The Kurds in a New Middle East: The Changing Geopolitics of a Regional Conflict

ISBN-13: 9783030005382 / Angielski / Twarda / 2018 / 124 str.

Cengiz Gunes

Opis

This book examines the Kurds' rise as new regional actors in the Middle East and the impact this is having on the regional order. Kurdish political activism has reached a new height in the beginning of 21st Century with Kurdish movements in Iraq, Turkey and Syria establishing themselves as a significant force in the domestic politics of these states. The consolidation of Kurdish autonomy in Iraq and the establishment of a Kurdish de facto autonomous region within Syria is adding to the Kurds' growing influence in the region and enabling Kurds to forge stronger relations with regional and international forces. The author analyses recent developments in the Kurdish question in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria to understand the inter-connections and inter-dependencies that exist in the transnational Kurdish political space. The book's policy relevance is likely to attract strong interest from policy makers as well as from academics and students in the fields of Middle Eastern Politics and International Relations.

Spis treści

Table of Contents

Abbreviations                                                                                                                            4

Preface                                                                                                                                       6

Chapter 1: The Kurdish Resurgence in a Changing Middle East                                       8

    1.1 – A Brief history of the Kurdish Question                                                                     12

    1.2 – The Re-emergence of Kurdish Nationalism during the 1960s                                    17

    1.3 – The Geopolitics of the Middle East and the Kurdish Question                                   23

Chapter 2: The Kurdish Conflict in Iraq: Towards a Sustainable Solution                    37

    2.1 – Historical Overview of the Kurdish Conflict in Iraq                                                   38

    2.2 – The Consolidation of Kurdish Autonomy and the KRI                                              46

    2.3 – The KRI’s Challenges                                                                                                 52

Chapter 3: Turkey’s Kurdish Conflict: The Sudden Reversal of Gradual Progress      64

    3.1 – Historical Overview of Turkey’s Kurdish Conflict                                                     66

    3.2 – Transformation in the conflict and Turkey’s democratic openings                            72

    3.3 – A New Violent Phase in the Conflict                                                                          79

Chapter 4: The Syrian Conflict and Kurdish Ascendency                                                 93

    4.1 – The Kurdish conflict in Syria: background and the main developments                    95

    4.2 – The Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (DFNS)                                            102

    4.3 – The Challenges facing the DFNS                                                                              108

Chapter 5: The Transformation of Iran’s Kurdish Conflict                                            119

    5.1 – Historical Overview of Iran’s Kurdish Conflict                                                        120

    5.2 The re-emergence of Kurdish political activism in Iran during 2000s and 2010s       125

    5.3 The factors behind the revival of Iran’s Kurdish movement and its future prospects 130

Chapter 6: Kurdish Prospects in a Volatile Middle East                                                 145

    6.1 Opposition to Kurdish Aspirations                                                                               148

    6.2 Kurdish Prospects in the Middle East                                                                          155

Index                                                                                                                                      171

O autorze

Cengiz Gunes is Associate Lecturer at the Open University, UK. He is the author of The Kurdish National Movement in Turkey: From Protest to Resistance (2012) and co-editor of The Kurdish Question in Turkey: New Perspectives on Violence, Representation, and Reconciliation (2014). In addition, he has published a number of peer-reviewed journal articles and chapters in edited books on different aspects of Kurdish politics in the Middle East.