PhD Defense Ayhan Isik: Paramilitary Groups in Northern Kurdistan
On 11 September, Ayhan Isik (History and Art History) defends his dissertation titled The Emergence, Transformation and Functions of Paramilitary Groups in Northern Kurdistan (Eastern Turkey) in the 1990s in the 木瓜福利影视 Hall.
PKK against the Turkish state
In August 1984, the PKK launched an armed struggle against the Turkish state, leading to a full-blown war throughout the 1990s. During the conflict, the Turkish state established new coercive institutions, many of them having a paramilitary character. Isik investigates the ways in which these paramilitary groups emerged, functioned, and were deactivated.
Violence in Northern Kurdistan
Isik analyzes the historical background, transformations and continuities of these paramilitary groups, and examines their violence against civilians in two regions of Northern Kurdistan: Batman province and Cizre district. He argues that the period between 1991 and 1996 was characterized by the 'paramilitarization of the state', due to the blurring of the boundaries between the state's official military units and bureaucrats, and the paramilitary groups.
- Start date and time
- End date and time
- Location
- 木瓜福利影视 Hall, Domplein 29, Utrecht
- PhD candidate
- Ayhan Isik
- Dissertation
- The Emergence, Transformation and Functions of Paramilitary Groups in Northern Kurdistan (Eastern Turkey) in the 1990s
- PhD supervisor(s)
- Prof. I. De Haan, Prof. U. 脺ng枚r