This is an introduction to the contemporary history of the Kurds in the Middle East. After the first major division to the land of the Kurds between the Safavid and the Ottomans in Zahaw treaty in 1639, the Sykes Picot secrete agreement of 1916 to divide the legacy of Ottoman between Britain and France came to divided the rest of Kurdistan on the newly emerged nation states of Iraq, Syria and Turkey. In other words, the arrival of nationalism as a political movement to the region, deprived the Kurds from the self determination rights that the other ethnics of the empire enjoyed after the great war. Therefore, mainly, over the past century, all the political parties in all parts of Kurdistan were motivated by nationalism. This course will look at the contemporary history of the Kurds in Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria.

Lecturer

Lecturer

Mohammed Mustafa

Independent Postdoctoral Researcher, London. PhD in Ethno-Political Studies, University of Exeter, England. Thesis: (Religious Nationalism in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq). MA in Near and Middle Eastern Studies (SOAS)