Assessing the Consistency of Kurdish Democratic Autonomy with International Human Rights Law

Large sectors of the Kurdish movement in Turkey have progressively come to discuss, develop and/or endorse models of so-called “democratic autonomy”. While there are several works in the field detailing and critiquing Turkey’s policies vis-à-vis the Kurds, the international legal dimension of the Kurdish democratic autonomy proposal in its own right has received far less attention to date. The present article seeks to fill this gap by reflecting upon the internal coherence and consistency of the democratic autonomy argument in light of international law standards and practice, with particular reference to internal self-determination in Turkey. I argue that any future settlement of the Kurdish question will require not only Turkey’s compliance with its own human rights obligations, but also the Kurdish movement’s ability to negotiate the accommodation of its aspirations in ways that are consistent with international human rights law.