The Kurdish Nationalist Movement in the 1990s: Its Impact on Turkey and the Middle East

by Robert W. Olson (Editor)

In this volume, leading scholars on the history of the Kurds lay out the case that the Kurdish Question looms as one of the largest threats to peace and stability in the Middle East. With the majority of Kurds living within its borders, no country faces this threat more squarely than Turkey, whose concept of a unified, cohesive nation―in which the existence of ethnic minorities is not acknowledged―makes the powder keg more difficult to manage than elsewhere. Separate sections examine the development of the movement and explore its influence on Turkey's foreign, domestic, and human rights policies, in the end questioning the viability of the Turkish state as presently constituted.

220 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1996