A Discourse Analysis: Kurdish Islamism and the Evolution of the Kurdish National Identity in Turkey and Syria.

Mehmet Kurt is known as the leading academic focusing on Islamist groups in Turkey, specializing on Kurdish Hizbullah as an Islamist group. Kurt sees the use of Islamic discourse of transnational religious brotherhood as a political tool used by the AKP (Justice and Development Party) of President Erdogan as a colonial political tool to mobilize as well as legitimize its influence among the Kurdish Islamists (Kurt 2019, 361). However, one should research the Kurdish Islamist and their understanding of national identity as well as transnational Islamic identity to understand how these policies of AKP is being interpreted by the Islamist Kurds or whether it reaches success. Therefore, this research project will use Turkish military interventions in Syria as a case study to reveal the reaction of Kurdish Islamists towards the military intervention often seen as an policy linked to Erdogans Islamic ideas. By doing this, the research will reveal the view of Kurdish Islamism towards their national identity as well as their view of Islamist policies of President Erdogan. This case study is very appropriate revealing the Kurdish Islamist view on Kurdish national identity because Turkeys military operation in Syria mainly targeted the Syrian Kurds who are seen as nationalists trying to establish a Kurdish governance as well as a new Kurdish Identity in the region.