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Turkey's rising leftist student movement in the late 1960s admired the Palestinian Fedayeen movement and considered it as a school for their own future struggle. In the late 1960s young Turkish-Kurdish leftist students went to Palestinian guerilla camps in Lebanon to be trained in preparation for armed struggle in Turkey. That relationship gained new momentum following the 1980 military coup in Turkey, which heavily impacted Turkish and Kurdish radical movements. The Palestinian camps turned out to be a major retreat for these Turkish-Kurdish groups, among whom the PKK was a primary beneficiary. The PKK seized this opportunity not only for military training but also for organisational recovery which almost no other Turkish or Kurdish movement managed. This article aims to trace the relationship between Turkish-Kurdish radical movements and Palestinian organisations, focusing mainly on the PKK. I argue that the PKK has made use of this relationship in realising the so-called "Palestinian Dream" within the Kurdish context. "Xewna Felestînê" li meydana kurdîKurte Hereketa xwendekarên çepgir ya Tirkiyeyê, ku di dawiya salên 60an de bihêz dibû, bi hijmekarî bal û nezera xwe dabûne ser hereketa "Feda'îyên Felestînê" û ew wek mektebekê didîtin ji bo têkoşîna xwe ya paşerojê. Dawiya salên 60an, xwendekarên ciwan ên çepgir ên tirk û kurd çûne nav kempên gerîlayên Felestînê li Lubnanê da ku xwe ji bo têkoşîna çekdarî li Tirkiyeyê amade bikin. Ew têkilî piştî derbeya leşkerî ya 1980an li Tirkiyeyê hêj bihêztir bû û tesîreke mezin li hereketên radîkal ên tirk û kurd kir. Kempên Felestînê bûne stargehên girîng ji bo van komên tirk-kurd, ku ji nav wan herî zêde PKKyê sûd jê wergirt. PKKyê ev îmkan ne tenê ji bo perwerdeya leşkerî lê herwiha ji bo selihandin û biserxwedehatina xwe ya rêxistînî jî bi kar anî, ya ku ti yek ji hereketên tirk-kurd ên din nekarîbûn pêk bînin. Ev gotar dikeve pey têkiliya di navbera hereketên radîkal ên tirk-kurd û rêxistinên Felestînî de, lê bi taybetî li ser PKKyê hûr dibe, û nîşan dide ku PKKyê ji vê îmkanê wisa îstifade kiriye ku "Xewna Felestînê" li meydana kurdî pêk bîne.

This review analyses the recent contributions of Elise Massicard and Markus Dressler to Alevi studies. While Massicard employs methods of political sociology and transna-tional identity politics, Dressler is concerned with the intrinsic relation between the religious and the secular as well as the place of religion in nation-state building projects. Massicard argues that formulating Alevism is context and actor dependent and shaped simultaneously in its interaction with diverse actors, which she calls identity movement without an identity. The emphasis on the audience in defining Alevism might stem from the inadequacy of the universal language of religion to accommodate Alevi expression. Similarly, Dressler argues that the modern Alevi tradition was constructed at the intersection of Turkish nation building, modern religion discourse and Islamic apologetics and criticises the modernist discourse on religion such as the heterodoxy/orthodoxy binary for its insufficiency to capture the complexities of different contexts.

Professor Mirella Galletti, a great friend of the Kurds, died in Rome on 4 September 2012. Mirella's work is of inestimable value to the field of Kurdish Studies and her publications cover not only the history, society and traditions of the Kurds, but also the Christian minorities of the Middle East, particularly those of Iraq and Kurdistan.

Kurdish Studies as a journal and a scholarly community has grown significantly in recent years. We pride ourselves on being able to create a venue for scholarly exchange for those interested in the field. Our dedicated editorial team works tirelessly with the collective aim of publishing high quality research and scholarship. Behind the scenes we offer constructive academic support to both new and established researchers in the field through a meticulous peer review and feedback process. Without ignoring the dilemmas, the pros and cons of academic indexes, we are also generating some interest from well-known indexing and abstracting services. Besides RePEc, Kurdish Studies is now indexed and abstracted by EBSCO. For this we would like to thank both the authors and the anonymous reviewers for their contributions to the journal thus far. As always, we welcome contributions from researchers in Kurdish Studies and also proposals for special Journal issues.

