Mesut Yeğen
Biographic Data
| ID | 214524 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mesut Yeğen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mesut |
| FAMILY NAME | Yeğen |
| SIGNATURE | YEĞEN M |
| AFFILIATIONS | İstanbul Şehir University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8560-808X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 240 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1996 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Authoritarianism, Geopolitics and Nationhood: New Forms of Inclusion and Exclusion in Turkey
This paper explores politics of citizenship and nationhood in Turkey since the outbreak of Syrian War. It argues that the Turkish state's embracement of authoritarianism in domestic politics and a geopolitical perspective in regional affairs have paved the way for significant changes in admission to Turkish territory, Turkish citizenship and Turkish nationhood. Turkish nationhood, the paper suggests, has recently become inclusive towards non‐citi…
Ethnopolitics to geopolitics: The Turkish State and the Kurdish question since 2015
Reviewing the Turkish state’s engagement with the Kurdish question since 2015, I argue that while the Turkish state tackled with the Kurdish question mainly through ethnopolitics, it now tackles with it mainly through geopolitics. Documenting the Turkish state’s recent engagement with the Kurdish question by means of such new instruments as non-temporary control over non-Turkish territories populated or neighboured by Kurds, replacing the functio…
Ethnicity and Elections in Eastern Turkey: What do the Kurds Want
Relying on a survey conducted in 2014 in 12 provinces in eastern Turkey, this article analyses the extent to which (a) ethnicity and religiosity shape Kurds’ electoral choices and (b) the Kurds in the East support the demand for education in Kurdish and the demand for self-rule for Kurds. The findings demonstrate that ethnicity is an important factor in shaping Kurds’ electoral choices and that the demands for education in Kurdish language and se…
Turkish Nationhood: Civic and Ancestral and Cultural
This article challenges two established views in the literature on Turkish nationalism. First, that Turkish nationhood in the early republican era was civic and ethnic and, second, that, while Turkish nationhood was inclusive and egalitarian in constitutional texts, in the early years of the Turkish Republic and in the case of Turkish citizens of Muslim origin, it became exclusive or discriminatory in citizenship practices once the Republic was c…
The Turkish Left and the Kurdish Question
This essay examines Marxist Turkish left’s engagement with the Kurdish question in Turkey. It aims to portray, on the basis of some first-hand material, the theoretical inclinations and political attitudes of the main legal and illegal Marxist parties and organizations concerning the Kurdish question. It basically argues that the Turkish Marxists’ stressful engagement with the Kurdish question can be viewed in four periods corresponding to four c…
Armed Struggle to Peace Negotiations: Independent Kurdistan to Democratic Autonomy, or The PKK in Context
This article examines the Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK), which has become one of the prominent actors in Kurdistan and the Middle East since its inception in the mid-1970s. My basic aim is to explain how the PKK became a significant agent, a maker in the Middle East, contributing to the dissolution of the decades-long status quo in Kurdistan. My overall argument is that, while the PKK successfully has changed its ‘e…
Prospective-Turks" or "Pseudo-Citizens: Kurds in Turkey
This article explores the public images and citizenship status of Turkish-citizen Kurds in Turkey Kurds in Turkey mostly have been seen as prospective-Turks and accordingly have been subject to the assimilationist practices of citizenship throughout the Republican period. However; recent signs suggest that this image and status of the Kurds are not as secure as they once were. Kurds are now perceived by many as pseudo-citizens. A historical readi…
The Dialectic and the Tragedy of Citizenship
This essay aims to review the contemporary debate on citizenship with a focus on the present dilemma of the institution of citizenship between equality and difference. Citizenship today seems to have become stuck between a categorical commitment to either universalism or particularism. It is as if there is no alternative but to opt for either assimilation (national citizenship) or group fetishism (the end of citizenship). In this essay, however, …
Jewish-Kurds’ or the new frontiers of Turkishness
Yegen analyses the sudden appearance of the uncanny term 'Jewish-Kurds' in the language of Turkish nationalism. He sees the term as a symptom of a new idea of 'we-ness' (Turkishness) in Turkish politics. Analysing citizenship texts and practices in Turkey, he argues that the frontiers of Turkishness as designated by Turkish citizenship have always been precarious, and that Jewishness and Kurdishness played fundamental roles in their formation aft…
Turkish nationalism and the Kurdish question
This article addresses the ways in which Turkish nationalism has perceived the Kurdish question. It is shown that both Turkish nationalism and the Kurdish question have passed through some paradigmatic moments in the twentieth century. This, I argue, has shaped the way that the Kurdish question has been perceived by Turkish nationalism. While the Kurdish question had been seen by Turkish nationalism mostly in terms of a fatal rivalry between the …
Citizenship and Ethnicity in Turkey
