Severe ethnic violence: An integrated explanation of the Turkish-Kurdish case

Many states are ethnically plural today with potentials of experiencing ethnic wars. Thus, it is important to understand why ethnic conflicts and wars happen. This dissertation proposes an integrated approach based on two major theories, the spiral and conflictual modernization, that link elite and mass-level factors, and answer two questions: how do the leaders lead? Why do the followers follow? (Horowitz, 1985:140) It argues that the occurrence of an ethnic war can best be explained with the help of internal factors, including mass ethnic grievances, extremist elite mobilization, interethnic security dilemma, and modernization. Modernization initiates the process and the other variables work like a spiral, reinforce each other and bring ethnic wars to multi-ethnic societies.; To provide empirical evidence for the model outlined above, two cases are studied, the Turkish-Kurdish and Turkish-Laz relations. While the Kurdish nationalist movement took place during the 1980s and the 1990s, the Lazes, who have an identifiable territory and language, have never used nationalist arguments for their demands. This dissertation answers the question: "What are the differences between these groups which made them choose different paths?"; Starting in the 1960s, the modernization of Turkey led to increasing levels of consciousness among the Kurds, intensified their grievances and provided the basis for other variables to develop. The dramatic changes during the 1980s were initiated by the leadership change on the Kurdish side, which meets the description of elite-led violence. The Kurds chose violence because of extremist PKK leadership and mass Kurdish grievances, which led to a security dilemma between the Turkish state and the Kurds. Existence of all these variables in Turkish-Kurdish relations brought severe ethnic violence to these groups. On the Laz case, the security dilemma never developed, simply because the Lazes did not have ethnic grievances and extremist leadership. The absence of these factors caused a successful integration of the Lazes to the Turkish society and the system.