This article examines how the rise of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), the on-going Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) insurgency and current peace negotiations with the Turkish government, and the recently declared autonomy by the Syrian Kurds—largely under the leadership of the Democratic Union Party (PYD)—have empowered the Kurds and challenged the existing political map of the Middle East largely established after World War I. At the same time this article also considers the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as one of the other main tipping points changing the Middle East political map. The roles and policies of Turkey and the United States to these transformations are also analysed.Keywords: Kurds; ISIS; Middle East; politics; Syria; Iraq; KRG; Turkey.Kurd di xerîteya siyasî ya Rojhilata Navîn a di guherînê deArmanca vê gotarê ew e tehlîl bike ka duristbûna Hukûmeta Herêma Kurdistanê, serhildana berdewam a Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê û danûstandinên aştiyê ligel hukûmeta Tirkiyeyê, û ew otonomiya ku kurdên Sûriyeyê, heyamên dawî, piranî di bin pêşengiya Partiya Yekîtiya Demokratîk de ragihandin çawa kurd bihêz kirine û çawa hevsengiya xerîteya siyasî ya Rojhilata Navîn, ya bi piranî li dû Şerê Cîhanî yê Yekem hatiye binecihkirin, xistiye ber birparsyaran. Gotar herwiha balê dikêşe ser peydabûna Dewleta Îslamî li Iraq û Sûriyeyê wek xaleke dîtir a werçerxanê di guherîna xerîteya siyasî ya Rojhilata Navîn de. Herwiha, dewr û siyasetên Tirkiye û Dewletên Yekgirtî yên Emerîkayê yên di barê van guherînan de jî hatine tehlîlkirin.

When founded in 1978, the PKK defined itself as a socialist movement aiming to create a classless society through the formation of a new state-power. In the 1990s, the ideology of the PKK began to change and this transformation became apparent in the 2000s. The PKK has since completely abandoned its statist Marxist-Leninist national liberationist ideology, and has instead proposed to build "democratic modernity" through the creation of an anti-capitalist, anti-industrialist, women emancipatory and ecologist "democratic confederalism" framework. This project defines the ecologist-rural communes grounded on food sovereignty as its basic economic units. This article argues that the transformation of the PKK's goals on the political economy of the Kurdish region is shaped by, on the one hand, the world systemic and internal restraints acting upon the PKK, and on the other hand, the ideological responses of the PKK to those restraints.Keywords: The PKK; Abdullah Öcalan; democratic modernity; democratic confederalism; anti-capitalist movements.Guherîna îdeolojîk di PKKyê de û aboriya siyasî ya herêma kurdî li TirkiyeyêGava di sala 1978an de hate damezrandin, PKKyê xwe wek hereketeke sosyalîst pênase kiribû û armanca xwe wisa danîbû ku civakeke bêçîn durist bike bi rêya avakirina desthilata dewleteke nû. Di salên 1990an de îdeolojiya PKKyê dest bi guherînê kir û di salên 2000an de ev guherîn pir aşkera bû. Ji hingê ve, PKKyê bi temamî dest ji îdeolojiya xwe ya Marksî-Lenînî ya azadiya neteweyî kêşaye, li batî wê, ragihandiye ku dixwaze "modernîteya demokratîk" ava bike bi rêya duristkirina çarçoveyeke "konfederaliya demokratîk" a dij-sermayedarî, dij-endûstrîgerî, jin-rizgarkerane û ekolojîk. Di vê projeyê de yekeyên aborî yên esasî ew komûnên ekolojîst-gundî ne ku li ser serbixweyiya xwe ya xurekî pêk hatine (anku ji bo bidestxistina xureka xwe ne muhtacê derve ne). Ev gotar diyar dike ku guherînên di armancên PKKyê yên li ser aboriya siyasî ya herêma kurdî, ji aliyekê ve, ji ber wan zext û berbest û mehdûdiyetên sîstemî yên global û navxweyî pêk hatine ku kar di PKKyê dikin, ji aliyê dî ve, ji ber bersivên îdeolojîk ên PKKyê ne bo wan berbest û mehdûdiyetan.

Minoo Alinia, Honor and Violence against Women in Iraqi Kurdistan. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, 190 pp., (ISBN: 978-1-137-36700-6).Fevzi Bilgin and Ali Sarıhan (eds.), Understanding Turkey's Kurdish Question, Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2013, 250 pp., (ISBN: 978-0-7391-8402-8).Michael M. Gunter, Out of Nowhere: The Kurds of Syria in Peace and War, Hurst Publishers, London, 2014, 169 pp., (ISBN: 978-1-84904-435-6).Mohammed Shareef, The United States, Iraq and the Kurds: Shock, Awe and Aftermath, New York and Oxon: Routledge, 2014, 234 pp., (ISBN-13: 978-0415719902).Latif Tas, Legal Pluralism in Action: Dispute Resolution and the Kurdish Peace Committee, Farnham: Ashgate, 2014, 208 pp., (ISBN-13: 978-1472422088).Galia Goran and Walid Salem (eds.), Non-State Actors in the Middle East: Factors for Peace and Democracy, Oxon: Routledge, 2013, 230 pp., (ISBN-13: 978-0415517058).Mehmed S. Kaya, The Zaza Kurds of Turkey: A Middle Eastern Minority in a Globalised Society. London: I.B. Tauris, 2011, xii, 223 pp., (ISBN 978-1-84511-875-4). Shanna Kirschner, Trust and Fear in Civil Wars: Ending Intrastate Conflicts, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015, 189 pp., (ISBN: 978-0-7391-9641-0).

