40.

33. For more on this conflict, see Y. Zihnioğlu, Kadınsız İnkılap : Nezihe Muhiddin, Kadınlar Halk Fırkası, Kadın Birliği [Revolution without Women: Nezihe Muhiddin, People's Party of Women, Women's Union] (İstanbul: Metis, 2003).

34. A. Durakbaşa, ‘Kemalism as Identity Politics in Turkey’, in Z.F. Arat (ed.), Deconstructing Images of ‘The Turkish Woman’ (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998), p.140. See also A. Durakbaşa, Halide Edib: Türk Modernleşmesi ve Feminizm [Halide Edib: Turkish Modernization and Feminism] (İstanbul: İletişim, 2002).

35. F. Berktay, ‘Osmanlı’dan Cumhuriyet'e Feminizm’[Feminism from the Ottoman through the Republic], in M.Ö. Alkan (ed.), Modern Türkiye'de Siyasi Düşünce: Tanzimat ve Meşrutiyet'in Birikimi [Political Thought in Modern Turkey: The Accumulation of the Tanzimat and Meşrutiyet] (İstanbul: İletişim, 2001), pp.348–61.

36. A. Saktanber, ‘Kemalist Kadın Hakları Söylemi’[Kemalist Women's Rights Discourse], in A. İnsel (ed.), Modern Türkiye'de Siyasi Düşünce: Kemalizm [Political Thought in Modern Turkey: Kemalism] (İstanbul: İletişim, 2001), p.332.

37. Ş. Tekeli, ‘80'lerde Türkiye'de Kadınların Kurtuluşu Hareketinin Gelişmesi’[The Development of Women's Emancipation Movement in Turkey in the '80s], Birikim, No.3 (1989), p.35.

38. F. Berktay, ‘Türkiye'de “Kadınlık Konumu”’[‘Status of Womanhood’ in Turkey], Yüzyıl Biterken Cunhuriyet Dönemi Türkiye Ansiklopedisi, Vol.13 (İstanbul: İletişim, 1996), p.760.

39. N. Abadan-Unat, ‘The Impact of Legal and Educational Reforms on Turkish Women’, in N.R. Keddie and B. Baron (eds.), Women in Middle Eastern History: Shifting Boundaries in Sex and Gender (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1992), p.177.

40. Pınar İlkkaracan's research demonstrates that despite the existence of the standardized modern civil law, traditional and religious laws are still very strong depending on the ‘region, economic conditions, denomination and ethnic identities’. P. İlkkaracan, ‘Dogˇu Anadolu'da Kadın ve Aile’ [Woman and Family in the Eastern Anatolia], in A.B. Hacımirzaogˇlu (ed.), 75 Yılda Kadınlar ve Erkekler [Women and Men in 75 Years] (İstanbul: Tarik Vakfı Yayınları, 1998), pp.173–92.

41. When referring to Kurdish women who participated in this study, I use pseudonyms to keep their identities secret.

42. Gündüz-Hoşgör and Smits, ‘Intermarriage between Turks and Kurds in Contemporary Turkey’, pp.418–9.

43. Starting with the 1960s, and continuing especially with the 1980s and 1990s, however, several concurrent developments led to the gradual disintegration of the traditional Kurdish social and cultural features. Among these developments one should mention the following: the impact of leftist-secularist Kurdish nationalism, migration to urban centres such as İstanbul, increasing levels of literacy and education, the spread of the means of mass communication. Yet still it is not uncommon for one to see that some deep-rooted ‘features’ like honour (namus), whose marker/symbol is the woman and her chastity, and honour-killings prevail. This is by no means to imply that ‘honour-killing’ is specific to the Kurds.

44. J. Smits and A. Gündüz-Hoşgör, ‘Linguistic Capital: Language as a Socio-economic Resource among Kurdish and Arabic Women in Turkey’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol.26, No.5 (2003), pp.829–53.

45. Ibid., p.839.

46. Ibid., p.846. P. Bourdieu, Language and Symbolic Power (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991).

47. Ibid., p.829.

48. Y. Arat, ‘From Emancipation to Liberation: The Changing Role of Women in Turkey's Public Realm’, Journal of International Affairs, Vol.54, No.1 (2000), pp.120–1.

49. This is a distinction that Arat does not seem to disapprove of.

50. ‘Bir 8 Mart Daha Geçti’[One More March 8 Passed], Roza, No.8 (1997), pp.9–11.

51. F. Kayhan, ‘Kürt Kadınlarına Batırılan Dikenler’[Thorns Stuck into Kurdish Women], Roza, No.13 (1998), pp.3–8.

52. F. Kayhan, ‘Türk Feminist Hareketin Çıkmazı’[The Dilemma of the Turkish Feminist Movement], Roza, No.13 (1998), pp.9–13.

