After a couple of weeks of not having much work and generally waiting around to hear from the powers that be, I have a new project to work on. The Turkish Red Crescent has asked me to develop a country profiling system for humanitarian assistance, in order to help them keep a record of all the risk-prone countries in the world, the type of risks they are facing, and the amount of aid they have already received from the Turkish Red Crescent. After developing the template, the first country I am to work on, is Bosnia and Herzegovina. So far, the template is ready, and I have started working on the individual case studies.
In the 1930s, the Turkish government expressed its desire to assimilate Kurds into Turkey. Many resisted this move, and today the Kurds comprise 15 to 18% of the total population of Turkey. Since the 1980s, Kurdish movements included both peaceful political activities for basic civil rights for Kurds in Turkey, as well as armed rebellion and guerrilla warfare, including military attacks aimed at Turkish military bases, demanding a separate Kurdish state. In the 1970s this separatist movement tied up with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is currently listed as a terrorist organization by many countries as well as international organizations.
According to today's Hurriyet Daily News, a Turkish newspaper supplement, support for the 'resolution process' aimed to end Turkey's three decade old conflict between the Turkish State and the Kurdish separatists has increased among both the Kurdish population as well as the rest of the Turkish population, according to a survey conducted by the ruling party's Research and Development Directorate. Since the Gezi park protests, the percentage of Kurds supporting the peace process has risen from 75% to 90%, while the percentage of Turkish people has risen from 65% to 70%. It's funny how as soon as the Turks and Kurds were collectively faced with a problem that lay outside the realm of their own differences, it was easy for them to look upon themselves as a unified entity -- raising their voices in unison against authoritarian measures imposed by an otherwise democratic government.
This is almost reminiscent of Muzafer Sherif's 'Robbers Cave Experiment' where the presence of a superordinate goal led the rival groups to forget their differences and join forces to overcome a greater problem. Fun fact: Sherif himself was Turkish, and obtained his first M.A. degree from the University of Istanbul!
In the 1930s, the Turkish government expressed its desire to assimilate Kurds into Turkey. Many resisted this move, and today the Kurds comprise 15 to 18% of the total population of Turkey. Since the 1980s, Kurdish movements included both peaceful political activities for basic civil rights for Kurds in Turkey, as well as armed rebellion and guerrilla warfare, including military attacks aimed at Turkish military bases, demanding a separate Kurdish state. In the 1970s this separatist movement tied up with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is currently listed as a terrorist organization by many countries as well as international organizations.
According to today's Hurriyet Daily News, a Turkish newspaper supplement, support for the 'resolution process' aimed to end Turkey's three decade old conflict between the Turkish State and the Kurdish separatists has increased among both the Kurdish population as well as the rest of the Turkish population, according to a survey conducted by the ruling party's Research and Development Directorate. Since the Gezi park protests, the percentage of Kurds supporting the peace process has risen from 75% to 90%, while the percentage of Turkish people has risen from 65% to 70%. It's funny how as soon as the Turks and Kurds were collectively faced with a problem that lay outside the realm of their own differences, it was easy for them to look upon themselves as a unified entity -- raising their voices in unison against authoritarian measures imposed by an otherwise democratic government.
This is almost reminiscent of Muzafer Sherif's 'Robbers Cave Experiment' where the presence of a superordinate goal led the rival groups to forget their differences and join forces to overcome a greater problem. Fun fact: Sherif himself was Turkish, and obtained his first M.A. degree from the University of Istanbul!
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