Bookchin and the Kurdish Movement in Turkey Recep Akgün Introduction Beginning in the 1990s, Turkish revolutionaries began a search for fresh radical and libertarian ideas as opposed to the orthodox Marxist-Leninism dominating lefist politics in Turkey. Readers began to acquaint themselves with Murray Bookchin thanks to the work of lefist 1 publishing houses within the country, which generated increasing interest in his ideas in Turkey. 2 Tis interest was not limited to mere intellectual curiosity. New social and political movements became visible during these years, connected, ultimately, to the political developments and transformations of lefist politics brought about during the 1990s. A search for new ways of doing politics was triggered within Turkey, inspired by libertarian and antiauthoritarian political ideas. 3 Since then, the scope of politics within the country has widened from classic forms of struggle—labor movements, struggles for parliamentary democratization, revolutionary Marxism, social democracy—to environmental, feminist, and antiwar mass politics. Clusters of new groups emerged which were interested in these issues: environmentalists, the New Lef, conscientious objectors, anarchists, and antiauthoritarians. Most of these groups, particularly those composed of anarchists, libertarian lefists, and environmentalists, were not only interested in Bookchin’s ideas intellectually but began to implement them within their organizations and political activities. But their initiatives were alien to Turkey’s lef. Tough the experiences of certain sections of the Lef had acquainted them with social ecology, Turkish society was, in large part, unfamiliar with the ideas elucidated by Bookchin. Some struggles around environmental issues did gain the attention of lefist organizations during these years. However, the groups concentrating their energy on the challenges raised by social ecology remained marginal and minor. It is in this sense that, although inspiring several organizations, Bookchin produced little efect on Turkey’s lefist politics as a whole during the 1990s. However, another event, far more extraordinary and interesting, took place in the early 2000s. Abdullah Öcalan, one of the founders of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), 4 arrested and imprisoned by the Turkish state in 1999, began to share