Jewish Subjects and Their Tribal Chieftains in Kurdistan

Jewish Subjects and Their Tribal Chieftains in Kurdistan
(Jewish Identities in a Changing World)
Mordechai Zaken
Hardcover: 376 pages
Publisher: BRILL (August 2007)
Language: English


This volume deals with the experience and the position of non-tribal Jewish subjects and their relationships with their tribal chieftains (aghas) in urban centers and villages in Kurdistan. It is based on new oral sources, diligently collected and carefully analyzed. This book contains numerous accounts that portrait vividly the life experience of Jews from 6 different towns (Zaxo/Zakho, Aqra, Amadia/Amadiya, Dohuk, Sulaimaniya and Shinno/Ushno/Ushnoviyya) and dozens of villages mainly in southern Kurdistan.


http://ifile.it/2afgdmb

The A to Z of the Kurds

The A to Z of the Kurds
Michael M. Gunter

Paperback: 426 pages

Publisher: Scarecrow Press (June 22, 2009)

Language: English

The A to Z of the Kurds covers the largest nation on Earth that does not have its own independent state. Scholars, government officials who are dealing with the Middle East and the Kurds, the news media, as well as the general reader will find this an accessible historical account about a people who are becoming increasingly important for the future of the geostrategic Middle East. Maps, a chronology of Kurdish history, an introductory essay on the Kurds, a dictionary containing several hundred entries on various aspects of the Kurdish experience, and an extensive bibliography comprise this volume.

http://ifile.it/ua6zxoi

Syria's Kurds: History, Politics & Society

Syria's Kurds: History, Politics, Society
Jordi Tejel

Paperback: 189 pages

Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (October 12, 2008)

Language: English

This book is a decisive contribution to the study of Kurdish history in Syria since the mandatory period (1920-1946) up to nowadays. Avoiding an essentialist approach, Jordi Tejel provides fine, complex and sometimes paradoxical analysis about the articulation between tribal, local, regional, and national identities, on one hand, and the formation of a Kurdish minority awareness vis-a-vis the consolidation of Arab nationalism in Syria, on the other hand. Using unpublished material, in particular concerning the Mandatory period (French records and Kurdish newspapers) and social movement theory, Tejel analyses the reasons of this "exception" within the Kurdish political sphere. In spite of the exclusion of Kurdishness from the public sphere, especially since 1963, Kurds of Syria have avoided a direct confrontation with the central power, most Kurds opting for a strategy of "dissimulation", cultivating internally the forms of identity that challenge the official ideology. The book explores the dynamics leading to the consolidation of Kurdish minority awareness in contemporary Syria; an ongoing process that could take the form of radicalization or even violence.

http://ifile.it/5gipqot

The Kurds in Iraq: The Past, Present and Future

The Kurds in Iraq: The Past, Present and Future
Kerim Yildiz

Paperback: 248 pages

Publisher: Pluto Press (August 20, 2004)

Language: English

The Kurds in Iraq by Kerim Yildiz, explores the key issues facing the Kurds in Iraq in the aftermath of the US-led invasion and chaos of the occupation. It is the most clear and up-to-date account of the problems that all political groups face in rebuilding the country, as well as exploring Kurdish links and international relations in the broader sense. It should be required reading for policy-makers and anyone interested in the current position of the Kurds in Iraq. Yildiz explores the impact of war and occupation on Iraqi Kurdistan, and in particular the crucial role of the city of Kirkuk in the post-war settlement. He also looks at how UN rifts potentially affect the Kurds; relations between Iraqi Kurds and Turkey; relations with Iran; and US policy towards the Kurds.

 

http://ifile.it/uawjk8r

Learn Kurdish / A multi-level course in Kurmanji

Learn Kurdish
Baran Rizgar

Paperback: 304 pages

Publisher: Bay Foreign Language Books (December 31, 1996)

Language: English

A multi-level course for learning the Kurmanji dialect of Kurdish. The lessons start with the Kurdish alphabet and teaches, revises and practices grammar step by step. They finally reach an upper intermediate level.

Kurmanci is the dialect spoken by the Kurds of Turkey, Syria, the former Soviet Union, the northernmost Kurds in Iranian Kurdistan, and the northwestern Kurds in Iraq (i.e., the Kurds in the Barzani-run region of Iraqi Kurdistan, where it’s known as Bahdini or Bahdinani and is a bit different from “standard” Kurmanci.) It’s written in the Latin script in Turkey and Syria, in Arabic script in Iran and Iraq, and in Cyrillic in the former Soviet Union.

