At the Middle East Centre of the ‚London School of Economics’ Dr. Zeynep Kaya and I discussed the emergence of (kurdish) nationalism and the interrelation of liberal democratic notions to ethnic nationalist claims.

‚the meaning of self-determination associated with the norms of human rights and democratic rights is adopted by some sub-state nationalist groups because there is an emerging international normative framework that perceives the use of this meaning of self-determination as legitimate. (…) Nationalist movements that derive their understanding of nationhood from ethnic and primordial conceptions use self-determination to seek democratic liberation. Achieving this aspiration entails international recognition as a distinct identity with a specific territory and exclusion of other identities from claims to that territory as a homeland. Sub-state separatist groups claiming their right to statehood through self-determination pitch the territory they claim as an ethnic territory, as a space to which they attach their identity and desire full control over it.‘

Zeynep N. Kaya ( etheses.lse.ac.uk/645/1/Zeynep_Maps_into_Nations.pdf#page=80&zoom=auto,-82,471 )