Overview

Sunni Islam has played an ambivalent role in Turkey's Kurdish conflict--both as a conflict resolution tool and as a tool of resistance. Under the Banner of Islam uses Turkey as a case study to understand how religious, ethnic, and national identities converge in ethnic conflicts between co-religionists. Gülay Türkmen asks a question that informs the way we understand religiously homogeneous ethnic conflicts today: Is it possible for religion to act as a resolution tool in these often-violent conflicts? In search for answers to this question, in Under the Banner of Islam, Türkmen journeys into the inner circles of religious elites from different backgrounds: non-state-appointed local Kurdish meles, state-appointed Kurdish and Turkish imams, heads of religious NGOs, and members of religious orders. Blending interview data with a detailed historical analysis that goes back as far as the nineteenth century, she argues that the strength of Turkish and Kurdish nationalisms, the symbiotic relationship between Turkey's religious and political fields, the religious elites' varying conceptualizations of religious and ethnic identities, and the recent political developments in the region (particularly in Syria) all contribute to the complex role religion plays in the Kurdish conflict in Turkey. Under the Banner of Islam is a specific story of religion, ethnicity, and nationalism in Turkey's Kurdish conflict, but it also tracks a broader narrative of how ethnic and religious identities are negotiated when resolving conflicts.

Full Product Details

Author:   Gülay Türkmen (Postdoctoral Fellow, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Göttingen)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint:   Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 23.90cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 15.50cm
Weight:   0.431kg
ISBN:  

9780197511817

ISBN 10:   0197511813
Pages:   204
Publication Date:   31 March 2021
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
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Table of Contents

"Prologue Introduction ""Under the banner of Islam"" ""The ambivalence of the sacred"": Religion and conflict resolution The porous borders of religion and ethnicity The shifting borders of religious and political fields Chapter 1 ""Green Kemalism"": The evolving role of Islam in the Kurdish conflict Kurdish revolts in the late Ottoman period: Against centralization? Kurdish revolts in the early Republican period: Kurdish-Islamic Synthesis? The secularization of the Kurdish movement: 1950-1978 Bringing Islam back in: 1990-2002 Chapter 2 ""Islam as cement"": The way out? ""There is only one nation and that is the nation of Abraham"" The ummah that never was AKP's Kurdish policy: Neo-Ottoman Pan-Islamism Chapter 3 Muslim-Kurds: The case for religio-ethnic identity ""God could have created us all the same"": Religious roots of ethnicity Kurdish Islam embodied: Civil Friday Prayers Turkey's religious field in the 2000s: A Bourdieusian analysis Islam as a tool of resistance Chapter 4 ""Only Turks can lead a Muslim union"": The case for ethno-religious identity Ottomanism, Islamism, Turkism: Birth pangs of Turkish nationalism Turkish History Thesis and the Turkification of Islam Turkey's pending dilemma: The Turkish-Islamic Synthesis AKP's transformation: ""From the Kurd's Qur'an to the Turk's flag"" Conclusion: United in religion, divided by ethnicity? The way forward: Whither Kurdish conflict? Appendix: Methodology Notes Index"

Reviews

"""This is an excellent, exhaustive study of the main social problem of religious nationalism in contemporary Turkey. Türkmen beautifully reveals that the way the current Turkish government privileges religion alone in determining nationalÂbelonging will not work in the long term, because of the way it silences ethnicity in general and the sizeable Kurdish population in Turkey in particular. A must-read for all interested in religion, ethnicity, nationalism, and globalization."" -- Fatma Müge Göçek, Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies, University of Michigan ""Religious unity is often presented as a panacea for violent ethnic conflict among Muslim groups. In this well-researched, conceptually innovative, and theoretically engaging book, Türkmen shows how a suprareligious approach fails to take deep sociological root and to offer a resolution to the Kurdish question in Turkey. Her in-depth interviews with both Kurdish and Turkish religious elites reveal how religious beliefs actually serve as the cement of distinct ethnic identities rather than superseding them. Her book is an important contribution to Kurdish studies and politics of religion and ethnicity literature."" -- Güne,s Murat Tezcür, Jalal Talabani Chair of Kurdish Political Studies, University of Central Florida ""Through her analysis of the discourse of Kurdish and Turkish religious personalities on Islam, ethnicity, and nationalism, Gülay Türkmen sheds significant new light on hitherto neglected but important aspects of the Kurdish conflict and the Islamic revival in Turkey."" -- Martin van Bruinessen, Professor of the Comparative Study of Contemporary Muslim Societies, Utrecht University"

