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An Illusory Unity: Understanding the Construction of Kurdish Political Identity

​This article re-conceptualizes the notion of Kurdishness by distinguishing between two different political identities – "traditional" and "new" – within the Kurdish struggle. Each identity has crafted its own history, politics, social and cultural frameworks, and economic and diplomatic relations. I discuss the process of identity construction within both blocs, which has split political identity according to bipolar discourses and dichotomous labels: Good Kurds vs Bad Kurds, Old Kurds vs New Kurds, Submissive Kurds vs Subversive Kurds, Collaborator Kurds vs Terrorist Kurds, and, finally, Honourable Kurds vs Dishonourable Kurds. These form parts of a new divided Kurdish political identity based on the Kurds' own perspectives and self-identification, as well as their descriptions of one another, in the current political arena.

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​This article re-conceptualizes the notion of Kurdishness by distinguishing between two different political identities – "traditional" and "new" – within the Kurdish struggle. Each identity has crafted its own history, politics, social and cultural frameworks, and economic and diplomatic relations. I discuss the process of identity construction within both blocs, which has split political identity according to bipolar discourses and dichotomous labels: Good Kurds vs Bad Kurds, Old Kurds vs New Kurds, Submissive Kurds vs Subversive Kurds, Collaborator Kurds vs Terrorist Kurds, and, finally, Honourable Kurds vs Dishonourable Kurds. These form parts of a new divided Kurdish political identity based on the Kurds' own perspectives and self-identification, as well as their descriptions of one another, in the current political arena.

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