The Kurds In Iraq: The Past, Present and Future [Hardcover]

Kerim Yildiz (Author), Tom Blass (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 20, 2004

The Kurds in Iraq by Kerim Yildiz, explores the key issues facing the Kurds in Iraq in the aftermath of the US-led invasion and chaos of the occupation. It is the most clear and up-to-date account of the problems that all political groups face in rebuilding the country, as well as exploring Kurdish links and international relations in the broader sense. It should be required reading for policy-makers and anyone interested in the current position of the Kurds in Iraq. Yildiz explores the impact of war and occupation on Iraqi Kurdistan, and in particular the crucial role of the city of Kirkuk in the post-war settlement. He also looks at how UN rifts potentially affect the Kurds; relations between Iraqi Kurds and Turkey; relations with Iran; and US policy towards the Kurds.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Kerim Yildiz is the Executive Director of Kurdish Human Rights Project, an independent non-political human rights organisation founded in London in 1992. Himself a Kurdish refugee, he has written extensively on issues of human rights, minority rights and international law.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 248 pages
• Publisher: Pluto Press (August 20, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0745322298
• ISBN-13: 978-0745322292
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,162,946 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Valuable But Marred Guide, June 14, 2006

By 

Jazz It Up Baby - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Kurds In Iraq: The Past, Present and Future (Paperback)

According to Michael Rubin, the liberation of Iraq propelled Iraqi Kurdistan into the international limelight. The Iraqi Kurdish militia plays an important role in Iraq; Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, is a former Kurdish guerilla leader, and the Kurds have an important role in the new government's politics. The Iraqi Kurdish experience is now central to discussion over the fate of Baathist officials, and Kurdish demands remain at the heart of the debate over federalism.

Yildiz, executive director of the London-based Kurdish Human Rights Project, has compiled a guide better than many other surveys of Iraqi Kurdish history, society, and politics. The Kurds in Iraq is a valuable guide not only for the policy practitioner but also for the general reader who wants a clear, concise study to aid understanding of a people and a region increasingly in the news. Unlike many other authors on this subject, he neither indulges his emotions nor does he artificially extend backwards Kurdish nationalism. He is precise, noting that while the term "Kurd" first appeared in the seventh century C.E., it would be almost a millennium before the term "Kurdistan" entered common usage and even then with a lack of precision as to its boundaries. His narrative is exact. Yildiz details not only Washington's 1975 decision to withdraw support for the Kurdish uprising but also the often ignored 1974 Kurdish decision to turn down Baghdad's autonomy offer. He also gives context to Saddam Hussein's 1987-88 Anfal campaign and does not limit its discussion to its most famous episode, the March 1988 use of chemical weapons against civilians in Halabja.

While Yildiz emphasizes human rights and international legal responsibilities, he glosses over intra-Kurdish human rights abuses. There is no mention, for example, of the 2-3,000 Kurds executed during the 1994-97 Kurdish civil war, nor does he discuss Kurdistan Democratic Party leader Masud Barzani's appropriation of land and property from rival tribes, nor is there coverage of Iraqi Kurdistan's corruption problem. Small errors of fact mar the account. The Iran-Iraq war, for example, began in 1980, not 1983. Likewise, despite the nickname, the "Swiss dinar" currency used in Iraqi Kurdistan between 1991 and 2003 was printed in the United Kingdom and not in Switzerland.

Looking toward the future, Yildiz highlights conflicts over the death penalty likely to occur between the European states and the Iraqi Special Tribunal trying Saddam Hussein and other former top regime officials. He also questions the extent to which American and European civilians serving in the Coalition Provisional Authority and its successor organizations conform to international law. His background in humanitarian law contributes to some bias. He states that many "have called for the U.N. to take over administration of Iraq," something perhaps true among his human rights colleagues in London but certainly not among Iraqis, the vast majority of whom wish for a return to full sovereignty.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A GOOD, OBJECTIVE, AND WELL ORGANIZED OVERVIEW OF IRAQI KURDISH HISTORY AND PRESENT PROSPECTS, June 15, 2006