53. Cevahir, ‘Mücadelede Kürt Kadını’[The Kurdish Woman in the Struggle], Roza, No.5 (1996), pp.6–7.

54. Undoubtedly, cutting ties with Kemalism has not been questioned and/or problematized by Kemalist feminists. On the contrary, Kemalism is revered as it brought equality, liberation and emancipation to Turkish women. Among others, see A. Çelikel, ‘Cumhuriyetimizin 75. Yılının Düşündürdükleri’[What the 75^th Anniversary of Our Republic Makes One Think of], in N. Arat (ed.), Aydınlanmanın Kadınları [Women of the Enlightenment] (İstanbul: Cumhuriyet Kitap Kulübü, 1998), pp.41–9; E. Doğramacı, Women in Turkey and the New Millennium (Ankara: Atatürk Research Centre, 2000).

55. Farganis uses this concept in the context of Black women. She argues that Black women have ‘epistemic advantage’ since ‘by virtue of their “marginality” they are able to see the world in a clearer way’. S. Farganis, Situating Feminism: From Thought to Action (London: Sage Publications, 1994), p.33.

56. N. Abadan-Unat (ed.), Women in Turkish Society (Leiden: Brill, 1981).

57. A.B. Mirzaoğlu (ed.), 75 Yılda Kadınlar ve Erkekler (İstanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yayınları, 1998).

58. Ş. Tekeli (ed.), 1980'ler Türkiye'sinde Kadın Bakış Açısından Kadınlar [Women in Turkey in the 1980s from a Woman's Perspective] (İstanbul: İletişim, 1995).

59. Ayşe Güneş-Ayata also points out that religious marriages are mostly seen among Kurds. A. Güneş-Ayata, ‘The Politics of Implementing Women's Rights in Turkey’, in J.H. Bayes and N. Tohidi (eds.), Globalization, Gender and Religion: The Politics of Women's Rights in Catholic and Muslim Contexts (New York: Palgrave, 2001), p.170.

60. Y. Ertürk, ‘Doğu Anadolu'da Modernleşme ve Kırsal Kadın’[Modernization in Eastern Anatolia and Rural Women], in Tekeli (ed.), 1980'ler Türkiye'sinde Kadın Bakış Açısından Kadınlar, pp.202–3.

61. Ibid., p.208. At this point, it should briefly be noted that such a gendered characteristic is not limited to development projects. On the contrary, it is embedded in some other aspects of the Turkish nation-state. One striking example is obligatory military service. While Kurdish men learn not only Turkish but also some literacy, Kurdish women lack even this opportunity. The debates in the ‘Contemporary Feminist Theories’ class of Professor Yıldız Ecevit at Middle East Technical University in 2002 drew my attention to this point. For Kurdish women, however, in the mid-1990s some centres have been established in the Kurdish-populated regions. These are called ÇATOM (Çok Amaçlı Toplum Merkezleri – Multi-purpose Community Centres). The official declaration of the aim behind the establishment of the ÇATOMs is as follows: ‘Targeting young girls and women over age 14, the ÇATOM aims at building awareness among women about their problems, creating opportunities for the solution of these problems, ensuring their participation to the public sphere, promoting gender balanced development by empowering women and developing replicable models relevant to local context. ÇATOM programs and activities center around five basic areas including education and training, health, income generation, social support and cultural-social activities’. See http://www.gap.gov.tr/English/Frames/fr21.html. All Kurdish women who participated in this study think that the ÇATOMs were oriented to the assimilation of Kurdish women, except one who said she was not knowledgeable about the ÇATOMs. For a similar critique of the ÇATOMs, see Bawer, ‘Çatom'lar Ne İstiyor?’[What do the ÇATOMs Want?], Roza, No.13 (1998), pp.38–9.

62. Shahrzad Mojab criticizes Ertürk on the grounds that she does not note that ‘these “development projects” continue to be ingrained in policies of ethnic cleansing and forced assimilation’. S. Mojab, ‘Introduction: The Solitude of the Stateless: Kurdish Women at the Margins of Feminist Knowledge’, in S. Mojab (ed.), Women of A Non-State Nation: The Kurds (California: Mazda Publishers, 2001), p.5.

63. M. Yeğen, ‘The Turkish State Discourse and the Exclusion of Kurdish Identity’, in S. Kedourie (ed.), Turkey: Identity, Democracy, Politics (London: Frank Cass, 1996), p.216. See also M. Yeğen, Devlet Söyleminde Kürt Sorunu [The Kurdish Question in the State Discourse] (İstanbul: İletişim, 1999).

64. J.B. White, ‘State Feminism, Modernization, and the Turkish Republican Woman’, NWSA Journal, Vol.15, No.3 (2003), p.157.

