Najmaldin Karim Webinar Series
December 17, 2020 @11:00 am EST
In the last four years, the Kurds experienced setbacks in their homeland divided by four countries.
In Iran, the Kurdish opposition was often the target of the Iranian regime’s missile attacks, and the Kurdistan region of Iran continues to suffer dire political and economic pressure from the Iranian regime. Concurrently, the Trump administration continued Obama’s 2015-policy of not holding talks with any Iranian opposition groups including the Kurds.
In Iraq, in the aftermath of holding an Independence Referendum, the Kurds lost half of the Kurdish region known as the “disputed territories.” The US administration’s rejection of the referendum emboldened the Iranian-backed militias and the Iraqi government to attack the Kurds.
In Syria, as the Kurds wrapped up the fight against ISIS terrorism, the Trump administration allowed Turkey and its proxies to invade the Kurdish region known as Rojava. As a result, the Kurds suffered tremendous losses in lives and a large swath of territories.
In Turkey, the Turkish government's crackdown on the Kurds both militarily and politically has been considered the most brutal since the establishment of the Turkish state. Turkey’s President Recept Tayyip Erdogan continues to jail and sack the elected Kurdish officials amid the lack of a clear policy toward Turkey by Trump’s administration.
President-elect Joe Biden is no stranger to the Kurds since most have dealt with the Kurdish issue as early as the 1990s. However, the question remains, what Kurds should expect of the Biden presidency? How the Kurdish leaders should prepare for more understanding with the new administration? Would the Biden administration be any different in approaching the states with Kurdish populations? And more will be addressed by our distinguished speakers.
Speakers:
Dr. David Romano- Professor of Middle East Politics at Missouri State University.
Dr. Amy Austin Holmes- International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and Middle East Fellow at the Wilson Center.
Dr. Mehmet Gurses- Associate Professor of Political Science at Florida Atlantic University.
Philip Kowalski- Turkish foreign policy, Kurdish rights, and Turkey’s involvement in the Syrian conflict.

свернуть