Martyrs, Traitors and Patriots
Martyrs, Traitors and Patriots

Author: Sheri Laizer

Publisher: Zed Books

Published: 1996-02-05

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 9781856493963

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Kurds are the largest ethnic group devoid of nationhood in the world. This book looks at what has happened to the Kurds since the uprising against Saddam and the exodus to the safe havens, the continuing guerrilla war in Kurdistan, and the policies pursued by Turkey, Iraq and Iran to deal with the Kurdish people. Sheri Laizer also provides an analysis of Kurdish realpolitik, focusing on the political practices of the PKK and the other major Kurdish groups. The issues facing the Turkish parliament and army, the long-term strategies pursued by Iran and Iraq, and the evolution of Kurdish democratic institutions are brought to fore.

As Strong as the Mountains
As Strong as the Mountains

Author: Robert L. Brenneman

Publisher: Waveland Press

Published: 2016-01-20

Total Pages: 199

ISBN-13: 1478632585

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Kurds are the largest ethnic group in the world without their own homeland, numbering over 30 million people divided among Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. Originating as rural nomads living in the mountains, the Kurds have transformed into an urban entity within the Middle East. Brenneman, who has lived and conducted long-term fieldwork among the Kurds in Iraq and Turkey, presents a rich arc of their culture and experiences from ancient to modern times. The latest edition incorporates original and updated accounts of core and changing aspects of contemporary Kurdish culture, including human rights challenges, complicated ethnic identity, women’s roles and gender issues, family and community dynamics, diverse religious practices, transition from oral tradition to literacy, and struggles to defeat the Islamic State. Questions for discussion at the end of each chapter encourage readers to think deeply about what it means to be a proud ethnic group fighting for sovereignty and recognition.

The Kurdish Spring
The Kurdish Spring

Author: David L. Phillips

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-07-05

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 1351480367

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Kurds are the largest stateless people in the world. An estimated thirty-two million Kurds live in "Kurdistan," which includes parts of Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran?today's "hot spots" in the Middle East. The Kurdish Spring explores the subjugation of Kurds by Arab, Ottoman, and Persian powers for almost a century, and explains why Kurds are now evolving from a victimized people to a coherent political community.David L. Phillips describes Kurdish rebellions and arbitrary divisions in the last century, chronicling the nadir of Kurdish experience in the 1980s. He discusses draconian measures implemented by Iraq, including use of chemical weapons, Turkey's restrictions on political and cultural rights, denial of citizenship and punishment for expressing Kurdish identity in Syria, and repressive rule in Iran.Phillips forecasts the collapse and fragmentation of Iraq. He argues that US strategic and security interests are advanced through cooperation with Kurds, as a bulwark against ISIS and Islamic extremism. This work will encourage the public to look critically at the post-colonial period, recognizing the injustice and impracticality of states that were created by Great Powers, and offering a new perspective on sovereignty and statehood.

The Kurdish Question Revisited
The Kurdish Question Revisited

Author: Gareth R. V. Stansfield

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 741

ISBN-13: 0190687177

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"The Kurds, once marginal in the study of the Middle East and secondary in its international relations, have moved to centre stage in recent years. In Turkey, where the Kurdish question is an issue of national significance, and in Iraq, where the gains made by the Kurdistan Regional Government have allowed it to impose its authority, moves are afoot to solve 'the Kurdish Question' once and for all. The picture is less positive in Syria, where the Kurds have borne the brunt of the Islamic State's onslaught, and in Iran, where they struggle to express their cultural distinctiveness and suffer disproportionately at the hands of the Islamic Republic's security apparatus. Yet the situations in both countries remain in flux, affected by developments in Iraq and Turkey in a manner that suggests we may have to revise the notion of the Kurds being forever divided by the boundaries of the Middle East's and subsumed into the state projects of other nations. The contributors to The Kurdish Question Revisited offer insights into how this once seemingly intractable, immutable phenomenon is being transformed amid the new political realities of the Middle East"--Publisher's description.

Turkey's Kurds
Turkey's Kurds

Author: Ali Kemal Özcan

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-10-12

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 1134211309

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Kurdish Worker's Party (PKK) is examined here in this text on Kurdish nationalism. Incorporating recent field-based research results and newly translated material on Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK's long-time leader; it explores the nature and the organizational working of the party, from its growth in the late 1970s to its recent shrinkage. A variety of issues are addressed including: * the views and philosophy of Abdullah Ocalan * the successes and failures of the PKK in bringing about the Kurdish opposition in Turkey * the role of PKK's philosophy of recruitment, organizational diligence, use of arms and other contextual factors in Kurdish resistance * factors involved in the development of the nationalism of the Kurds in Turkey. The text also reappraises the Kurdish movement in Turkey and presents insights into the nature of Kurdish social structure, thinking, and the particularities of the Kurdish ethnic distinctness.

