WebTalks
The Kurdish Minority: From Perpetrator to Victim
Bilgin Ayata
Ayata summarizes the shifting roles of the Kurdish minority in the formation of the Turkish state.
The Kurdish Minority: From Perpetrator to Victim
Beginning with the Hamidian massacres and throughout the Armenian Genocide, Ottoman authorities militarized Kurdish tribes to support state interests against other ethnic and religious minorities in the empire. Dr. Ayata argues that during the transition from empire to nation state, Turkey’s Kurdish minority that had been favored and rewarded for its loyalty to the state gradually fell victim to the same oppressive policies and violence that had been implemented against other minorities under Ottoman rule.
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