Kurdistan The Land Of The Forgotten

The time is 1982. Following his induction into an organization kept secret from the public, Cody and his two partners were sent to the mid-east. Too many weapons of war were entering Iraq. They learned that Iraq wanted nuclear weapons. After delivering Iraqi buyers phony nuclear warheads, they received a generous payment in phony currency. Cody was kept in jail as collateral until more nuclear weapons could be delivered. He escaped. In doing so, he freed an invaluable C.I.A. agent that joined forces with the trio. The Iraqi army pursued them and lost manpower and numerous military aircraft in doing so. In the desert, where Iraq’s massive oil supply is located, they discovered the Kurds suffering a massive genocide that would leave their entire land vacated.

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.

An engaging and impassioned look at Turkey's identity crisis 'A brilliant literary thriller, an incursion into forbidden territory that is all the more gripping for being true' The Times 'Sifting through propaganda, partisan accounts and evasive oral histories, de Bellaigue delivers a comprehensive primer in Turkish political history' Guardian _______________________________ What is the meaning of love and death in a remote, forgotten, impossibly conflicted part of the world? In Rebel Land the acclaimed author and journalist Christopher de Bellaigue journeys to Turkey's inhospitable eastern provinces to find out. Immersing himself in the achingly beautiful district of Varto, a place left behind in Turkey's march to modernity, medieval in its attachment to race and religious sect, he explores the violent history of conflict between Turks, Kurds and Armenians, and the maelstrom, of emotion and memories, that defines its inhabitants even today. The result is a compellingly personal account of one man's search into the past, as de Bellaigue, mistrusted by all he meets, and particularly by the secret agents of the State, applies his investigative flair and fluent Turkish to unlock jealously-guarded taboos and hold humanity's excesses up to the light of a very modern sensibility.

This book investigates the forgotten years of Kurdish nationalism in Iran, from the fall of the Kurdish republic to the advent of the Iranian revolution. An original and path-breaking investigation of the period, it sheds light not only on the historical specificity of the phenomenon of nationalism in exile, but also on the political processes and practices defining the development of Kurdish nationalism in the post-revolutionary era. Although nationalist landmarks such as the Kurdish republic in 1946 and the resurgence of the movement in the revolutionary conjuncture of 1978-79 have attracted the attention of historians and social scientists in recent years, little is known about the three decades of Kurdish nationalism in exile between these two events. This analysis draws on contemporary poststructuralist theory to question the concept of the minority in democratic and constitutional theory, arguing that it is an effect of the discursive linkage between sovereign power and the dominant ethnic-linguistic identity in the nation-state. This text will appeal to a wide academic audience ranging from the fields of Kurdish, Iranian and Middle East Studies to ethnicity, nationalism, government, and political science.

A collection of photographs of the Kurdish people. Caught in the middle of wars and conflicts in the oil-rich territory where the borders of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey converge, exploited and betrayed by colonial nations and the Cold War superpowers, the Kurds have throughout history been classic victims of realpolitik, the most recent examples being the campaigns waged against them by Saddam Hussein. These 100 photographs were taken in locales ranging from Germany to Turkey, London to Syria, and Jerusalem to Iraq. We see mothers and children living in the bombed-out rubble of their homes; Kurdish expatriates in European cities preserving their culture in the face of sometimes violent xenophobia; Kurdish guerillas training for war; and victims of chemical warfare.

From the First Gulf War to the present upheaval in Syria, the Kurdish question has been a crucial issue within the Middle East region and in international politics. Spread across several countries, the Kurds constitute the largest stateless nation in the world. In this context, a striking question arises: how are Kurdish identity and the idea of the homeland - both as a symbol and as territorial space - constructed in writings from Turkish Kurdistan and its diaspora? Through a comparative analysis of Kurdish writing, Ozlem Galip here provides the first comprehensive look at modern Kurdish literature. Drawing on theories of space and collective memory and exploring the use of the historical past and personal memories in the literature of stateless nations, this book analyses the construction of the imaginary homeland and the concept of Kurdish identity.

At the end of the First World War, British power in the colonies was at an all-time low. That was until a ragtag band of visionaries, including Winston Churchill and T.E. Lawrence, proposed that the aeroplane, the wonder weapon of the age, could save the empire. Using the radical strategy of air control, the RAF tried to subdue vast swathes of the Middle East, Asia and Africa.Wings of Empire is a compelling account of the colonial air campaigns that saw a generation of young airmen take to the skies to battle against warlords, jihadists and hostile tribes. For the first time ever, this book chronicles the full story of the RAF’s most extraordinary conflict.

Saddam Hussein had what some would call a heart of steel, whether acting in the capacity of bandit leader, political gangster, or president. Though written in the form of a novel with thriller elements,Saddamlandis based on thorough historical research, including interviews with a number of those who participated in the real-life events described—either as Saddam's victims or as his accomplices. The intrigues of Iraqi politics and the ways in which Saddam used them to his own advantage for years are described in this account, which gives a full and objective picture of the man's life and times. A comprehensive guide to all the information sources used by the author is provided.