The effects of violence and internal displacement on rural-agrarian change in Turkey

This paper addresses two interrelated issues that have assumed major political significance in the handling of the Kurdish question in Turkey. The first is the impact of violence and resulting internal displacement in Eastern and Southeastern Turkey on rural-agrarian change. The second concerns the implications of the structural change and social transformation of the displaced population for their return to rural life. Analysis of national agricultural census data indicates that violence and displacement, in combination with a general process of agrarian change, have given rise to a new agrarian structure in the affected provinces, which leaves no room for the permanent return of most of the displaced population. On the other hand, the displaced population has undergone a social transformation that makes such a return less desirable for them.