Pro-Rebel Party Behavior during Civil Wars: The Case of the Pro-Kurdish Parties in Turkey

ABSTRACT

While the literature on rebel-to-party transformation focused on formation of parties at the end of civil wars, in this study, we address the phenomenon of a political party that co-exists alongside a rebel group during a lengthy civil war. We define this party as a ‘pro-rebel party,’ which is constrained by the rebel group but adheres to the legal order by offering candidates in elections. Based on the case of pro-Kurdish parties in Turkey, we argue that pro-rebel parties experience ideological and organisational pluralisation in structures with increasing opportunities and reinforce a counter-hegemonic struggle against a one-sided state discourse.

Acknowledgments

We thank the participants of the panel on ‘The Kurds: Politics and Identity’ at the MESA 2019 Annual Convention and Mehmet Gürses for providing their constructive comments on the earlier drafts of this paper.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. See Hürriyet, ‘İşte Büyük Türkiye İşte Zafer: Ve Apo Yakalandı’, 17 February 1999.

2. See Milliyet, ‘Nefes Kesen Operasyon’, 16 February 1999.

3. See Ertugrul Özkök’s column in Hürriyet: ‘5. Manşeti Bedirhan Bebek için Atacağız’, 2 August 2018. https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/yazarlar/ertugrul-ozkok/5-manseti-bedirhan-bebek-icin-atacagiz-40916703, accessed 3 April 2019.

4. Hürriyet Daily News ‘PKK chief hit in drone-backed operation’, 16 August 2018. https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-neutralises-most-wanted-pkk-suspect-in-northern-iraq-135849, accessed 3 April 2019.

5. See ANF News ‘Şengal’e yönelik saldırılar Avrupa’da protesto ediliyor’, 16 August 2018. https://anfturkce.com/avrupa/Sengal-e-yoenelik-saldirilar-avrupa-da-protesto-ediliyor-112128, accessed 3 April 2019.

6. According to the UCDP (2020) dataset, the conflict between the PKK and the government of Turkey was most violent between 1991–1999 in which the average number of fatalities per year was 2724 while the number significantly decreased in the ceasefire period of 1999–2004. With the exclusion of the peace process that was in the 2013–2015 period, the average number of fatalities between 2004–2020 per year is 555.

7. This was the case for instance for CNDD-FDD in Burundi or with Hamas in the Gaza Strip (Berti and Gutiérrez 2016, Rufyikiri 2017).

8. For a more detailed account of this and other developments in the early years of the pro-Kurdish parties, see Marcus (2007, pp. 200–220).

9. For more on the developments of events during this period, see Aydın and Emrence (2015) and Marcus (2007).

10. See Sunday’s Zaman. ‘BDP chairman calls on PKK to lay down arms.’ 19 June 2012, https://web.archive.org/web/20120624070403/http://www.todayszaman.com/news-283975-bdp-chairman-calls-on-pkk-to-lay-down-arms.html, accessed 1 April 2019.

11. See also Appendix A that shows these parties’ positions on violence from 1990 to present. It mostly criticises the state and constitutional order for the ongoing violence.

12. UCDP (Uppsala Conflict Data Program): https://ucdp.uu.se/conflict.

Additional information

Funding

This research was created with the financial support of the Czech Science Foundation, Project No. 18-07418Y and with the financial support of the Anglo-American University.

Notes on contributors

Pelin Ayan Musil

Pelin Ayan Musil (PhD, Bilkent University, Department of Political Science) is a Senior Lecturer at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Anglo-American University (Prague, Czech Republic). She specializes in Turkish politics, political parties and comparative studies on authoritarianism.

Jacob Maze

Jacob Maze (PhD Student, Charles University, Institute of Political Studies) is a Research Fellow and Lecturer at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Anglo-American University (Prague, Czech Republic). He specializes in political identity and violence, particularly violence stemming from nationalism.