Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TRANSNATIONALaw (Transnationalism and Unofficial Law: The Case of Kurds in Turkey and Germany)

Teaser

Theoretically, the research has revolved around the argument that alternative justice, meaning the creation of alternative political systems as well as alternative institutions of justice, are essential to alternative sovereignty and parallel state making processes...

Summary

Theoretically, the research has revolved around the argument that alternative justice, meaning the creation of alternative political systems as well as alternative institutions of justice, are essential to alternative sovereignty and parallel state making processes. Contestations of gender norms and relations play an important role in creating differences between existing state authorities and alternative ones. Providing justice and addressing and challenging existing social inequalities, including those pertaining to gender, are important mechanisms for alternative governmentality. The research develops the argument that governmentality and justice cannot be separated, and one is justification or preparation for the other. While the research develops a critique of existing state centric bases of governmentality in the context of the Kurdish political movement linked to the Kurdistan Workers party (PKK), it illustrates that justice, and power might be simultaneously localised and transnational. The research discusses how parallel governmentality captures power from the centre into both local and transnational levels, and how these new power configurations affect national politics and international relations directly.

During times of increased upheaval and conflict in the Middle East, the Kurdish political movement linked to the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) aims to create a utopian society in Northern Syria and South Eastern Turkey. This utopian society is based on ideas of radical democracy, is critical of the oppressive nature of nation states, claims a commitment to ethnic and religious pluralism and embraces gender-based equality. This research critically engages with these claims by exploring how Kurdish communities in Turkey and in the diaspora (Berlin) challenge power and control of existing nation states. This research contributes to and challenges existing debates on governmentality in the Middle East and Europe. It pushes the literature on legal pluralism beyond the focus on alternative legal mechanisms to highlight the significance of wider political economies and social contexts. While the project focuses on the Kurdish political movement as a case study, the research has wider implications for contemporary debates on community cohesion, social and cultural integration of immigrant communities, as well as multiculturalism and pluralism in the European context. Internationally, the research highlights the various ways the Kurdish movement attempts to provide an alternative to authoritarian governance in the MENA region. The emphasis on gender-based equality and justice is relevant beyond the Middle East, especially at a time when gender studies departments and feminist activists are being targeted by right wing constituencies across the globe, including in western contexts.

The following research questions has been investigated:
1) When, why and how do Kurdish communities living in Berlin and Diyarbakir choose to follow alternative dispute resolution mechanisms rather than official state court procedures?
2) How do Kurdish unofficial, transnational legal institutions and practices deal with family matters, and how are women in particular affected by the use of non-state alternative dispute resolution?
3) Do diaspora and homeland non-state judicial processes influence each other? If so, in what ways, and how do they deal with disputes involving litigants living in different nation states?
These questions focus on the complex interactions between state and non-state laws, trans-local, transnational networks and normative practices. At the intersection between law, politics, gender studies, anthropology and international relations, this research has examined the interplay between legal and customary procedures, thereby offering a fresh interdisciplinary perspective on alternative dispute resolution within Europe. Legal practices and identity maintenance of the transnational Kurdish community is at the centre

Work performed

This interdisciplinary and ethnographically grounded research has been based on qualitative research which has generated in depth qualitative data, including that collected from in-depth interviews with Kurdish female and male activists and politicians, mayors, former and active guerrillas, unofficial court representatives and judges, local religious leaders, state authorities, police, representatives of different political parties, secular groups and women’s organisations. Aside from the qualitative empirical data collected from life stories and oral history interviews, participant observation, case study analysis and focus groups, the research has also drawn on official reports by governments, state documents, state and non-state court records, white papers, reports by NGOs and multilateral bodies, literature produced by international activists, as well as media reports. The contents of the oral interviews have been analysed with reference to the historical development of state and non-state institutions in the Middle East. Relationships with diaspora communities has also been of special interest. A range of numbers of relevant group activities, such as public and political demonstrations, community meetings and unofficial court proceedings have also been observed. The researcher has benefited from his existing networks and gatekeepers within official and official legal systems both in Turkey and Germany for identifying subjects for interview and observation.
Since 2015, the researcher has carried out 62 interviews in Turkey (Diyarbakir, Mardin and Istanbul, May 2015 – June 2016). Additionally, between January 2017 – May 2018 to carrying out 85 interviews and 10 focus group discussions with Kurdish community members in Germany and the UK, he has also completed 15 interviews with Kurds closely connected to the Kurdish political and national movement in Rojova (Northern Syria) via phone (in total 162 interviews). Due to the ongoing security and political situation in Turkey and Syria, most of his recent research has taken place with Kurdish, politicians, and activists living in the diaspora, including those who have moved recently (Germany and UK), as well as those visiting these contexts for professional, political or personal reasons. These interviews have been supplemented with email and telephone conversations/interviews with women and men living inside Turkey and Syria. So far, the researcher has interviewed an almost equal number of men and women, and the researcher has a personal strong commitment to gender balance.

Final results

This research will appeal to a wide audience of political scientists, sociologists, socio-legal practitioners and scholars with area-study expertise in Europe and the Middle East. The arguments in this research provide nuance and new layers to several current relevant debates within the fields of international relations and politics, legal anthropology, migration and diaspora studies, gender studies and Middle East Studies within the UK, Europe, North America and the Middle East. The original empirical material and innovative theoretical contributions of this research outcome will make it attractive for academics developing reading lists for undergraduate and postgraduate courses as well as for their own scholarship in these areas.

Website & more info

More info: https://www.soas.ac.uk/staff/staff120159.php.