The Uncontainable Kurds

Tehran resident and frequent commentator on Iran, Christopher de Bellaigue, travels west to Turkey to examine the status of Kurds in Turkey. He describes how some have become the fully assimilated Turks that the government so much wanted them to become; but that many have maintained a separate ethnic and cultural identity in their southeastern Turkey homeland and within neighborhoods of the large cities in Western Turkey.

de Bellaigue uses the ambiguity with which the government treats the Kurds to touch on Turkey’s many ambiguities – ranging from the unwillingness to confront the mass deaths of Armenians after WWI, to the treatment of Christians (particularly the Greek Orthodox church which is headquartered in Istanbul), to Turkey’s relationship with Europe, the United States, and Iran. (More Iraq stories.)