Understanding Turkey's Kurdish Question

Reviews / Votes

Considering the regional and international ramifications of the Kurdish question in the Middle East, the scholarly attention paid to this topic has historically been inadequate and the subject matter remains in need of serious study. It is therefore welcome that Understanding Turkey's Kurdish Question specifically sets out to examine the country with the largest Kurdish population in the world at a time when it is struggling to come to terms with this reality. This edited, multi-authored volume brings together both established and new scholars as well as veteran Turkish journalists, some of who have written extensively on the topic over the years. * Turkish Review * As the ongoing negotiations between the Turkish government and the representatives of the Kurdish population have turned new attention on Kurdish studies, this multi-authored volume fills a vacuum in the analysis of Turkey's Kurdish question. ... [T]he volume provides a unique reference for scholars interested in grasping, in one reading, the multiple dimensions of Turkey's Kurdish question, as well as its future perspectives. Both experts and scholars approaching Kurdish studies for the first time will benefit from its clear-cut chapters and perceptive insights. * The International Spectator * This volume, which consists of essays by renowned scholars and journalists, provides valuable information and commentary about the past and present of various aspects of the Kurdish question, and any student who would like to have an understanding of not only the earlier phases of the Kurdish issue but also the on-going solution process will benefit from it. * Insight Turkey * [The book] is a welcome addition to the growing literature on Kurdish nationalism that offers a new and nuanced empirical account. . . .[The] chapters offer a historical overview of the Kurdish question as well as the main events that have shaped its trajectory, which is quite useful. . . .[Overall] the chapters do make a contribution to our understanding of the Kurdish question in Turkey. * Kurdish Studies * On the whole the contributions are rigorous and independent-minded. * Hurriyet Daily News * Understanding Turkey's Kurdish Question is an excellent collection of essays on Turkey's most enduring political problem. It is a timely work enabling to look at the Kurdish question in Turkey from the perspectives of both past and present, from the eyes of both state and society. -- Mesut Yegen, Istanbul Sehir University