Exploring Risk Factors and Pathways for Violent Radicalization in Nationalist-Separatist Groups

• In Event: Joining and Recruiting Terrorists

Abstract

Turkey has a long term dispute with its Kurdish population living particularly in the south-eastern part of the country. Kurdish-origin citizens blamed the state for its discriminatory policies and oppression of Kurds. The state, on the other hand, accused Kurdish population of involving terrorist activities. The situation got worse in the last few years as the country moved toward more oppressive approaches and law enforcement and army began using hard power when interacting with Kurdish-origin citizens. This study analyzed police records (including interrogation records) to examine the motivations of state accused terrorists behind joining a terrorist organization, namely Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Current models of radicalization from the extant literature will be used to see their applicability to our data and necessary revisions and extensions will be discussed.

Authors

• Mehmet Fatih Bastug, University of Ontario Institute of Technology

• Ahmet Guler, Penn State University