Common ground or battlefield? Deconstructing the politics of recognition in Turkey

ArticleThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Francis (Routledge) via the DOI in this record.This article examines the impacts that the embrace of diversity talk has had on identity and ethnic politics in Turkey that has evolved toward a relative and selective recognition. Based on the analysis of the cases of the Laze and Kurdish movements, the article argues that the politics of recognition is built conjointly by an array of actors, at different levels, with different aims, and through their very practices and interactions. The article shows that although the embrace of diversity talk may mark a depolitisation of the ethno-national claims, it still gives room to forms of resistance. These dynamics have shaped a non-coherent, multi-layered, recognition that does not allow the building of a common ground in the country but rather of a battlefield around discursive and policies choices.The author would like to acknowledge the gracious input of the anonymous reviewers, and of Anouck Côrte-Real, Adrian Guelke, Gilles Dorronsoro, and Claire Visier for their comments on the first drafts of this article. The author is also thankful to the participants of the 2012 workshop The ‘Diversity Turn’: Cultural Policies, Governance, and National Minorities at Exeter Centre for Ethno-Political Studies, University of Exeter. The article has also been fed by the discussions of the team of the Research Programme TRANSFAIRE Trans-acting Matters: Areas and Eras of a (Post-)Ottoman Globalization (ref. ANR-12-GLOB-003).This article draws on research funded by the University of Exeter, the Centre for Ethno-Political Studies and the Centre for Kurdish Studies