AN OVERVIEW OF KURDISH POLITICAL MOVEMENTS THROUGH HDP

Abstract

Groups of different ethnic, religious and cultural characteristics have been living together within the borders of the Republic of Turkey ever since the demarcation by the national pact. Although these groups have had different requests from governments of the Republic of Turkey, the Kurdish group is, in this respect, exceptional. Within the "Kurdish" phenomenon, where opposing nationalist sentiments are adulated, Kurdish people have been put to a general evaluation as a group that has, from time to time, collaborated with rebellious, separationist, terrorist organizations. And the Kurdish, against such approach, have stated their efforts towards expressing themselves rather through their political leaders, putting their self-governance and autonomy claims into words, and actualizing their changing requests within the context of fundamental rights and liberties. On the other hand, maintaining a conservative attitude, Kurdish people have abstained from remaining close to right-wing parties expressing democratic conservative views. Parties formed by the Kurdish movement, which got to a different position within the political organizations during the 1990s, were closed by the Constitutional Court due to being the center of separationist and discriminatory politics. Playing a part in the political arena with parties formed every time with a different name, Kurdish politics evolved into a different concept with HDP.
In this work, approaching to the Kurdish political movement during and after the 1990s in Turkey, HDP has been evaluated within a different scope, based on structural, functional, intellectual and legal steps. Purpose of this study is positioning HDP within the Kurdish political movement, expressing the interactive relation of HDP with the past and present of the Kurdish politics and possible position of the Kurdish politics in the future.