MER Article Recent Books on the Kurds Nader Entessar, Kurdish Ethnonationalism (Lynne Rienner, 1992). Philip Kreyenbroek and Stefan Sperl, eds., The Kurds: A Contemporary Overview (Routledge, 1992). Sheri Laizer, Into Kurdistan: Frontiers Under Fire (Zed, 1991). Martin van Bruinessen, Agha, Shaikh and State: The Social and Political Eric Hooglund • 3 min read
MER Article State Terror and the Degradation of Politics in Iraq The degradation of Iraqi politics and society under the Baathist regime is a story that can now be pieced together from documents that just a few months ago no one would have dreamed having access to. Baghdad’s brutal repression turned the March uprising in Iraq into another tragic episode, Isam al-Khafaji • 20 min read
MER Article Between Guerrilla Warfare and Political Murder The most spectacular development of the past several years in Turkey’s Kurdish provinces has been the resumption, in the late summer of 1984, of guerrilla activity. The attacks consist mainly of hit-and-run actions against military personnel and against Kurdish civilians considered “traitors” or “co Martin Van Bruinessen • 18 min read
MER Article The Kurds Between Iran and Iraq The news from Kurdistan is sad and grim. On both sides of the Iran-Iraq border, the central governments have been carrying out violent campaigns to bring the Kurdish districts under control and to wipe out the peshmergas (guerrilla fighters) of the various Kurdish organizations. This entails direct Martin Van Bruinessen • 31 min read
