Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast, is often called Amed by Kurdish movement followers. The name derives from the Median Empire, which ruled the region in 6 B.C. and whose inhabitants the Kurds view as their ancestors. Until four or five years ago, referring to Diyarbakir as Amed was considered an expression of Kurdish separatism and could land one in court. Later, however, the name began to gain acceptance after the political process with the stated aim of a peaceful resolution to the Kurdish conflict got underway. The atmosphere relaxed so much that in October 2014, Diyarbakir’s soccer club — the Diyarbakir Metropolitan Municipality Sports Club, a second division outfit wearing the colors green, red and white — renamed itself Amed, and the Turkish Football Federation approved the change.

For nationalist Turks, the name Amed continued to have separatist connotations. Yet a state of nonconflict — i.e., the “settlement process” — had begun between Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and its dynamics spawned tolerance toward expressions of Kurdish identity, including Kurdish names, which made the soccer name change possible.

The soccer club — referred to colloquially as Amedspor by fans and the media — had been established in 1972 in Diyarbakir under a different name and for a long time played in the amateur leagues. In 1990, the Diyarbakir municipality purchased the team, and the club assumed its name. In every local election since 1999, Kurdish parties have won control of the city’s municipal administration. Hence, Amedspor is a soccer club with a distinct Kurdish identity in terms of fans, ownership and name.

In July, however, the settlement process that had made it possible for Amedspor to assume its name gave way to a bloody war, which, unlike previous phases of the Kurdish conflict, has raged in residential areas of cities and towns. The worst clashes have unfolded in Cizre, Sirnak and Silopi as well as in Sur, the walled old city of Diyarbakir, now the theater of devastating urban warfare with scores of civilian casualties.