Kurds of Modern Turkey: Migration, Neoliberalism and Exclusion in Turkish Society

The role of the Kurds in Turkey has long been a controversial issue, although discussion has generally been focused around the political and cultural rights and activities of the Kurds. This book aims to bring a new approach to this contentious subject by shifting attention to the changing popular image of the Kurds in Turkish cities. It focuses particularly on the ways in which the middle-class in Turkish cities develop an exclusionary discourse against the Kurds. Cenk Saracoglu...
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The role of the Kurds in Turkey has long been a controversial issue, although discussion has generally been focused around the political and cultural rights and activities of the Kurds. This book aims to bring a new approach to this contentious subject by shifting attention to the changing popular image of the Kurds in Turkish cities. It focuses particularly on the ways in which the middle-class in Turkish cities develop an exclusionary discourse against the Kurds. Cenk Saracoglu investigates the social origins of such a perception by bringing into focus how neoliberal economic policies and Kurdish migration have transformed urban life in Turkey. _x000D_ _x000D_ 'When, as a result of several confrontations and tensions recently observed in Turkey, Turkish media and other scholars fully recognised the increasing visibility of popular anti-Kurdish sentiments in Turkey, Cenk Saracoglu's work attracted a great deal of attention and became the major point of reference in the discussions of anti-Kurdish sentiments in Turkey. Apart from being an original contribution to the study of the Kurdish question in particular, Saracoglu's work has also the potential to have an influence on the studies on racism, nationalism and xenophobia in general. The concept of exclusive recognition, which he develops to designate the exclusionary attitudes towards Kurdish migrants that emanate from the urban social relationships, could also be applicable to some other social contexts. In view of this, Saracoglu's work would attract the interest of scholars who study the rise of Islamophobic attitudes in Western Europe I look forward to purchasing my own copy.'_x000D_ Dr Daniele Belanger, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, and Canada Research Chair in Population, The University of Western Ontario_x000D_"