Abstract:

This study focuses on the behaviors that Kurdish young people perceive and experience in relation to their ethnic identities and on their strategies to cope with them. The main objective of the study is to analyze the signs and discrimination stories and strategies of coping with them in the western provinces where Kurdish youth are in minority and especially in the school environment. This study acknowledges that even if it focuses on the daily experiences of ordinary individuals, these stories are formed by the influence of the national context and also takes into account the historical processes that influence the formation of ethnic boundaries. The data of the study is based on a semi-configured interview with 29 Kurdish students living in the Bayraklı and Menemen districts of İzmir between 2017-19 years. Field data indicates that the perception of the mark and the reactions to it are directly related to the status of individuals possessing ethnic indicators, that ethnic boundaries are increasingly strengthened and that Kurdish youth often experience problems related to their ethnic identity in their daily lives. The strategies of dealing with which the interlocutors are most frequently applied are the strategies of opposition, conscious insufficiency, individual responsibility and avoidance.