Syrian Kurds: Contesting Boundaries
Panel 215, 2017 Annual Meeting
On Tuesday, November 21 at 10:30 am
Panel Description
Among the four parts of Kurdistan, the Syrian part has arguably been the least studied one. It has been, for example, a common sight that the edited volumes on Kurdistan are named with "in Iraq, Turkey, and Iran." This situation has changed considerably with the rise of Rojava and rapidly increasing social and political visibility of the Syrian Kurds. Especially after the Battle of Kobani, there has been an explosion of academic and intellectual interest. However, this has not yet been matched by a systematic scholarly focus on Rojava in the form of edited volumes or conference panels. In other words, whereas it is common to see a panel focusing exclusively on Iraqi Kurdistan, for example, it is still rare to find something similar for Rojava.
This panel aims to fill this gap by bringing together an array of scholarly work scrutinizing the Syrian Kurds and Rojava. Specifically, it focuses on the question of how the Syrian Kurds are disrupting various boundaries with their social and political movement. Transgressing and disrupting established boundaries is arguably the most visible consequence of the Syrian Kurds' actions. First of all, they are disrupting the physical boundaries in the region by throwing social bodies into crises with their project of democratic confederalism. Moreover, the Syrian Kurds are confronting a number of established concepts of international and national politics such as state, territory, and legitimacy. This is also true for our social scientific work. Rojava is not only disrupting our theoretical categories such as state versus non-state actors. It is also challenging the lens, such as tribalism, ethnicity, and religion, through which the Middle East is perceived. Finally, the revolutionary movement in Rojava is also transforming how we perceive revolutions and how revolutions take place and proceed.
In light of these, the panel will investigate the disruptions created by Rojava. Tied by this common theme, the papers will analyze various aspects of the recent social and political history of the Syrian Kurds. They will demonstrate how and through which mechanisms Rojava challenges our politics, theories, epistemologies, and methodologies. Relying on empirical data and theoretical investigations, the papers will touch upon an array of issues from revolution to geopolitics to epistemologies of social sciences. Consequently, the panel will attempt to both counter the lack of focused attention on the Syrian Kurds and make a meaningful scholarly contribution to the Kurdish studies.
Disciplines
International Relations/Affairs
Political Science
Sociology
Participants
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Dr. MUSTAFA GURBUZ
-- Presenter
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Vera Eccarius-Kelly
-- Chair
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Mehmet Gurses
-- Discussant
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Dr. Ipek Demir
-- Presenter
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Dr. Huseyin Rasit
-- Organizer, Presenter
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Dr. Seevan Saeed
-- Presenter
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Mr. Alexander Kolokotronis
-- Co-Author
Presentations
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Dr. Ipek Demir
There is an ongoing social and political transformation in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava). Those living in Syria’s Rojava cantons are establishing a communally organized democracy which they call ‘democratic autonomy’. It rejects capitalism, reactionary ethnic or nationalist ideology and is radically feminist. My paper will examine this movement by using the insights of the Global South literature, a perspective rarely discussed in the context of the Middle East. The Global South scholarship has not only aimed to challenge how we discuss notions such as globalization, modernity and social justice, but has questioned Northern epistemologies, especially how the North conceptualizes, and problematically reproduces, North-centric discourses on such processes. The epistemological interventions of the Global South literature have thus sought to show that traditional Euro-centric ways of knowing have created an ‘epistemic violence’ on others (e.g. criticisms put forward by Mignolo 2011; Santos 2014) whilst simultaneously creating a narrowly bounded European history and an inadequate understanding of modernity and of today (e.g. criticisms put forward by Bhambra 1997; Chakrabarty 2000). The paper will examine the extent to which the Global South literature can be deployed to understand Syrian Kurdistan. It will also assess the similarities between the cultural-political mobilizations in Latin America and Syrian Kurdistan. This is because, as part of the Global South, such movements in disparate parts of the world aim to challenge Northern epistemologies’ assumptions about ‘native’ populations, and seek to enter into the international order.