By 

WAYNE YUNGHANS "WORDMAN" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Kurds In Iraq: The Past, Present and Future (Paperback)

The author gives a readable and useful history of the Kurdish people. As always, an understanding of a people's past illuminates their present as, at some level, we are the sum total of our experience and how we choose/are able to deal with it. In the Kurdish case - that experience has been a history of repeated abuse at the hands of governments to whom they are somewhere between a nuisance and a threat. The problem presented by the Kurds is heightened by the fact that they sit astride some of the very best real estate of the nations in which their ancestral lands now find themselves (Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran). The responses of different countries to their own "Kurdish Problem" have been remarkably similar: some degree of ethnic cleansing. This was practiced in its most extreme form by Saddam Hussein during the Anfal Campaigns which included the use of chemical agents to kill thousands of Kurdish civilians.

In general the book was readable. No awards for eloquence or creative verbage, yet as a basic history - it worked. I would reservedly recommend the book to those with a specific interest in the subject matter. Of the books out there, it is one of the few to give an objective overview. Most of the others are subjective experiences of various western journalists or personal accounts written by those who suffered. In that respect, the book is worthwhile. For one stop shopping this book does put it all together in a well organized whole.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Kurds In Iraq : The Past, Present and Future, March 7, 2006

By 

Michael Rubin "Middle East Quarterly" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Kurds In Iraq: The Past, Present and Future (Paperback)

The liberation of Iraq propelled Iraqi Kurdistan into the international limelight. The Iraqi Kurdish militia plays an important role in Iraq; Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, is a former Kurdish guerilla leader, and the Kurds have an important role in the new government's politics. The Iraqi Kurdish experience is now central to discussion over the fate of Baathist officials, and Kurdish demands remain at the heart of the debate over federalism.

Yildiz, executive director of the London-based Kurdish Human Rights Project, has compiled a guide better than many other surveys of Iraqi Kurdish history, society, and politics. The Kurds in Iraq is a valuable guide not only for the policy practitioner but also for the general reader who wants a clear, concise study to aid understanding of a people and a region increasingly in the news. Unlike many other authors on this subject, he neither indulges his emotions nor does he artificially extend backwards Kurdish nationalism. He is precise, noting that while the term "Kurd" first appeared in the seventh century C.E., it would be almost a millennium before the term "Kurdistan" entered common usage and even then with a lack of precision as to its boundaries. His narrative is exact. Yildiz details not only Washington's 1975 decision to withdraw support for the Kurdish uprising but also the often ignored 1974 Kurdish decision to turn down Baghdad's autonomy offer. He also gives context to Saddam Hussein's 1987-88 Anfal campaign and does not limit its discussion to its most famous episode, the March 1988 use of chemical weapons against civilians in Halabja.

While Yildiz emphasizes human rights and international legal responsibilities, he glosses over intra-Kurdish human rights abuses. There is no mention, for example, of the 2-3,000 Kurds executed during the 1994-97 Kurdish civil war, nor does he discuss Kurdistan Democratic Party leader Masud Barzani's appropriation of land and property from rival tribes, nor is there coverage of Iraqi Kurdistan's corruption problem. Small errors of fact mar the account. The Iran-Iraq war, for example, began in 1980, not 1983. Likewise, despite the nickname, the "Swiss dinar" currency used in Iraqi Kurdistan between 1991 and 2003 was printed in the United Kingdom and not in Switzerland.

Looking toward the future, Yildiz highlights conflicts over the death penalty likely to occur between the European states and the Iraqi Special Tribunal trying Saddam Hussein and other former top regime officials. He also questions the extent to which American and European civilians serving in the Coalition Provisional Authority and its successor organizations conform to international law. His background in humanitarian law contributes to some bias. He states that many "have called for the U.N. to take over administration of Iraq," something perhaps true among his human rights colleagues in London but certainly not among Iraqis, the vast majority of whom wish for a return to full sovereignty.

Middle East Quarterly, Winter 2006