(2004). Citizenship and Ethnicity in Turkey. Middle Eastern Studies: Vol. 40, No. 6, pp. 51-66
The Turkish state discourse and the exclusion of Kurdish identity
La suppression des emirats kurdes puis du caliphat bouleversa l'autonomie des Kurdes envers l'Empire ottoman. La contribution tribale a la resistance kurde face a la centralisation ottomane etait incontestable. L'oppression de la peripherie et des identites ethniques etaient inseparable dans la reformation ottomane de meme que la resistance de la peripherie incluait toujours la resistance des identites ethniques. La « kurdinite » s'est constituee…
Turkish nationalism and the Kurdish question
This article addresses the ways in which Turkish nationalism has perceived the Kurdish question. It is shown that both Turkish nationalism and the Kurdish question have passed through some paradigmatic moments in the twentieth century. This, I argue, has shaped the way that the Kurdish question has been perceived by Turkish nationalism. While the Kurdish question had been seen by Turkish nationalism mostly in terms of a fatal rivalry between the …
Prospective-Turks" or "Pseudo-Citizens: Kurds in Turkey
This article explores the public images and citizenship status of Turkish-citizen Kurds in Turkey Kurds in Turkey mostly have been seen as prospective-Turks and accordingly have been subject to the assimilationist practices of citizenship throughout the Republican period. However; recent signs suggest that this image and status of the Kurds are not as secure as they once were. Kurds are now perceived by many as pseudo-citizens. A historical readi…
The Turkish state discourse and the exclusion of Kurdish identity
La suppression des emirats kurdes puis du caliphat bouleversa l'autonomie des Kurdes envers l'Empire ottoman. La contribution tribale a la resistance kurde face a la centralisation ottomane etait incontestable. L'oppression de la peripherie et des identites ethniques etaient inseparable dans la reformation ottomane de meme que la resistance de la peripherie incluait toujours la resistance des identites ethniques. La « kurdinite » s'est constituee…
Citizenship and Ethnicity in Turkey
(2004). Citizenship and Ethnicity in Turkey. Middle Eastern Studies: Vol. 40, No. 6, pp. 51-66
Armed Struggle to Peace Negotiations: Independent Kurdistan to Democratic Autonomy, or The PKK in Context
This article examines the Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK), which has become one of the prominent actors in Kurdistan and the Middle East since its inception in the mid-1970s. My basic aim is to explain how the PKK became a significant agent, a maker in the Middle East, contributing to the dissolution of the decades-long status quo in Kurdistan. My overall argument is that, while the PKK successfully has changed its ‘e…
Jewish-Kurds’ or the new frontiers of Turkishness
Yegen analyses the sudden appearance of the uncanny term 'Jewish-Kurds' in the language of Turkish nationalism. He sees the term as a symptom of a new idea of 'we-ness' (Turkishness) in Turkish politics. Analysing citizenship texts and practices in Turkey, he argues that the frontiers of Turkishness as designated by Turkish citizenship have always been precarious, and that Jewishness and Kurdishness played fundamental roles in their formation aft…
Ethnopolitics to geopolitics: The Turkish State and the Kurdish question since 2015
Reviewing the Turkish state’s engagement with the Kurdish question since 2015, I argue that while the Turkish state tackled with the Kurdish question mainly through ethnopolitics, it now tackles with it mainly through geopolitics. Documenting the Turkish state’s recent engagement with the Kurdish question by means of such new instruments as non-temporary control over non-Turkish territories populated or neighboured by Kurds, replacing the functio…
Turkish Nationhood: Civic and Ancestral and Cultural
This article challenges two established views in the literature on Turkish nationalism. First, that Turkish nationhood in the early republican era was civic and ethnic and, second, that, while Turkish nationhood was inclusive and egalitarian in constitutional texts, in the early years of the Turkish Republic and in the case of Turkish citizens of Muslim origin, it became exclusive or discriminatory in citizenship practices once the Republic was c…
Ethnicity and Elections in Eastern Turkey: What do the Kurds Want
Relying on a survey conducted in 2014 in 12 provinces in eastern Turkey, this article analyses the extent to which (a) ethnicity and religiosity shape Kurds’ electoral choices and (b) the Kurds in the East support the demand for education in Kurdish and the demand for self-rule for Kurds. The findings demonstrate that ethnicity is an important factor in shaping Kurds’ electoral choices and that the demands for education in Kurdish language and se…
The Dialectic and the Tragedy of Citizenship
This essay aims to review the contemporary debate on citizenship with a focus on the present dilemma of the institution of citizenship between equality and difference. Citizenship today seems to have become stuck between a categorical commitment to either universalism or particularism. It is as if there is no alternative but to opt for either assimilation (national citizenship) or group fetishism (the end of citizenship). In this essay, however, …
The Turkish state discourse and the exclusion of Kurdish identity
La suppression des emirats kurdes puis du caliphat bouleversa l'autonomie des Kurdes envers l'Empire ottoman. La contribution tribale a la resistance kurde face a la centralisation ottomane etait incontestable. L'oppression de la peripherie et des identites ethniques etaient inseparable dans la reformation ottomane de meme que la resistance de la peripherie incluait toujours la resistance des identites ethniques. La « kurdinite » s'est constituee…
