Reassembling the political: the PKK and the project of radical democracy

One of the most important secular political movements in the Middle East, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) underwent a profound transformation in the 2000s. What the PKK has experienced in this period was a comprehensive restructuration of its organization, ideology and political-military struggle, changing its course towards a project of radical democracy. In this article we explore the content of this new project, and its practical implications. Through this discussion, our study addresses a gap in Turkish and Kurdish studies. Only few studies deal explicitly with the political ideology of the PKK. The data for this article has been collected through a study of Öcalan’s defence texts and his ‘prison notes’, along with key PKK documents, such as congress reports, formal decisions and the writings of its cadre, such as Mustafa Karasu. We conclude that the project for radical democracy is based on the conception of ‘politics beyond the state, political organisation beyond the party, and political subjectivity beyond class’ and can have the opportunity to change the centralist tradition in Turkish political system as well as the statist and class reductionist political thought in the Left in Turkey

Ulusal Kurtuluş, Ayaklanma ve Sınırların Ötesi: 1970'lerden 1990'lara Kürt Hareketi'nin Değişim Dinamikleri

This article aims at tracing the evolution of the Kurdish movement in Turkey from the 1970s until the end of the 1990s. In doing this, it based on a periodization how the Kurdish movement defined itself and master frame of its collective action. In this article, the recent history of the Kurdish movement is tackled as composed of two main periods: the first one is from the first half of the 1970s until the late 1990s and later as another period which is still ongoing. The first period was developed on the basis of ‘Kurdistan as a colony ' thesis and accordingly ' national liberation struggle ' perspective. This approach represented by a multi- organizational structure until the 1980s, has been later advanced through the strategy of People’ Warfare based on the guerrilla struggle launched by the PKK which has become the only hegemonic power in the late 1980s. In the early 1990s, reaching the peak of its development, this line has then faced a blockage as a result of the repetitive practices , and embarked on new quests which were transformed into a new programmatic line as of 2000s. All of these processes can also been evaluated as marking points of the PKK’s identity. In this respect, the articles discuss the PKK on the basis of three intertwined phases or layers; as a national liberation movement, as an insurgency and as a transnational social movement. They also refer to the different historical periods in the evolution of the PKK, which are not completely disconnected from each other. However, ideas, practices and meanings associated with each phase are intertwined within the ideology and structure of the PKK. This periodization points to the complex interplay between the changing ideological, organizational and political narrative of PKK, the effects of engagement in military struggle, and the movement’s organizational structure

The 'Palestinian Dream' in the Kurdish context

Turkey’s rising leftist student movement in the late 1960s admired the Palestinian Fedayeen movement and considered it as a school for their own future struggle. In the late 1960s young Turkish-Kurdish leftist students went to Palestinian guerrilla camps in Lebanon to be trained in preparation for armed struggle in Turkey. That relationship gained new momentum following the 1980 military coup in Turkey, which heavily impacted Turkish and Kurdish radical move-ments. The Palestinian camps turned out to be a major retreat for these Turkish-Kurdish groups, among whom the PKK was a primary beneficiary. The PKK seized this opportunity not only for military training but also for organisational recovery which almost no other Turk-ish or Kurdish movement managed. This article aims to trace the relationship between Turkish-Kurdish radical movements and Palestinian organisations, focusing mainly on the PKK. I argue that the PKK has made use of this relationship in realising the so-called “Palestinian Dream” within the Kurdish context

Media and violent conflict : Halil Dağ, Kurdish insurgency, and the hybridity of vernacular cinema of conflict

This article analyses the life and work of Halil Dag (1973-2008), a filmmaker who worked within the Kurdish insurgent movement, with two critical goals. First, the authors use Dag's case to conceptualize vernacular cinema of conflict, defying traditional dichotomies between mainstream/vernacular, and fiction/non-fiction. Secondly, through Dag's case they seek to better understand the role of vernacular cinema of conflict for the Kurdish culture of resistance and the PKK insurgent movement in particular. Empirically, the article discusses unique ethnographic records (interviews and personal correspondence with Dag) and a qualitative content analysis of his major films. The authors argue that the concept of vernacular cinema of conflict can serve a better comprehension of the hybrid character and impact of filmmaking in conflict zones

Investigation of the effect of REM sleep deprivation on epileptic seizures caused by pentylenetetrazole in mice

Aim: To investigate whether different periods of rapid eye movement sleep deprivation (REM SD) contribute to seizure susceptibility, hippocampal oxidative status and balance of inhibition-excitation in the acute epilepsy model. Methods: REM SD was performed using the modified multiple platforms method on adult male BALB/c mice. Pentylentetrazol (PTZ) was injected to induce seizures and hippocampal total antioxidant status (TAS), total oxidant status (TOS), gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA), and glutamate levels were measured using the ELISA method. Results: PTZ-induced seizures following 8 h and 72 h REM SD significantly reduced the hippocampal TAS levels, but did not affect the TOS levels. In REM SD groups, especially after 8 hours of REM sleep loss, there was a significant increase in glutamate in PTZ induction. The hippocampal GABA levels were increased by PTZ-induced seizures after 72 h REM SD. PTZ- induction after 8 hours of RAM SD leads to a significant increase in the seizure duration. Conclusion: It can be speculated that the REM SD can contribute to seizure susceptibility by changing the oxidant-antioxidant balance and excitatory and inhibitory tone in the hippocampus

Preoperative tomographic needle marking: A novel level localization method to avoid wrong-level spine surgery in upper thoracic lesions

Objective: The objective of this study is to reduce the incidence of wrong-level surgery in upper thoracic spinal surgery. Methods: The data of 26 patients whose level was determined by the preoperative fluoroscopy method and 21 patients whose level was determined by the preoperative computed tomography method were analyzed and compared statistically. Results: A statistically significant difference was identified in the rate of wrong-level surgery between the groups. The rate of additional laminectomy due to wrong-level surgery in the preoperative fluoroscopy group was statistically significantly higher than in the preoperative computed tomography group (P = .026). In addition, the average time from positioning to incision in the preoperative fluoroscopy group was found to be statistically significantly higher than in the preoperative computed tomography group (P < .001). Conclusion: The preoperative computed tomography method provides a shorter surgical time and reduces the incidence of wrong-level surgery compared to the preoperative fluoroscopy method