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Dr. Huseyin Rasit
Co-Authors: Alexander Kolokotronis
In recent years, Rojava’s Democratic Autonomy has garnered much interest and excitement from leftists all around the world. The revolutionaries’ experiment with nonhierarchical democratic structures, radical gender equality, democratization of violence, and cooperative economic initiatives has understandably resembled an anarchist project for many. At the same time, however, a Leninist strand is still alive and functioning as the PYD approximates a hegemonic vanguard party and Abdullah Ocalan a charismatic leader. Several questions follow this ambiguity: What convergences between anarchism and Leninism can be found in Rojava? How have these convergences transformed existing concepts within these distinct ideological traditions? What new concepts have been generated by this convergence? What tensions have arisen and how are they handled? In this paper, we look at the programmatic repertoire of anti-state actors in Rojava (Western Kurdistan) and Bakur (Northern Kurdistan) to identify and delineate the above-mentioned transformations and creations of concepts. We argue that Rojava is indeed developing new blends of anarchism and Leninism. The former comes from revolutionaries’ desire to move away from nation-state as an oppressive entity, while the latter is an answer to the lack of bottom-up organizational and political infrastructure after decades of oppression. We claim that revolutionaries are utilizing three dynamics to prevent “vanguard” party overcoming bottom-up ideals: commitment to radical gender equality and strong women’s movement; system of peoples’ councils; and establishing armed forces on tenets of internal democracy, leftist and feminist education, and responsibility to councils. At the same time, there are tensions and problems arising out of this novel project such as increasing centrality of a government entity. We argue, however, that these tensions cannot be resolved solely on theoretical grounds as geopolitical dynamics exert tremendous effects.
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Dr. MUSTAFA GURBUZ
Syrian Kurdistan, also known as Rojava, has become a center of global attention after the Islamic State’s siege of Kurdish town Kobane in 2014. Since then the cooperation between US-led coalition and YPG (Yekineyen Parastina Gel) forces has gradually increased and caused trouble in US-Turkey relations due to alleged link between YPG and the PKK (Partiya Karkeren Kurdistane). This paper analyzes PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan’s writings on self-rule and political opportunities behind the Rojava project, assessing whether Kurdish cantons can realistically be formed along Turkey’s borders. My data comes from publications in both Turkish and Kurdish media, elite interviews with Turkish officials as well as Kurdish grassroots leaders, and think-tank reports and Congressional testimonies in Washington, DC. I argue that the Rojava project may prove to be successful in the long run albeit there are remarkable challenges in the short-term. First, Turkey’s peace talks with the PKK is not independent from the developments in Rojava. Thus, Turkey’s Rojava policy might only change if the PKK promises for disarmament within Turkish borders as a part of serious peace deal. Second, the trajectory of civil war in Syria has thus far bolstered the YPG forces, who successfully received both American and Russian support. For realization of the Rojava project, however, Kurdish political alliance around PYD (Partiya Yekitiya Demokrat) may need to have hard choices in near future, keeping itself distant from Russian protection. Third, the ongoing economic crisis in Iraqi Kurdistan will have implications for the Rojava project. As Kurdistan Regional Government loses its grip of power and yet strongly supported by the United States, Syrian Kurds will find “self-governance” more attractive and feasible plan.
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Dr. Seevan Saeed
The state at the current time is the only model of the nations and countries’ management. Mainly the notion of the nation-state is most visible and controversial model of the state in the modern world. Whenever the state is mentioned, the notions of sovereignty, independency and legitimacy are taken into account.
Theoretically and according to the international agreements, the states borders are protected from interventions and occupations due to the respect to their independency, legitimacy and sovereignty. However, the notions of independency and sovereignty are problematic. Practically, there are several entities and states that are dependent on the other states. Often, the notion of legitimacy is not based on the people and the nations within the borders of the states. Recognition from the powerful states often can give legitimacy of the small states. However, the notion of Sovereignty and Independency will be under the question.
This paper tries to examine the current cases of Syrian conflict and state crises through understanding the notion of these three problematic concepts. It will scrutinise the issue of Syrian government’s legitimacy and the notion of sovereignty and independency on the one hand. On the other hand, the power and effects of non-state actors in attaining legitimacy and support from regional and international states. The paper also investigate the other suggested models of the the governance by both states and non-state actors to the current complicated case of Syria.
The second part of the paper examines the role of non-state actors that are acting as parallel to the state. The Kurdish self-Rule entity that was recently named as Democratic Federalism in the North of Syria would be under the scrutiny with regards to the notion of sovereignty, legitimacy and independency. The last part of this paper will be dedicated to compare and contrast between both cases; particularly with regards to the issue of regional and international support, use and exploit of the governments of both states and non-state actors within the territories of Syria.
