Liquefying governmental dynamics: water politics in the waterless environments of the Kurdish regions of Turkey
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Over the past twenty years, Turkey has undertaken a concerted effort to upgrade the country's infrastructure, covering a broad range of areas, including water, electricity, and housing. Despite the state's extensive infrastructural and architectural development projects, these upgrades have often resulted in more frequent and unpredictable disruptions such as prolonged water shortages rather than delivering the anticipated stability in infrastructure services, particularly in the predominantly Kurdish south‐eastern region. The instability of water distribution intensifies existing regional tensions and political discourses, as inadequate infrastructure has made water a pivotal component of the enduring tension between the Turkish state and the Kurdish people, particularly following the state's armed campaign in 2015. Through ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Mardin, a south‐eastern province of Turkey, this article investigates how governmental dynamics and local politics are shaped around the distribution of water, decisions regarding who has access to it, and the broader regional implications of these policies.
Author: Ibrahim Burhan Isik
Institution: Columbia University
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W7204480446