Format:
Lit.Hinw. S. 219-221
ISBN:
9780415072656
Content:
Analyzing Kurdish society, the author asserts that despite their ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity the Kurds have developed a strong sense of nationalism. He asserts also that the ethnic-religious mosaic of Kurdish society is further marked by an intricate social and political stratification with a vertical orientation which has been left more or less intact by the Ottoman and Persian empires and their successor states. The author notes that a specifically "Kurdish" ethnicity developed, despite the underlying ethnic variety, from the desire for a national identity. He gives an overview of Kurdish history and discusses recent political developments with respect to the Kurds in Turkey, Iran and Iraq. All these states face a Kurdish problem and deal with it in different ways. While Iran may grant the Kurds some cultural autonomy (but not make any territorial concessions), Turkey is deeply committed to the Kemalist dogma of Turkey as a homogeneous nation. The gradual increase in Kurdish nationalism has led to increased repression in Kurdistan, and thus to a growing wave of refugees. Now the struggle for independence is more or less fought from the diaspora, and the refugees are contributing more to the Kurdish movement than they could have done had they remained. (DÜI-Kwe)
In:
The Kurds, London [u.a.] : Routledge, 1992, , Seite 33-67, 9780415072656
In:
0415072654
In:
pages:33-67
Language:
English
Author information:
Bruinessen, Martin van 1946-
