Content area
Full text
Nation-Building in Turkey and Morocco: Governing Kurdish and Berber Dissent, by Senem Aslan. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015. 235 pages. $95.
Reviewed by Michael B. Bishku
Nation-Building in Turkey and Morocco, which evolved from a doctoral dissertation, is a comparative historical analysis of the respective nation-building strategies of two countries attempting to deal with a distinct sizable ethnic minority - the Kurds constitute about 15-20% of Turkey's population, while Berbers (or Imazighen) comprise roughly 40-45% of Morocco's population - but with different political systems and histories. Developments in neighboring countries where these groups' ethnic brethren also reside naturally has had some impact on the politics of these countries. The Republic of Turkey, while building upon the administrative reforms of the Ottoman Empire during the 19th century, developed a truncated, Westernized, unitary, and secular state following the First World War that has engaged over the years in intrusive and, at times, violent policies, especially against Kurds; thus eventually leaving many members of that ethnic group with the impression that there was no alternative than to create their own nationalist movement. Indeed, government...