Under the Banner of Islam: Turks, Kurds, and the Limits of Religious Unity (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780197511817)

Sunni Islam has played an ambivalent role in Turkey's Kurdish conflict--both as a conflict resolution tool and as a tool of resistance. Under the Banner of Islam uses Turkey as a case study to understand how religious, ethnic, and national identities converge in ethnic conflicts between co-religionists. G?ay T?kmen asks a question that informs the way we understand religiously homogeneous ethnic conflicts today: Is it possible for religion to act as a resolution tool in these often-violent conflicts?

In search for answers to this question, in Under the Banner of Islam, T?kmen journeys into the inner circles of religious elites from different backgrounds: non-state-appointed local Kurdish meles, state-appointed Kurdish and Turkish imams, heads of religious NGOs, and members of religious orders. Blending interview data with a detailed historical analysis that goes back as far as the nineteenth century, she argues that the strength of Turkish and Kurdish nationalisms, the symbiotic relationship between Turkey's religious and political fields, the religious elites' varying conceptualizations of religious and ethnic identities, and the recent political developments in the region (particularly in Syria) all contribute to the complex role religion plays in the Kurdish conflict in Turkey.

Under the Banner of Islam is a specific story of religion, ethnicity, and nationalism in Turkey's Kurdish conflict, but it also tracks a broader narrative of how ethnic and religious identities are negotiated when resolving conflicts.

Author: G?ay T?kmen
ISBN-10: 0197511813
ISBN-13: 9780197511817
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Language: English
Published: 02/05/2021
Pages: 204
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 9.40h x 6.10w x 0.90d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 03/01/2022