The Fragmented Identity: Comprehension of Kurdish Political Identity Construction

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to re-conceptualise the notion of Kurdishness through classifying the Kurdish struggle into two different political identities; “traditional" and “new”. Each of the two has already built its own history, politics, social and cultural frames, economic and diplomatic relations. This paper thus discusses the process of identity construction by both blocks, that has divided political identity into two different discourses and dichotomous labels: the Good Kurds vs the Bad Kurds, Old Kurds vs New Kurds, Submissive Kurds vs Subversive Kurds, Collaborator Kurds vs Terrorist Kurds and finally the Kurds with Honour vis the Kurds without Honour; have all been parts of the “New Divided Political Identity” of the Kurds from their own perspectives and self-descriptions to each other in the current time in the Kurdish political arena.