The Kurds: A Divided Nation in Search of a State

Donald Trump betrayed the Kurds, America's most reliable allies in the fight against ISIS, by announcing in a tweet that US troops would withdraw from Syria. Betrayal is nothing new in Kurdish history, especially by Western powers. The Kurds, a nation with its own history, language, and culture, were not included in the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), which contained no provision for a Kurdish state. As a result, the land of Kurds was divided into the territories of Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran.

"The story of Iraq's Kurds is relatively well known; Gunter's book sheds light on the less familiar Syrian Kurds, who number around 2.2 million and occupy three enclaves along the Turkish border. Syrian Kurdish militias have proved to be the most effective of Washington's partners in the fight against the Islamic State (or ISIS) in Syria. But they are also closely aligned with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, a group that the United States has designated as a terrorist organization and that is anathema to Turkey, a member of NATO and a close U.S. ally." --Foreign Affairs

"Michael Gunter, the doyen of Kurdish political studies in the United States, . . . has briskly condensed his three decades of scholarly engagement into a precis that can safely be put into the hands of both the student and the diplomat." --Journal of Politics

"Michael Gunter's well-structured monograph is an exceptionally accessible study of the Kurds and should be considered a mandatory read for undergraduate students with an interest in international relations. . . . Enormously valuable and readable. --Kurdish Studies

"Michael Gunter clarifies a complex web of relations among Kurdish political groups, Middle Eastern states, and Western powers. His active engagement in Kurdish issues for the last few decades includes meeting with PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in Damascus in 1998, attending the Kurdish Democratic Party Congress in 1993, and meeting with the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran, Mostafa Hejri, in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2012. It is great reading for students, scholars, and anyone else interested in understanding the Kurds' rising influence in the Middle East. ... Useful for policy makers in Washington, Ankara, Tehran, Baghdad, and Damascus. -- Middle East Policy