Collective resilience in diaspora groups: a study of Kurdish youth in Canada and Sweden

ABSTRACT

For decades, oppressive state policies have forced some Kurds to leave Turkey and seek refuge in Western countries, including Sweden and Canada. We conducted semi-structured interviews with Kurdish youth living in Canada and Sweden (N = 15) to explore the role of identity-related grievances in their involvement in the Kurdish movement, a political movement comprised of an array of actors including an armed group, political parties, and civil society organizations. By implementing the Building Resilience Against Violent Extremism (BRAVE) tool, we investigated their collective resilience against calls for violence, extremist views, and challenges caused by repression. Findings indicated that the major factors in their involvement were the restrictions on their language, culture, and identity; the discrimination and injustices against them and their community; the traumatic events that they experienced or witnessed; and the involvement of their family and community members in the movement. The overall resilience scores of the participants were high (M = 58.67 out of a potential 14–70), but they scored lower when their relationship with Turkish authorities is considered (M = 53.13; SD = 5.65) than with their host countries after resettlement (M = 58. 67; SD = 6.25).

KEYWORDS:

• Collective resilience
• Kurdish movement
• diaspora
• Kurdish issue
• violence
• extremism

Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Canadian Safety and Security Program of Defence Research and Development Canada, Contract No. W7714-217852/001/SV, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap), grant 2019-13780, and the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet), grant 2023-00611.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 According to O’Connor (2017), the term 'Kurdish movement' is a political term that is used inconsistently to refer to different actors and social realities. The term has been used in various ways – as a synonym for the PKK or as an umbrella term for both legal and non-violent groups, along with their armed wing. O’Connor (2017) concludes that the Kurdish movement comprises three core components – an armed group, a parliamentary party, and a multi-layered amorphous social movement.

2 Newroz is a Kurdish national festival celebrated on March 20th, the first day of spring. Since the early 1990s the Kurdish movement has increasingly used Newroz as the symbol of their resistance. In mass gatherings across different cities in Turkey on the Newroz Day, the movement has used the flags of the PKK, pictures of Ocalan, and slogans and speeches in favour of the PKK, which has usually led to a harsh response by the Turkish security forces and mass arrests of the members who attended the celebrations (Aydın, 2013; Gunes, 2012).

3 Sur curfew and Hendek operations are a series of crackdown operations conducted by the Turkish security forces in 2015-2016 after a two-year ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish government ended. These operations led to forcible displacement of tens of thousands of people, the destruction of dozens of neighborhoods, and hundreds of casualties (Amnesty International, 2016).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Davut Akca

Davut Akca, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in Criminology at Lakehead University and a Credentialed Evaluator. His research and teaching interests focus on policing, radicalization, hate crimes, investigative interviewing, prison chaplaincy, and program evaluation in criminal justice.

Suleyman Ozeren

Suleyman Ozeren, PhD, is a Professorial Lecturer at the School of Public Affairs at American University. His areas of focus include political violence, terrorism, counterterrorism, cybercrime and online radicalization, conflict resolution, the Kurdish issue, and Turkish foreign policy.

Mehmet F. Bastug

Mehmet F. Bastug, PhD is an Assistant Professor at the University of Scranton. His research focuses on online radicalization, cyberterrorism, extremism, cybercrime, and cybersecurity.

Ayse Ergene

Ayse Ergene, MA, has worked on the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), a leading provider of early warning research and analysis on acute food insecurity across the world. Her background is in gender equity and women's issues in the MENA region, peacebuilding and conflict resolution efforts in war-torn societies, and international political and economic development.