Who are the Kurds?
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From Tribe to Nation The United States, as much as Iraq’s neighbors—Iran, Turkey, and Syria, which have restive Kurdish populations of their own—needs to be ready when Iraqi Kurdistan, the first real Kurdish state in the modern sense, is born. Most importantly, so do the Kurds. But there is growing recognition that after decades of dogged, if at times unorthodox, efforts to build their own state, the Iraqi Kurds are on the cusp of formally declaring independence. It is no longer a matter of “if” but “when.” It is too early to say what effect an independent Kurdistan will have on the region. If the Iraqi Kurds get it right, the new state could well become a force for stability and a showcase for democratic governance where Kurds and non-Kurds, Muslims and non-Muslims, men and women, can prosper equally. But for the Iraqi Kurds the desire for independence is not rooted in cold, hard calculations. It is profoundly emotional and closely bound to their history. Saddam Hussein’s fall in 2003 ushered an unprecedented era of prosperity and freedom for Iraq’s Kurds. Media coverage of Iraq’s Kurds was no longer about their misery, but instead about their stellar success. Yet if Iraqi Kurdistan is to be a viable entity, it will clearly need to address all of these very real problems. The greatest of these remains Kurdish disunity. The Iraqi Kurds have faced external enemies throughout their history. Yet they have always rebounded, finding ways to turn adversity to opportunity at almost every turn. The Kurds support independence not because co-habitation with Iraq has failed. They do so for the simple reason that this is what they want, and this is what so many have given their lives for well over a century. Thanks to their own persistence and Saddam’s follies, the Iraqi Kurds are closer than ever to realizing their dream. It is up to their leaders to bury the hatchet and to ensure that this dream for which so many Kurds have laid down their lives is finally translated into reality.
Start Here
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Blood and Belief
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ISBN: 9780814757116 -
A Thousand Sighs, a Thousand Revolts
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ISBN: 0345469399Publication Date: 2005-06-14Acclaimed journalist Christiane Bird, who riveted readers with her tour of Iran in Neither East Nor West, now tells the Kurds' story, using personal observations and in-depth research to illuminate the astonishing history and vibrant culture of a people without a state to call their own. -
The Struggle for Kirkuk
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ISBN: 9780275995898 -
The Kurdish Nationalist Movement in the 1990s
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ISBN: 0813108969 -
History Behind the Headlines vol. 1
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ISBN: 9780787649517
Abdullah Ocalan, PKK founder.
Ahmet Turk, Kurdish nationalist politician in Turkey, former chairman of DTP.
Barham Salih, Iraqi Kurdish politician. He is the former prime minister of the KRG.
Cemil Bayik, one of the founders of the PKK and member of the PKK Executive Committee.
Fuad Masum, Iraqi Kurdish politician, 7th President of Iraq.
Hakan Fidan, Turkish politician, head of the National Intelligence Organization.
Jalal Talabani, Kurdish nationalist politician in Iraq and founder of the PUK. Former President of Iraq.
Kosrat Rasul Ali, Iraqi Kurdish politician, PUK member, Peshmerga veteran.
Leyla Zana, Kurdish politician in Turkey, former DTP member.
Masoud Barzani, President of the KRG and leader of the KDP.
Mullah Mustafa Barzani, legendary Kurdish nationalist leader. Former leader of the KDP.
Murat Karayilan, PKK Chairman of Executive Committee, commander-in-chief of the People's Defense Force.
Masrour Barzani, Chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council.
Nawshirwan Mustafa, Iraqi Kurdish politician, General Coordinator of the Movement for Change, opposition leader within KRG.
Nechervan Barzani, Prime Minister of the KRG.
Qazi Muhammad, former Kurdish leader and the Head of the Republic of Kurdistan (Republic of Mahabad).
Qubad Talabani, Deputy Prime Minister of the KRG.
Salih Muslim, co-chairman of the PYD.
Selahattin Demirtaş, Kurdish nationalist politician in Turkey and co-head of the left-wing pro-Kurdish HDP.
A list of on-line newspaper and television sources that provide news, analysis, and/or propaganda about the Kurdish Issue.
Multilingual Sources:
Rudaw (English) (Sorani) (Arabic) (Turkish)
Sources in English:
- Council on Foreign Relations: Inside the PKK Outlines the mission and tactics of the PKK. Provides information about the background and history of the PKK as well as biographical information about the group's leaders. Introduces Turkey's views regarding the PKK and the Kurdish separatist movement.
- Kurdistan People’s Congress (KGK, formerly the Kurdistan Worker’s Party, PKK) Information presented by the United States' National Counterterrorism Center on the Turkish Kurdish separatist group the KGK, formerly known as the PKK. Provides a timeline of the group's actions in Turkey and other affiliated terrorist, guerrilla, and separatist groups
- NPR: Understanding The Kurds' Different Roles In Different Conflicts Audio of the NPR radio program, Morning Edition, explaining the different roles of Iraqi Kurds, Syrian Kurds, and Turkish Kurds in their independence movements and ongoing wars.
- BBC News: Iraqi Kurdistan Profile Provides a timeline beginning in 1918 and ending present day detailing the events and issues that have shaped the current Kurdish state in Iraq.
- Washington Kurdish Institute
- The Kurdish Project
A list of institutes and think tanks that deal with the Kurdish Issue.
Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institute
Center for Strategic and International Studies-Turkey Project
Center for Turkish Studies at the Middle East Institute
Institute for the Study of War
Kurdish Institute of Paris (English) (French)
Middle East Research Institute
Siyaset, Ekonomi ve Toplum Arastirmalari Vakfi (SETA) (Turkish) (English)
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Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window Good for more scholarly research and journals.
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Credo Reference This link opens in a new window General Reference source offering hundreds of encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, quotations, and subject-specific titles, as well as 200,000+ images and audio files, and nearly 200 videos.
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World History (Gale in Context) This link opens in a new window Offers comprehensive reference content on the significant people, events and topics in World history. Topics are arranged by source type, time periods, event types, civilizations and religions. Contextual material is accompanied by biographies of leading figures, source types and related topics.
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World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society This link opens in a new window Insights into the military conflicts that have defined our world's identity from its beginning to today.
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World History: The Modern Era This link opens in a new window Covers history from the Renaissance to today
