TURKEY: The Unwelcome Neighbour: Turkey's Kurdish Policy
2008; Middle East Institute; Volume: 62; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1940-3461
Autores Tópico(s)Post-Soviet Geopolitical Dynamics
ResumoTURKEY: The Unwelcome Neighbour: Policy, by Asa Lundgren. London, UK and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2007. viii + 127 pages. Notes to p. 143. Bibl. to p. 156. Index to p. 159. $72.50. Reviewed by Michael M. Gunter This is a concise jargon-free analysis of how foundational rationale for its own existence as a non-ethnic state explains its adamant opposition to an Iraqi state. Kurdish self-rule in northern Iraq is a challenge to ideological foundation of Turkish state, that is, to idea of unitary nation-state in which ethnicity is an irrelevant phenomenon in public and political sphere (p. 120). Indeed, entire book aims to describe how foreign policy towards self-rule in northern Iraq is an extension of domestic politics and of continuously ongoing endeavour to build and consolidate a Turkish nation (p. 4). . . . strong objections to self-rule and insistence that Iraq remains intact . is not primarily based concern about unity and sovereignty of Iraq but ultimately concern about unity and sovereignty of (p. 124). Nevertheless, exceptions and contradictions exist. practice, ethnicity is thus an important component in definition of Turkish nation (p. 32). Moreover, creation of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq in early 1990s and demise of Saddam Husayn's unitary Iraq in 2003 have slowly eroded Turkish red lines, and Turkey's ... role in northern Iraq has been marginalized (p. 118). Furthermore, the reluctance of Iraqi Kurds and USA to fight against or disarm PKK was difficult for Ankara to digest, given all proud declarations from Wwashington about 'fighting terrorism' (p. 103). Most important of all, of course, are implications of possible membership in European Union (EU). Many of reforms that EU calls for are directly related to issue, and strongest support in Turkey for joining Union middleMIDDLE eastEAST journalJOURNAL is found among population (p. 51). On other hand, if Turkey enters Union ... there will certainly be a reinforcement of borders towards Iraq, Iran and Syria ... That would render any prospects of a Greater Kurdistan ... even unlikely than they look today, which, in turn, would reduce Ankara's concerns (p. 125). In developing her short treatise, Asa Lundgren, a political scientist at Uppsala University in Sweden, follows a brief introduction with a theoretical chapter explaining how more often than not state precedes nation (p. 6), and how, especially for modern Turkey, the notion of civic nationalism implies that everyone living territory of state belongs to nation, independently of descent or religious or cultural belonging (p. 8). This then leads to explanations on interconnectedness of nation-building, foreign policy, and national security (p. 4). After explaining in Chapter 3 why Turkey fears a state in northern Iraq, author shows how this leads to Turkey largely being free of irredentist ambitions towards Turkic peoples who live outside its borders. …
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