Through her analysis of the discourse of Kurdish and Turkish religious personalities on Islam, ethnicity, and nationalism, Gulay Turkmen sheds significant new light on hitherto neglected but important aspects of the Kurdish conflict and the Islamic revival in Turkey. * Martin van Bruinessen, Professor of the Comparative Study of Contemporary Muslim Societies, Utrecht University * Religious unity is often presented as a panacea for violent ethnic conflict among Muslim groups. In this well-researched, conceptually innovative, and theoretically engaging book, Turkmen shows how a suprareligious approach fails to take deep sociological root and to offer a resolution to the Kurdish question in Turkey. Her in-depth interviews with both Kurdish and Turkish religious elites reveal how religious beliefs actually serve as the cement of distinct ethnic identities rather than superseding them. Her book is an important contribution to Kurdish studies and politics of religion and ethnicity literature. * Gunes Murat Tezcur, Jalal Talabani Chair of Kurdish Political Studies, University of Central Florida * This is an excellent, exhaustive study of the main social problem of religious nationalism in contemporary Turkey. Turkmen beautifully reveals that the way the current Turkish government privileges religion alone in determining nationalbelonging will not work in the long term, because of the way it silences ethnicity in general and the sizeable Kurdish population in Turkey in particular. A must-read for all interested in religion, ethnicity, nationalism, and globalization. * Fatma Muge Goecek, Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies, University of Michigan *

This is an excellent, exhaustive study of the main social problem of religious nationalism in contemporary Turkey. Turkmen beautifully reveals that the way the current Turkish government privileges religion alone in determining nationalAbelonging will not work in the long term, because of the way it silences ethnicity in general and the sizeable Kurdish population in Turkey in particular. A must-read for all interested in religion, ethnicity, nationalism, and globalization. -- Fatma Muge Goecek, Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies, University of Michigan Religious unity is often presented as a panacea for violent ethnic conflict among Muslim groups. In this well-researched, conceptually innovative, and theoretically engaging book, Turkmen shows how a suprareligious approach fails to take deep sociological root and to offer a resolution to the Kurdish question in Turkey. Her in-depth interviews with both Kurdish and Turkish religious elites reveal how religious beliefs actually serve as the cement of distinct ethnic identities rather than superseding them. Her book is an important contribution to Kurdish studies and politics of religion and ethnicity literature. -- Gune,s Murat Tezcur, Jalal Talabani Chair of Kurdish Political Studies, University of Central Florida Through her analysis of the discourse of Kurdish and Turkish religious personalities on Islam, ethnicity, and nationalism, Gulay Turkmen sheds significant new light on hitherto neglected but important aspects of the Kurdish conflict and the Islamic revival in Turkey. -- Martin van Bruinessen, Professor of the Comparative Study of Contemporary Muslim Societies, Utrecht University

Author Information

Gülay Türkmen is a sociologist and current postdoctoral fellow at the University of Goettingen. Her work examines how macro-scale historical and political developments inform questions of belonging and identity-formation in multi-cultural societies. She has published in several academic outlets including the Annual Review of Sociology, Qualitative Sociology, Sociological Quarterly, and Nations and Nationalism. She has written about developments in Turkish politics for Open Democracy and Jadaliyya.

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