The Kurds with an estimated population of 25 to 28 million people are arguably the largest nation in the world without its own independent state. The Kurdish population spreads into four countries, in an area referred to as Kurdistan. Since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in April 2003, the first free elections in Iraq were held in January 2005, the Iraqi constitution was passed in a referendum in October 2005, and successful elections were held in December 2005. The Kurds are now wielding more political influence over the future of Iraq and the future of Iraqi Kurdistan. These events have given rise to Kurdish expectations of independence; or at a minimum, a federalist Iraq. United States foreign policy can no longer ignore the Kurdish question as it applies to the Middle East and to U.S. creditability on the world stage. This paper will analyze U.S. policy towards the Kurds in the future Iraq. Can Iraq unite with a power sharing agreement between Arab Shiites, Arab Sunnis, and Kurds? If Iraq cannot become united, can a peaceful separation be achieve that will maintain stability in the region? How should U.S. foreign policy proceed?

The Kurds, once marginal in the study of the Middle East and secondary in its international relations, have moved to centre stage in recent years. The contributors to The Kurdish Question Revisited offer insights into how this once seemingly intractable, immutable phenomenon is being transformed amid the new political realities of the Middle East.

The Kurds, one of the oldest ethnic groups in the Middle East, are reasserting their identity-politically and through violence. Turkey's essentially democratic structure and civil society-ideal tools for coping with and incorporating minority challenge-have so far been suspended on this issue, which the government is treating almost exclusively as a security problem to be dealt with by force. This study explores the roots, dimensions, character, and evolution of the problem, offers a range of approaches to a resolution of the conflict, and draws broader parallels between the Kurdish question and other separatist movements worldwide.

This volume provides a comprehensive examination of the Kurdish question in Turkey, tracing its developments from the end of the Ottoman Empire to the present day.

Society in Turkey is deeply divided over the definition and even existence of the Kurdish question, and this uncertainty has long manifested itself in its complete denial, or in accusations of political rivals of 'separatism' and even 'treason'. Turkey's Kurdish Question explores how these denial and acknowledgement dynamics often reveal pre-existing political ideology and agenda priorities, themselves becoming political actions. While the very term "Kurdish question" is discussed in the academic literature as a given, a new and systemic study is required to deconstruct and analyze the constitutive parts of this discursive construct. This book provides the first comprehensive study and analysis of the discursive constructions and perceptions of what is broadly defined as the "Kurdish question" in Turkish, European and American political cultures. Furthermore, its new methodological approach to the study of discourse and politics of secessionist conflicts can be applied to many similar intra-state conflict cases.