Writing Kurdish literary history, that is a historical account of the development of Kurdish literature, is a fairly new project. Literary critics have strived to construct a comprehensive narrative of the evolution of poetry and prose and to classify individual works into certain schools and movements. Doing so, however, has proved to be a challenging task for Kurdish literature predominantly due to the lack of adequate knowledge of classical, and even contemporary, literature as a consequence of sizeable unpublished or lost manuscripts. In fact, the scarcity of knowledge on classical literature has left critics with a fragmented and episodic picture of Kurdish literary history. In this article I evaluate Kurdish literary historiography in the light of the scarcity of information and examine its ideological foundation and methodological problems. I discuss the significance of collecting, editing and publishing documents and manuscripts as a crucial step in rewriting Kurdish literary history and the way this might change our understanding of Kurdish literature.Keywords: Kurdish literature; literary history; literary canon; manuscript; classification; periodisation.Astengên li ber nivîsîna tarîxa edebiyata kurdî: Pêşkeşkirin, tesnîfkirin, û qonaxbendîNivîsîna tarîxa edebiyata kurdî, anku nivîsîna tarîxa werar û geşeya edebiyata kurdî, hewldaneke nû ye. Rexnegirên edebî hewla wê yekê dane ku wêneyekî giştgîr ê şi'r û pexşana kurdî bikêşin û berhemên nivîseran jî di nav rewt û hereketên edebî de bisenifînin. Lê belê, ev yek kar û erkekî zehmet e di çarçoveya edebiyata kurdî de, lewre windabûn an belavnebûna gelek ji destnivîsan nahêle ku zanyariyên saxlem û berfireh bi dest bikevin li ser edebiyata klasîk û hevçerx. Lewma bi tenê zanyariyên belawela hene li ber destê me sebaret bi tarîxa edebiyata kurdî. Ev gotar binemayên îdeolojîk/hizrî yên tarîxnivîsiya edebiyata kurdî û kêşeyên wê yên mêtodolojîk rave dike û balê dikêşe ser girîngiya berhevkirin, amadekirin û belavkirina belge û destnivîsaran wek pêngaveke esasî di jinûve-nivîsîna tarîxa edebiyata kurdî de, hewldanek ku dikare têgihiştina me li ser edebiyata kurdî biguhere.

High issue salience and controversy negatively affect the probability of success of multilateral negotiations. In such a context, Chairpersons acquire an important role in agenda management and brokerage among the bargaining partners. If they perform these functions neutrally and impartially, Chairs increase their effectiveness and emerge as key determinants of negotiation success. However, Chairs as agents often seek some degree of autonomy to pursue their own interests. We expect high issue salience and controversy to create a non-conducive environment for Chairs to follow their own agenda, due to greater principals' sensitivity, thus leading any such autonomy-seeking attempt to failure. We discuss four case studies of negotiations taken from the un setting, in which Chairs sought autonomy in a highly polarized and controversial bargaining environment. Whereas in the first two cases, the Chairs' attempts ended in failure confirming our basic hypothesis, in the latter two cases the Chairs were successful.

Despite saying that they will never "talk to terrorists," many countries have done so. Often these dialogues have included a component of so-called "Track Two Diplomacy." This article examines whether such a dialogue could be held with al Qaeda and other such groups. Research demonstrates that dialogues have been useful in ending terror campaigns in certain circumstances, but that they were never the decisive element. Where they have been useful, dialogues have helped to distinguish those members of terror organizations who are willing to talk from the hardliners, in helping to develop 'acceptable' players on the other side, and in allowing the two sides to better understand each other. The article finds that a dialogue with the hard core of al Qaeda is likely impossible, but that some elements may be willing to talk. Such dialogues will be localized and will be about specific concerns and, like in other cases, will be about seeing if there are elements of the movement that can be detached from the hard-core base. Track Two may have a role to play in these dialogues, but expectations should be kept modest.

While scholars have spent a good deal of time examining mediation processes, we know very little about unassisted negotiations in the midst of civil disputes. One of the primary goals of this research is to examine the factors that can bring about negotiations aimed at addressing core, underlying issues that brought about armed struggle. In order to do so, a comparative case study of Southeast Asia is presented. We find that unassisted negotiation of core issues can occur in intrastate rivalry under certain conditions. Interestingly, such efforts are unlikely to be won on the battlefield, but rather emerge following regime change or once mediation has paved the way for key issues to be addressed. Negotiations following regime change, while they tend to occur and involve core issues, continue to be influenced and challenged by the legacy of previous resolution efforts and historical memory.