Religion and armed conflict: evidence from the Kurdish conflict in Turkey
This paper examines the effectiveness of religion as a solution to ethno-nationalist conflicts, drawing on the case of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan, PKK) in Turkey. We test for the purported peacemaking potential of religion building on an original dataset that contains d...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley for the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://repository.londonmet.ac.uk/5747/1/Religion-and-Armed-Conflict.pdf |
| Summary: | This paper examines the effectiveness of religion as a solution to ethno-nationalist conflicts, drawing on the case of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan, PKK) in Turkey. We test for the purported peacemaking potential of religion building on an original dataset that contains data on Turkey’s state-sponsored mosques between 1980 and 2016. Results from this dataset, coupled with an alternative measure of the state’s involvement in religion – the number of religious schools (imam-hatip) per province – show that increased Islamization has no discernible impact on lowering support for ethno-nationalist Kurdish political parties or insurgency. |
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