Reactive construction of Kurdish identity as a sub-identity not included in the formation process of Turkish nation identity

In the construction of the nation-state, how the policies of exclusion and inclusion were carried out in the historical process, the transformative effect on Kurdish culture and how this is perceived by the Kurds are the main questions that this thesis tries to answer. In this case, the study consists of two main parts as theory and practice in general terms. In the theory part of the study, the turning points that were effective in the change of Kurdish identity were determined in line with the above propositions. The Kurds, who took place as the "ruling nation" due to their being a Muslim element in the Ottoman classical central administrative and social structure, which was called the "Millet System" have experienced significant changes in the direction of the development of the nation-state during the Tanzimat, Second Constitutional Monarchy, Union and Progress and Single Party rule. During these periods, Kurdish nationalism was shaped within the framework of the reactive attitude of the Kurdish elite against the policies of this period. In addition, associations, societies, clubs, press and publications in these periods were examined and literature review was made and the formation and change process of nationalist discourse was analyzed in this context. In the application part of the study, a qualitative research was conducted in order to determine the effects of the nation-state, which completed its establishment with the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey, on the socio-political structure and its current reflections, and it was evaluated in the 'findings' section. In this field study, which was conducted with the grounded theory method, in-depth interviews were conducted with citizens living in Kurdish dominant provinces. Categories and sub-themes were created within the framework of the information obtained from the field data. In the application part, depending on the development of the nation-state; Three categories, namely Perception of Exclusion by Nationalist Turks, Perception of Exclusion by Nation-State and Perception of Exclusion by Nationalist Kurds, and sub-themes for each of these categories were identified. During the research, the exclusion was analyzed through an objective indicator by noticing the city license plate codes, which can be described as a "buried" finding. Furthermore, it has been determined in the research area that the Kurds' coding of modernization through the word "Turk" against the modernization policies of the early Republic is important for the analysis of the "transactionalist" dimension of non-physical ethnic borders, and in this context, "Türkane" (Turkish Style) "weki Türka" (like Turks) etc. conceptualizations have been made. The concepts are important in terms of the expression of the reaction of the one defined in this aspect.