Subnational regime variation in Turkey: how the Kurdish-majority region complicates Turkey’s regime type

Social scientists often regard countries as coherent units of analysis to determine the regime type or assess the quality of democracy. Categorizing countries on different scales of regimes, however, fails to acknowledge subnational regime variations. The Kurdish-majority region of Turkey evidence certain variations regarding the use of state power, which results in negative disparities in social and cultural freedoms compared to the rest of the country. Investigating this within-country regime-type variation, this study aims to examine and link discrepancies in democratic governance, political liberties, and the application of civil rights in the Kurdish-majority region of Turkey since 1983. The article argues for the presence of an authoritarian enclave in Kurdish-majority territories, displaying more intense authoritarian qualities than the other regions, by demonstrating the absence of free and fair elections, post-election irregularities, low levels of electoral representation, restrictions over the right to organize, and structural problems over fundamental rights in the region.