Kurdish Hizbullah in Turkey
Islamism, Violence and the State
By (author) Mehmet Kurt Translated by Argun Cakir
Publication date:
20 March 2017Length of book:
208 pagesPublisher
Pluto PressISBN-13: 9781786800374
This study analyses Kurdish Hizbullah as a social movement, charting Hizbullah's development from its origins in violent militancy to its move towards a more ambiguous 'civic' mode of engagement.
Mehmet Kurt explores Hizbullah in Turkey's many paradoxes: notably its political rise and the apparent power of Islamism in a region in which leftist Kurdish political movements dominate political discourse; and its composition, which in its Sunni and Kurdish makeup, differs from the Shiite Hizbullah in Lebanon.
Through his unique position as an anthropologist, theorist and former Imam, Kurt produces a work of extraordinary insight: an ethnography comprised of extensive interviews with leaders, members and supporters of Hizbullah, revealing the manner in which Islamic civil society has taken root in a region where ethnic identity has been the primary organising tool against a repressive and violent state.
Mehmet Kurt explores Hizbullah in Turkey's many paradoxes: notably its political rise and the apparent power of Islamism in a region in which leftist Kurdish political movements dominate political discourse; and its composition, which in its Sunni and Kurdish makeup, differs from the Shiite Hizbullah in Lebanon.
Through his unique position as an anthropologist, theorist and former Imam, Kurt produces a work of extraordinary insight: an ethnography comprised of extensive interviews with leaders, members and supporters of Hizbullah, revealing the manner in which Islamic civil society has taken root in a region where ethnic identity has been the primary organising tool against a repressive and violent state.
'An excellent ethnographic analysis of the impact of Islamism within the Kurdish movement in Turkey, a must read for those especially interested in the interaction of religion and ethnic identity in the Middle East'