Explaining Anti-Kurdish Beliefs in Turkey: Group Competition, Identity, and Globalization

Objective. In the wake of Turkey's EU candidacy and the U.S.-led war in Iraq, Turkey's Kurdish question has drawn international attention. Due to previous data limitations, ours is the first article to analyze what explains anti-Kurdish beliefs in Turkey using nationally representative survey data. Methods. Through descriptive analyses and partial proportional odds models of the Pew Global Attitudes Survey (2002), we examine the extent and sources of these beliefs. Results. We find high levels of anti-Kurdish beliefs in Turkey, but little evidence of group competition/material interests shaping these beliefs; rather, nationalism, secularism, and, somewhat surprisingly, favorable evaluations of globalization better explain anti-Kurdish beliefs. Conclusion. Although broad processes of social-dominance orientation and authoritarianism may be factors working in the background, anti-Kurdish beliefs are better explained by the peculiar case of modernization in Turkey and these anti-Kurdish beliefs may be different from negative beliefs about other minorities.