The Making of Paramilitarism in Turkey

Buch | Hardcover

162 Seiten

2025
Routledge (Verlag)
978-1-032-43581-7 (ISBN)

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With a unique focus on the suppression of marginalized groups, including Armenians, Kurds, and Alevis, the book presents groundbreaking research on how paramilitarism has been instrumental in state violence, both domestically and internationally.

This edited volume explores the history and evolution of Turkish paramilitarism from the late Ottoman period to the 2010s. Aimed at undergraduates, postgraduates, scholars, and non-specialists, it offers an interdisciplinary analysis of paramilitary forces’ influence on Turkey’s historical, political, social, legal, and visual landscapes. The book examines key issues such as the Armenian Genocide, anti-communist operations, Alevi pogroms, and anti-Kurdish violence, and delves into how state-sponsored paramilitary groups have shaped the nation’s modern history. Through case studies, examining key paramilitary groups such as Grey Wolves, Village Guards, and JİTEM, contributors reveal the deep-seated connections between paramilitarism and statecraft in Turkey.

With a unique focus on the suppression of marginalised groups, including Armenians, Kurds, and Alevis, the book presents groundbreaking research on how paramilitarism has been instrumental in state violence, both domestically and internationally. By incorporating political, economic, and social dimensions, this volume offers a fresh perspective on the enduring role of paramilitary actors in shaping Turkish state policies and provides readers with a comprehensive understanding of the complex dynamics behind informal violence in Turkey’s history.

Özlem Has is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Defence Studies at King’s College London. Her research interests include state formation, political violence, paramilitarism, and mercenarism. Her key publications include studies on paramilitaries in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict and private military companies. Ayhan Işık is an independent researcher and an interdisciplinary political historian specializing in 20th- and 21st- century political violence, paramilitarism, and Kurdish Studies. He is author of a book titled Turkish Paramilitarism in Northern Kurdistan: State Violence in the 1990s that was published 2024.

Foreword: Paramilitarism in Turkey: Deception, Performance, and Violence

Uğur Ümit Üngör

List of Contributors

About the Book

PART I The Origins of Paramilitarism in Modern Turkey

1 Modern Bandits of Purgatory in the Transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic: A Story of Property Transfer in Aintab from Warlords to Urban Elite

Ümit Kurt

PART II Paramilitarism and Raison D’etat

2 Counterinsurgency in Turkey: Coloniality of Paramilitary Forces and Provocative Counterorganisation

Deniz Yonucu

3 At the Intersection of Domestic and Foreign Policy in Turkey: Transformation of the Capacity for Extralegal Violence and Kurdistan Issue

Çağrı Kurt

PART III The Functioning of Paramilitarism Abroad and At Home

4 Pro-Turkish State Vigilantism in Europe in the Post-1960s

Mazyar Khoojinian

5 The Politics of Violence and Exclusion: Paramilitary Groups and the Targeting of Alevi Communities in Turkey

Ozan Çavdar

PART IV 1990s: The Heyday of Paramilitarism

6 The Village Guard System: Socio-Anthropology of a Paramilitary Institution in Northern Kurdistan (Turkish Kurdistan)

Adnan Çelik

7 Strategically Ambiguous and Deniable: Paramilitary Violence and Psychological Warfare in the 1990s

Yeşim Yaprak Yıldız

PART V Post-Truth Paramilitarism

8 The Contractual Functioning of Paramilitary Violence in Turkey: The JİTEM Case

Özlem Has

9 Disfiguring Public Reality: Televisual and Paramilitary Visions

Sidar Bayram

Erscheinungsdatum	19.07.2025
Verlagsort	London
Sprache	englisch
Maße	156 x 234 mm
Gewicht	500 g
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Neuzeit (bis 1918)
	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Zeitgeschichte
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Systeme
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Theorie
ISBN-10	1-032-43581-X / 103243581X
ISBN-13	978-1-032-43581-7 / 9781032435817
Zustand	Neuware