65. I am indebted to Mazhar Yüksel for the formulation of this concept.

66. Mojab (ed.), Women of a Non-State Nation: The Kurds.

67. M. van Bruinessen, ‘From Adela Khanum to Leyla Zana: Women as Political Leaders in Kurdish History’, in Mojab (ed.), Women of a Non-State Nation: The Kurds, p.95.

68. Ibid., pp.96–8.

69. Ibid., p.99.

70. Ibid., pp.106–7.

71. Ibid., p.95.

72. Ibid., p.103.

73. A. Hassanpour, ‘The (Re)production of Patriarchy in the Kurdish Language’, in Mojab (ed.), Women of a Non-State Nation: The Kurds, pp.227–63.

74. J. Klein, ‘En-gendering Nationalism: The “Woman Question” in Kurdish Nationalist Discourse of the Late Ottoman Period’, in Mojab (ed.), Women of a Non-State Nation: The Kurds, pp.25–51.

75. R. Alakom, ‘Kurdish Women in Constantinople at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century’, in Mojab (ed.), Women of a Non-State Nation: The Kurds, p.60.

76. Ibid., pp.54, 60, 63.

77. S. Mojab, ‘Introduction: The Solitude of the Stateless: Kurdish Women at the Margins of Feminist Knowledge’, in Mojab (ed.), Women of a Non-State Nation: The Kurds, pp.5–6.

78. Ibid., pp.8–9.

79. Ibid., p.6. See also S. Mojab, ‘Women and Nationalism in the Kurdish Republic of 1946’, in Mojab (ed.), Women of a Non-State Nation: The Kurds, pp.71, 88.

80. Ibid., p.5 (italics added).

81. See E. Gellner, Nations and Nationalism (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1983), p.1; E. Hobsbawm, ‘Ethnicity and Nationalism in Europe Today’, in G. Balakrishnan (ed.) Mapping the Nation (London and New York: Verso, 1996), p.256.

82. For a study that is based on Kurdish women's own voices and experiences, see H. Çagˇlayan, Feminist Perspektiften Kürt Kadın Kimligˇi Üzerine Niteliksel Bir Araştırma [A Qualitative Research about Kurdish Woman Identity from a Feminist Perspective] (Unpublished PhD Dissertation, Ankara Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Kamu Yönetimi ve Siyaset Bilimi, 2006; being prepared for publication).

83. Certainly such a viewpoint does not rule out the fact that the feminist movement contributed to the strengthening and/or deepening of democratization in Turkey. For an emphasis on the feminist movement as deepening and strengthening democratization in Turkey see the following studies by Yeşim Arat: ‘Women's Movement of the 1980s in Turkey: Radical Outcome of Liberal Kemalism’, in Göçek and Balaghi (eds.), Reconstructing Gender in the Middle East, pp.100–12; ‘Rethinking the Political: A Feminist Journal in Turkey, Pazartesi’, Women's Studies International Forum, Vol.27, No.3 (2004), pp.281–92; ‘Toward a Democratic Society: The Women's Movement in Turkey in the 1980s’, Women's Studies International Forum, Vol.17, No.2–3 (1994), pp.241–8; ‘Democracy and Women in Turkey: In Defense of Liberalism’, Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society, Vol.6, No.3 (1999), pp.370–87.

84. N. Işık, Email to the author, 15 Aug. and 8 Sept. 2003.

85. A. Bora, Email to the author, 2 Sept. 2003.

86. N. Sirman, ‘Kadın'dan Toplumsal Cinsiyet'e’[From Woman to Gender], A talk delivered at the 10th Anniversary of the Establishment of Research and Implementation Centre on the Problems of Women at Ankara University, Ankara, 23 Jan. 2003.

87. For a parallel criticism of Turkish feminist women, see Canan, ‘Gözüm Aynı Göz, Sözüm Aynı Söz, Tenim Farklı!’[My Eye is the Same Eye, My Word is the Same Word, My Skin is Different!], Jujîn: 2 Aylık Kürt Kadın Dergisi [Jujîn: A Bimonthly Kurdish Women's Journal], No.7 (1998), pp.30–2.

88. For a similar critique, see S. Tanrıkulu, ‘Dilimi Bilsen Beni Anlayabilir misin?’[Could You Understand Me If You Knew My Language?], Jujîn, No.3–4 (1997), p.27.

89. N. Işık, Email to the author, 15 Aug. and 8 Sept. 2003.

90. ‘Democracy Party’, the pro-Kurdish party of the day. It was closed down by the Constitutional Court in June 1994.

91. For a striking critique of the Kurdish nationalist organizations from a Kurdish woman's perspective, see Zelal, ‘Kürt Erkeklerine veya Erkek Kürtlere’[To Kurdish Men or Manly Kurds], Roza, No.6 (1997), pp.13–4.

92. Cited in A. Kadıoğlu, ‘Women's Subordination in Turkey: Is Islam Really the Villain?’, The Middle East Journal, Vol.48, No.4 (1994), p.659.