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Religion and Armed Conflict: Evidence from the Kurdish Conflict in Turkey
Author(s) -
Gurses Mehmet,
Ozturk Ahmet Erdi
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal for the scientific study of religion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.941
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1468-5906
pISSN - 0021-8294
DOI - 10.1111/jssr.12652
Subject(s) - islamization , nationalism , insurgency , peacemaking , state (computer science) , politics , political science , armed conflict , political economy , sociology , law , algorithm , computer science
This article 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 utilize an original data set that contains data on Turkey's state‐sponsored mosques between 1980 and 2016 to test for the purported peacemaking potential of religion. Results from this data set, coupled with an alternative measure of the state's involvement in religion, show that increased Islamization has no discernible impact on lowering support for the ethno‐nationalist Kurdish political parties or insurgency.