Citizenship and Ethnicity in Turkey
(2004). Citizenship and Ethnicity in Turkey. Middle Eastern Studies: Vol. 40, No. 6, pp. 51-66
Jewish-Kurds’ or the new frontiers of Turkishness
Yegen analyses the sudden appearance of the uncanny term 'Jewish-Kurds' in the language of Turkish nationalism. He sees the term as a symptom of a new idea of 'we-ness' (Turkishness) in Turkish politics. Analysing citizenship texts and practices in Turkey, he argues that the frontiers of Turkishness as designated by Turkish citizenship have always been precarious, and that Jewishness and Kurdishness played fundamental roles in their formation aft…
Turkish nationalism and the Kurdish question
This article addresses the ways in which Turkish nationalism has perceived the Kurdish question. It is shown that both Turkish nationalism and the Kurdish question have passed through some paradigmatic moments in the twentieth century. This, I argue, has shaped the way that the Kurdish question has been perceived by Turkish nationalism. While the Kurdish question had been seen by Turkish nationalism mostly in terms of a fatal rivalry between the …
The Dialectic and the Tragedy of Citizenship
This essay aims to review the contemporary debate on citizenship with a focus on the present dilemma of the institution of citizenship between equality and difference. Citizenship today seems to have become stuck between a categorical commitment to either universalism or particularism. It is as if there is no alternative but to opt for either assimilation (national citizenship) or group fetishism (the end of citizenship). In this essay, however, …
Prospective-Turks" or "Pseudo-Citizens: Kurds in Turkey
This article explores the public images and citizenship status of Turkish-citizen Kurds in Turkey Kurds in Turkey mostly have been seen as prospective-Turks and accordingly have been subject to the assimilationist practices of citizenship throughout the Republican period. However; recent signs suggest that this image and status of the Kurds are not as secure as they once were. Kurds are now perceived by many as pseudo-citizens. A historical readi…
The Turkish Left and the Kurdish Question
This essay examines Marxist Turkish left’s engagement with the Kurdish question in Turkey. It aims to portray, on the basis of some first-hand material, the theoretical inclinations and political attitudes of the main legal and illegal Marxist parties and organizations concerning the Kurdish question. It basically argues that the Turkish Marxists’ stressful engagement with the Kurdish question can be viewed in four periods corresponding to four c…
Armed Struggle to Peace Negotiations: Independent Kurdistan to Democratic Autonomy, or The PKK in Context
This article examines the Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK), which has become one of the prominent actors in Kurdistan and the Middle East since its inception in the mid-1970s. My basic aim is to explain how the PKK became a significant agent, a maker in the Middle East, contributing to the dissolution of the decades-long status quo in Kurdistan. My overall argument is that, while the PKK successfully has changed its ‘e…
Turkish Nationhood: Civic and Ancestral and Cultural
This article challenges two established views in the literature on Turkish nationalism. First, that Turkish nationhood in the early republican era was civic and ethnic and, second, that, while Turkish nationhood was inclusive and egalitarian in constitutional texts, in the early years of the Turkish Republic and in the case of Turkish citizens of Muslim origin, it became exclusive or discriminatory in citizenship practices once the Republic was c…
Ethnicity and Elections in Eastern Turkey: What do the Kurds Want
Relying on a survey conducted in 2014 in 12 provinces in eastern Turkey, this article analyses the extent to which (a) ethnicity and religiosity shape Kurds’ electoral choices and (b) the Kurds in the East support the demand for education in Kurdish and the demand for self-rule for Kurds. The findings demonstrate that ethnicity is an important factor in shaping Kurds’ electoral choices and that the demands for education in Kurdish language and se…
Ethnopolitics to geopolitics: The Turkish State and the Kurdish question since 2015
Reviewing the Turkish state’s engagement with the Kurdish question since 2015, I argue that while the Turkish state tackled with the Kurdish question mainly through ethnopolitics, it now tackles with it mainly through geopolitics. Documenting the Turkish state’s recent engagement with the Kurdish question by means of such new instruments as non-temporary control over non-Turkish territories populated or neighboured by Kurds, replacing the functio…
Authoritarianism, Geopolitics and Nationhood: New Forms of Inclusion and Exclusion in Turkey
This paper explores politics of citizenship and nationhood in Turkey since the outbreak of Syrian War. It argues that the Turkish state's embracement of authoritarianism in domestic politics and a geopolitical perspective in regional affairs have paved the way for significant changes in admission to Turkish territory, Turkish citizenship and Turkish nationhood. Turkish nationhood, the paper suggests, has recently become inclusive towards non‐citi…
Political science (12 works) · Turkey's Politics and Society (12 works) · Law (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Politics (9 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Gender Studies (6 works) · Gender Studies (6 works) · Philosophy (6 works)