Trends of Radicalisation in Turkey

All four types of radicalization, namely jihadist, right-wing, left-wing and separatist, led to violent acts in the Turkish history. The violent attacks motivated by religious and right-wing sentiments dates back to the Ottoman period developments, which laid the grounds for divisions on the basis of religious and ethnic differences. D3.2 Turkey report addresses the trends of radicalization around two formative events, referred as the hotspots of radicalization: assassination of a journalist from the Armenian minority, Hrant Dink in 2007; and the attack on the members of the Alevi minority during a cultural festival in Sivas in 1993.

In D3.2 report chooses these two events as hotspots as they were part of the general trends of radicalization that led to specific events; preceded and succeeded by violent acts of similar nature. It argues that absence of a minority regulation regime which recognizes the ethnic and religious diversity led to downplaying of the assaults on the minorities by jihadist and right-wing radicalized groups; and the state institutions failed to pursue thorough investigations into the scope of these events which could otherwise prevented future events.