"A Problem from Hell"

Author: Samantha Power

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2013-05-14

Total Pages: 573

ISBN-13: 0465050891

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

From former UN Ambassador and author of the New York Times bestseller The Education of an Idealist Samantha Power, the Pulitzer Prize-winning book on America's repeated failure to stop genocides around the world In her prizewinning examination of the last century of American history, Samantha Power asks the haunting question: Why do American leaders who vow "never again" repeatedly fail to stop genocide? Power, a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and the former US Ambassador to the United Nations, draws upon exclusive interviews with Washington's top policymakers, thousands of declassified documents, and her own reporting from modern killing fields to provide the answer. "A Problem from Hell" shows how decent Americans inside and outside government refused to get involved despite chilling warnings, and tells the stories of the courageous Americans who risked their careers and lives in an effort to get the United States to act. A modern classic and "an angry, brilliant, fiercely useful, absolutely essential book" (New Republic), "A Problem from Hell" has forever reshaped debates about American foreign policy. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize Winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award Winner of the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award Winner of the Raphael Lemkin Award

De Facto State Identity and International Legitimation
De Facto State Identity and International Legitimation

Author: Sebastian Klich

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-11-28

Total Pages: 205

ISBN-13: 100048453X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Examining the state identity formation and international legitimation of de facto states, this book provides a deeper understanding of the relationship between de facto states, the international state system and international society. The book integrates International Relations theories to construct a framework of normative standing for de facto states, to better understand the social system they inhabit and the stasis in their relationship with international society, demonstrated through detailed case study analysis. Klich appraises the recognition narrative of de facto states in order to analyse their state identities, and constructs a framework for normative standing in an original synthesis of English School, constructivism and legitimacy scholarship. The explanatory utility of that framework is then applied and analysed through detailed fieldwork conducted across an original set of case studies ― Nagorno Karabakh, Somaliland, and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq ― that have varying degrees of international engagement and parent state relationships. It will be of interest to scholars and students of International Relations, International Relations theory, Peace and Conflict studies, Comparative Politics, as well as Middle Eastern studies, East African studies, and Post-Soviet studies.

Humanitarian Intervention and Safety Zones
Humanitarian Intervention and Safety Zones

Author: C. McQueen

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-02-25

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 0230554970

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Neither willing to engage in a meaningful way to save targeted civilians in Iraq, Bosnia and Rwanda nor to stand entirely aside as massive violations of humanitarian law occurred, states embraced safety zones as a means to 'do something' whilst avoiding being drawn into open warfare. Humanitarian Intervention and Safety Zones: Iraq, Bosnia and Rwanda explores why and how effectively safety zones were implemented as a way to protect civilians and displaced persons in three of the most important conflicts of the 1990s. It shows how states consistently sought to reconcile their political and humanitarian interests, a process which often led to problematic and ambiguous outcomes, and assesses in fascinating detail the difficulties and controversies surrounding the use of such zones, variously called safe havens, safe areas, secure humanitarian areas, and zones humanitaires sûres . The book also asks whether or not such zones could serve as precedents for possible future attempts to ensure the safety of civilians in complex humanitarian emergencies.

Writing the Modern History of Iraq
Writing the Modern History of Iraq

Author: Jordi Tejel

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 578

ISBN-13: 9814390577

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The modern history of Iraq is punctuated by a series of successive and radical ruptures (coups d''etat, changes of regime, military adventures and foreign invasions) whose chronological markers are relatively easy to identify. Although researchers cannot ignore these ruptures, they should also be encouraged to establish links between the moments when the breaks occur and the longue dur(r)e, in order to gain a better understanding of the period.Combining a variety of different disciplinary and methodological perspectives, this collection of essays seeks to establish some new markers which will open fresh perspectives on the history of Iraq in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and suggest a narrative that fits into new paradigms. The book covers the various different periods of the modern state (the British occupation and mandate, the monarchy, the first revolutions and the decades of Ba''thist rule) through the lens of significant groups in Iraq society, including artists, film-makers, political and opposition groups, members of ethnic and religious groups, and tribes."