TY - BOOK AU - O'Connor,Francis TI - Understanding insurgency: popular support for the PKK in Turkey SN - 9781108838504 AV - DR435.K87 O367 2021 U1 - 956.6/703 23 PY - 2021/// CY - Cambridge, New York, NY PB - Cambridge University Press KW - Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê KW - History KW - Kurds KW - Turkey KW - Politics and government KW - Insurgency KW - 20th century KW - 21st century KW - HISTORY / Middle East / General KW - bisacsh KW - 1980- KW - Autonomy and independence movements N1 - Includes bibliographical references and index; Kurdistan in Twentieth Century Turkey -- Theories of Insurgent Support -- PKK Pre-conflict Mobilisation (1974-1984) -- PKK and Rural Insurgency -- PKK Insurgency and the City -- The PKK in Western Turkey N2 - "Insurgent movements need a degree of popular support to survive in the medium to long term. It's an insight long acknowledged and put into practice by both rebels and those tasked with defeating them (E. Ahmad 1982, 245; Trinquier 1964, 8). In the case of the PKK's armed campaign in Turkey, the importance of insurgent popular support has always been understood as a key dimension of the conflict. PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan stated 'society's support is crucial for us. If they didn't help us, it would be impossible for PKK to survive, we would be already dead by now' (in Birand 1994, 136; Serxwebûn 1984a).1 Conversely, prominent Turkish army commanders have stated that the key to breaking PKK strength was to inhibit or destroy physical interactions with its supporters (in K. M. Güney 2009, 87; Kurban 2012, 7). A key figure of the Turkish counterinsurgency strategy in the 1990s, General Pamukoğlu acknowledged the extent of reciprocal trust between the PKK and its supporters by stating that the 'public knows where they [PKK militants] are and even where and when they will be at least two days beforehand' (Pamukoğlu 2003, 58). The recognition that the PKK did in fact enjoy widespread popularity has however been politically inopportune and is inevitably accompanied by the qualifier that such support is the result of PKK terror and coercion (Pamukoğlu 2003, 52)"-- ER -