“Learn Kurdish/Dersen Kurdi”, by Baran Rizgar is a very good textbook for learning Kurmanci Kurdish. This book is 299 pages long, has excellent grammatical explanations and lots of exercises, and is a godsend for anyone interested in Kurmanci. Unfortunately, it has been out of print for many years.

http://ifile.it/i1aoyp4

Modern History of the Kurds

Modern History of the Kurds
David McDowall

The division of the Kurdish people among four modern nation states--Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran--and their struggle for national rights have been constant themes of recent Middle East history. The Kurdish lands have been contested territory for many centuries. In this detailed history of the Kurds from the 19th century to the present day, McDowall examines the interplay of old and new aspects of the struggle, the importance of local rivalries within Kurdish society, the enduring authority of certain forms of leadership and the failure of modern states to respond to the challenge of Kurdish nationalism. Drawing extensively on primary sources McDowall's book is useful for all who want a better understanding of the underlying dynamics of the Kurdish question.

• Paperback: 504 pages
• Publisher: I. B. Tauris; 3 Revised edition (May 14, 2004)
• Language: English
• http://ifile.it/1nz8g3l

Turkey's Kurds: A theoretical analysis of PKK and Abdullah Ocalan

Turkey's Kurds: A theoretical analysis of PKK and Abdullah Ocalan
Ali Kemal Ozcan
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (November 10, 2005)
Language: English
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.

http://ifile.it/1bw4iug

The Kurds in Syria: The Forgotten People

The Kurds in Syria: The Forgotten People
Kerim Yildiz
Hardcover: 168 pages
Publisher: Pluto Press (October 20, 2005)
Language: English


This is the first book to focus on the plight of the Kurds in Syria. The Kurds are Syria's largest minority, and continue to be subject to extreme human rights abuses. Along with Kerim Yildiz's other recent books -- The Kurds in Iraq, and the Kurds in Turkey -- this builds on his comprehensive analysis of the current human rights situation for the largest ethnic group worldwide without its own state. Yildiz examines the contemporary situation of the Syrian Kurds in the context of Syria's own history, and the present situation where it is outlawed as a terrorist state by the USA. Fifty percent of Syria's income now goes on military spending -- for Syria feels threatened by her neighbours, and this is mirrored in the way minorities are treated within the country.Covering all aspects of Kurdish life including language, education, religion and history, Yildiz offers a unique insight into the human rights situation of the Kurds in Syria.


http://ifile.it/kv0m3r5

Blood and Belief: The PKK and the Kurdish Fight for Independence

Blood and Belief: The PKK and the Kurdish Fight for Independence

Aliza Marcus

Paperback: 368 pages

• Publisher: NYU Press (April 1, 2009)
• Language: English

The Kurds, who number some 28 million people in the Middle East, have no country they can call their own. Long ignored by the West, Kurds are now highly visible actors on the world's political stage. More than half live in Turkey, where the Kurdish struggle has gained new strength and attention since the U.S. overthrow of Saddam Hussein in neighboring Iraq.

Essential to understanding modern-day Kurds—and their continuing demands for an independent state—is understanding the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. A guerilla force that was founded in 1978 by a small group of ex-Turkish university students, the PKK radicalized the Kurdish national movement in Turkey, becoming a tightly organized, well-armed fighting force of some 15,000, with a 50,000-member civilian militia in Turkey and tens of thousands of active backers in Europe. Under the leadership of Abdullah Ocalan, the war the PKK waged in Turkey through 1999 left nearly 40,000 people dead and drew in the neighboring states of Iran, Iraq, and Syria, all of whom sought to use the PKK for their own purposes. Since 2004, emboldened by the Iraqi Kurds, who now have established an autonomous Kurdish state in the northernmost reaches of Iraq, the PKK has again turned to violence to meet its objectives.

Blood and Belief combines reportage and scholarship to give the first in-depth account of the PKK. Aliza Marcus, one of the first Western reporters to meet with PKK rebels, wrote about their war for many years for a variety of prominent publications before being put on trial in Turkey for her reporting. Based on her interviews with PKK rebels and their supporters and opponents throughout the world—including the Palestinians who trained them, the intelligence services that tracked them, and the dissidents who tried to break them up—Marcus provides an in-depth account of this influential radical group.

http://ifile.it/jzeqltc