TDSR VOLUME XXIII NUMBER I 2011 25 Constructing Narratives of Kurdish Nationalism in the Urban Space of Diyarbakır, Turkey MUNA GüVENç his article analyzes the making and remaking of Kurdish national identity in the absence of a Kurdish nation-state — speciically, the use of urban space to register claims to national belonging. Looking at Diyarbakır, the largest Kurdish city in Turkey, the article examines the political and social interaction between civil society and pro-Kurdish political parties to shed light on the invention of a “new” Kurdish identity and the dynamics of Kurdish nationalism there. It suggests that Kurdish nationhood “as a political and cultural form” is being institutionalized in Diyarbakır through the everyday practices of its residents, as pro-Kurdish parties prompt an agenda and vocabulary of Kurdish nationalism that recalls a traumatic past and imag- ines a common future. he article argues that Kurdish nationalism in Diyarbakır is being built through the urban experience of collectivity in diverse socio-spatial and political encounters, rather than solely through top-down interventions. “Before, I didn’t know that I was a Kurd. We were all Turks. As I have lived here, now I know that I am a Kurd. Kurd is my identity.” hese were the words of Havin, a twenty- year-old university student who I interviewed in Diyarbakır, Turkey, in 2007. 1 “I don’t expect the municipality to collect the garbage or do any other service for us, but I want my Kurdish identity back; this is all I expect from the municipality.” During ield visits to Diyarbakır between 2007 and 2011, I increasingly heard two com- ments from those I interviewed: “We want our own Kurdishness”; and “We want to live our own culture and speak our own language.” Havin, who migrated to the city from a rural area to pursue a university education, was one such resident who wanted her “Kurdishness” back. But what may be most critical about her case, as well as those of many like her, is the rationale that has inspired her, in the absence of a Kurdish state, to “know” and “claim” she is a Kurd. 2 Muna Güvenç is a Ph.D. Candidate in Architecture with a designated emphasis in Global Metropolitan Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. An earlier version of this article was awarded the Jefrey Cook Best Student Paper prize at the 2010 IASTE conference.