Examines violence against Kurdish civilians by state-sponsored paramilitary forces in Turkey in the 1990s
Published in December 2023, click here to see more details.
- A historical and political analysis of the paramilitary groups in Turkey that were mobilised against Kurdish civilians in the 1990s
- Analyses the formation, organisational structure and violent acts of paramilitary groups in Turkey, with a particular focus on two local cases: Cizre and Batman
- Draws on 41 in-depth interviews with the relatives of those whose disappearances remain unsolved; people who were tortured by Turkish paramilitary forces; former soldiers who served in Kurdish cities; researchers, journalists, politicians, lawyers and human rights activists who worked in the region in the 1990s
- Uses court and state documents on Turkish paramilitary forces, as well as secondary sources such as memoirs, journalistic works and NGO reports
This book focuses on paramilitary groups and the Turkish state relations during the armed conflict between the state and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan, PKK) in the 1990s. In August 1984, the PKK launched an armed struggle against the Turkish state, leading to a full-blown war throughout the 1990s. During the conflict, the Turkish state established new armed groups, many of them having a paramilitary character. This research investigates the ways in which these paramilitary groups emerged, functioned, and were deactivated. It analyses the historical background, transformations and continuities of these paramilitary groups, and examines their violence against civilians particularly in two regions of Northern Kurdistan: Batman province and Cizre district.
Contens.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Principal Abbreviations
Introduction
1 Origin, Legacy and Continuity of Turkish Paramilitary Formations
2 Paramilitaries and State Relation: Establishment of the
Paramilitary Forces in the 1980s
3 The Changing Military Strategy and Reorganisation of
Paramilitary Forces
4 Bureaucracy and Political Violence (1992-7): Paramilitarism in
Batman Province
5 Localised Paramilitarisation of the State (1992-9): The Case
of Cizre
Conclusion: The Continuity of the Reliable and Deniable
Paramilitary History in Turkey
Bibliography
Index