Manufacturing identity and managing Kurds in Iraq, Turkey and Iran: A study in the evolution of nationalism

Before and after the demise of the Ottoman and Persian Empires and division of Kurdish territories into four main states, the Kurds have attempted to preserve their identity by differentiating themselves from the dominant ethnic group. Kurds are Kurds because they are not Arabs, Persians, or Turks. Given their unique ethnic identity why then, have Kurds expressed their Kurdishness at different time frames and in various ways? What accounts for the evolution of Kurdish ethnonationalism and the differences and similarities in Kurdish nationalist mobilizations across space and time? The purpose of this dissertation is to explain why Kurdish nationalism (Kurdayetî) becomes ethnicized and the similarities and variations in Kurdayetî across space and time. By examining the state-building strategies of the political elite in Iraq, Turkey and Iran it aims to show that given the repertoire of an ethnic group\u27s identities politics affects how Kurdish national identity becomes institutionalized and the various forms nationalism may assume. While Kurdish communities have maintained some shared sense of Kurdishness Kurdayetî has become part of a larger repertoire of identities based on the nature of the political space constructed by the state elite for Kurdish groups. Political space refers to the political and cultural opportunities for Kurds to express their national identity and the opportunities to assume alternative political identities in each state over time. Whether or not Kurdayetî becomes ethnicized and salient over other identities, therefore, depends on the positive and negative incentives offered by central governments and the actions and reactions of Kurdish groups to these incentive structures. My findings reveal that the extent of ethnicization of the political space, as well as the opportunities to express alternative political identities, shapes the character of the nationalist elite, nationalist sentiment, and relationship between the nationalist and state elite. In each case history the political elite ethnicized the political space, creating boundaries of inclusion and exclusion based on ethnicity. However, the degree and nature of the ethnicization processes differed in each case, creating variations in the character of Kurdish ethnonationalism Also, in each state the political elite employed different combinations of cooptation policies that elevated Islamic, tribal, landowning, and urban communities. Consequently, Kurdish nationalist projects factionalized according to the socio-economic and political lines that became dominant in each state