Suchergebnisse

Examines recent developments in the relationship between Islam & politics in Turkey, highlighting the AK Party's rise to power, women's rights & the headscarf controversy, the Kurdish question, & how the US might assist Turkey in fashioning a model Islamic regime.

Considers the question of whether the Kurds will come into their own as a cohesive ethnic group in the mold of many others in recent years in Europe. Forces working against ethnic unity for the Kurds include geography, cultural & political fragmentation, & linguistic differences. Further, Kurds represent a small minority in all of the countries in which they reside; their situation in Iraq, Iran, & Turkey is briefly reviewed. The movement toward independence of the Kurds in Iraq is shown to have encouraged all Kurdish people to seek permanence to their affairs. However, achievement of this end is bound up with the fate of the authoritarian regimes in Iran & Iraq, which provides the essential uncertainty to their situation. It is concluded that changes will come for the Kurds, but slowly, as political circumstances in their countries of residence slowly become amenable to democratic movements. D. M. Smith