Synopses & Reviews
For the first time in their modern history, the Kurds in Iraq and Turkey at least are cautiously ascending. This is because of two major reasons. (1) In northern Iraq the two U.S. wars against Saddam Hussein have had the fortuitous side effect of helping to create a Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The KRG has become an island of democratic stability, peace, and burgeoning economic progress, as well as an autonomous part of a projected federal, democratic, post-Saddam-Hussein Iraq. If such an Iraq proves impossible to construct, as it well may, the KRG is positioned to become independent. Either way, the evolution of a solution to the Kurdish problem in Iraq is clear. (2) Furthermore, Turkey's successful EU candidacy would have the additional fortuitous side effect of granting that country's ethnic Kurds their full democratic rights that have hitherto been denied. Although this evolving solution to the Kurdish problem in Iraq and Turkey remains cautiously fragile and would not apply to the Kurds in Iran and Syria because they have not experienced the recent developments their co-nationals in Iraq and Turkey have, it does represent a strikingly positive future that until recently seemed so bleak.
Review
“The book is a reliable and authoritative statement by an acute and sympathetic political scientist”--Asian Affairs
"Professor Gunter has written an eminently readable, well-documented analysis that shows how the Kurdish question may be on the verge of a solution in Iraq and Turkey. Like his previous work, this book is polished and persuasive."--Tozun Bahcheli, Professor of Political Science, King's University College at the University of Western Ontario
"Professor Gunter, in his characteristic lucid style, shows how federalism in Iraq, as well as EU-mandated and AK Party reforms in Turkey are cautiously helping lead to a solution to the long-running Kurdish problem in these two important states. This provides a most welcomed insight into their future."-- M. Hakan Yavuz, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Utah
"Kurds Ascending draws on much of Professor Gunters most recent work to provide a very up-to-date, riveting account of the monumental changes occurring vis-à-vis the Kurdish issue today. Written in clear, accessible language yet chocked full of interesting up-to-date information, Michael Gunters book should be of great interest to both those previously unfamiliar with the Kurds and specialists in Middle East politics as well."-- David Romano, Assistant Professor of International Studies, Rhodes College, Author of The Kurdish Nationalist Movement
Review
“the book is a reliable and authoritative statement by an acute and sympathetic political scientist”--Asian Affairs
"Professor Gunter has written an eminently readable, well-documented analysis that shows how the Kurdish question may be on the verge of a solution in Iraq and Turkey. Like his previous work, this book is polished and persuasive."--Tozun Bahcheli, Professor of Political Science, King's University College at the University of Western Ontario
"Professor Gunter, in his characteristic lucid style, shows how federalism in Iraq, as well as EU-mandated and AK Party reforms in Turkey are cautiously helping lead to a solution to the long-running Kurdish problem in these two important states. This provides a most welcomed insight into their future."-- M. Hakan Yavuz, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Utah
"Kurds Ascending draws on much of Professor Gunters most recent work to provide a very up-to-date, riveting account of the monumental changes occurring vis-à-vis the Kurdish issue today. Written in clear, accessible language yet chocked full of interesting up-to-date information, Michael Gunters book should be of great interest to both those previously unfamiliar with the Kurds and specialists in Middle East politics as well."-- David Romano, Assistant Professor of International Studies, Rhodes College, Author of The Kurdish Nationalist Movement
Synopsis
This is the first book to be primarily directed at analyzing the evolving solution to the Kurdish problem in Iraq and Turkey. Although this solution remains cautiously fragile, it does represent a strikingly positive future that until recently seemed so bleak.
Synopsis
For the first time in their modern history, the Kurds in Iraq and Turkey at least are cautiously ascending. In northern Iraq the two U.S. wars against Saddam Hussein have had the fortuitous side effect of helping to create a Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The KRG has become an island of democratic stability, peace, and burgeoning economic progress, as well as an autonomous part of a projected federal, democratic, post-Saddam-Hussein Iraq. If such an Iraq proves impossible to construct, as it well may, the KRG is positioned to become independent. Either way, the evolution of a solution to the Kurdish problem in Iraq is clear. Furthermore, Turkeys successful EU candidacy would have the additional fortuitous side effect of granting that countrys ethnic Kurds their full democratic rights that have hitherto been denied. Although this evolving solution to the Kurdish problem in Iraq and Turkey remains cautiously fragile and would not apply to the Kurds in Iran and Syria because they have not experienced the recent developments their co-nationals in Iraq and Turkey have, it does represent a strikingly positive future that until recently seemed so bleak.
About the Author
Michael M. Gunter is a professor of political science at Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Tennessee and teaches during the summer at the International University in Vienna, Austria. He is the author of five critically praised scholarly books on the Kurdish question, the most recent being Kurdish Historical Dictionary, 2004; The Kurdish Predicament in Iraq: A Political Analysis, 1999; and The Kurds and the Future of Turkey, 1997. In addition, he is the co-editor (with Mohammed M. A. Ahmed) of The Kurdish Question and the 2003 Iraqi War, 2005; and The Evolution of Kurdish Nationalism, 2007. He has also published numerous scholarly articles on the Kurds in such leading periodicals as the Middle East Journal, Middle East Quarterly, Middle East Policy, Current History, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, and Orient, among others, and was a former Senior Fulbright Lecturer in International Relations in Turkey and Israel. He has been interviewed about the Kurdish question on numerous occasions by the international and national press.
Table of Contents
Introduction * Historical Overview * The Iraqi Kurds' Federalism Imperative * The Changing Dynamics in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq * After Ocalan's Capture * Turkey's EU Promise * Taming Turkey's Deep State * The Other Kurds in Iran and Syria * Conclusion * Bibliography