Modernity, 'Modernisation' and
the Genocide of Kurds and 'Others'

By Desmond Fernandes
Apec Press, Stockholm
ISBN: 978-91-86139-34-6

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• This book is marked by all the rigour we have come to expect from Desmond Fernandes, now one of the leading theorists and historians of genocide. The book could not come at a more appropriate time. 'Modernisation' in Turkey has had a complex and convoluted history, and with Prime Minister Recep Erdogan's response to the Israeli attack on the Gaza aid flotilla, it would seem to have entered a new phase: Turkey as moral conscience of the Middle East and champion of human rights. Fernandes' detailed analysis shows us, however, that the category of the 'human' has always been most carefully circumscribed in 'modern' Turkey, with human rights defined as necessarily co-terminous with the 'rights' and life of the state itself. Those 'others' who, by their very existence, have challenged the narrative of the Kemalist state were deemed never to have had rights to protect or uphold in the first place. They were swept aside, and any mention of them was punished as a grievous harm to the nation.
  
  At the very start of his book, by deepening profoundly our understanding of the social and political contexts of genocide, Fernandes wrests the concept away from legalists and technocrats who have been determined to restrict its use. Fernandes carefully and forcefully unravels the 'never again' logic by which contemporary states distance themselves from the consequences of their actions. Genocide, unfortunately, is not exceptional - it is as intrinsic to the processes of capitalist expansion and state formation today as it has been for the last five hundred years.
  
  Taking 'genocide' away from the technocrats - describing the ways in which it is, in fact, the 'banal', foundational crime of modern societies - doesn't lessen its horror. This is why it is not just scholars of 1915 or of modern Turkey who should read this book. Anyone who wants to understand the rhetorics and desires of nation-states in an age of neo-colonial globalisation, or to gain an insight into contemporary relations between Europe and the Middle East, should do so too. - Daniel Jewesbury, Co-editor, Variant magazine.
  
  
• Reading this, we should remember some words by George Orwell: “The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them” - Patrick Mac Manus, Oprør (Denmark).
  
  
• Genocide, … as intricately documented in this study, has been instrumental in the “great” modernising and “civilising” projects of recent centuries. In this detailed examination of the development and consolidation of the present “World System”, Fernandes presents a thorough account of the role of genocidal principles and practices showing how these were not accidental but central to the colonial “modernisation” process. These practices continued to be deliberately utilised throughout the twentieth century and on into the twenty-first. In this study, the systematic genocidal policies utilised by the Turkish State in its attempt to invent an ethnically “pure” nation are highlighted through the long experience of the Kurdish people.
  
  The Kurds ... have been the main target for assimilation and extermination since the “successful” genocide of the Armenian people during the Ottoman period. It is not only the fact that these genocides have taken place that is shocking but that they have gone generally unchallenged and even been condoned or actively supported by a large part of the international community. This book is vital for anyone seeking to understand why genocide has come to be so intimately associated with modernity. The depressing conclusion seems to be that genocide is wrong only if it is not conducted sensitively enough, is left incomplete, and if its purpose is not in keeping with the ideology of the hegemonic world system - Älex Fitch (Campaign Against Criminalising Communities).