Colonial Presents in Syria: Turkish Security Infrastructure in Kurdistan

Kurds are the largest stateless people in the world, dispersed across Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Syria. Although categorical distinctions in the literature such as empire versus nation-state or Western versus non-Western power have often limited analyses of the coloniality of Kurdistan to a zero-sum framework, this talk brings Turkish counterinsurgency operations in Rojava into focus to examine colonial practices and their violence in Kurdistan.

• Speaker: Ronay Bakan

I argue that an analysis of the material practices of extraction and annihilation underpinning Turkey’s counterinsurgency campaign uncovers its presence in Rojava as colonial occupation. These counterinsurgency strategies, first developed and normalized within Turkey, are extended transnationally into Syria. This colonial circuit imbued with spatial violence operates by intervening in heritage as a critical infrastructure for communal endurance, both materially and symbolically. In doing so, this article proposes heritage preservation as a significant site of decolonial futures, carrying the potential for reparation and reconstruction.

Ronay Bakan is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Fordham University, USA. She has a PhD in Political Science from Johns Hopkins University. Her research interests include political violence, social movements, political geography, and Southwest Asia with a specific focus on Kurdish politics.