Why are the Kurds always in the firing line?
Kurdish history is a catalogue of conflict and violence. Why can’t they find peace? And will they ever have their own homeland?
Turkey’s push to clear the Kurds from its border with Syria has brought howls of betrayal. Many Kurds believed the Americans would protect them, after they’d defeated the so-called Islamic State terror group together. But this is just the latest of the dozens of conflicts in which the Kurds have been involved over the past few decades. Why can’t they find peace? Is it their fault? Should the regimes they live under take responsibility? Or does the blame lie further back in history?
We hear from:
Dr Afshin Shahi - Lecturer in Middle East politics and International Relations at Bradford University
Dr Gönül Tol - Director of Center at The Middle East Institute's Center for Turkish Studies
Fazel Hawramy – Freelance journalist
Lindsey Hilsum – International editor of Channel 4 News
Presenter: Neal Razzell
Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton
Researcher: Lizzy McNeill
(Photo: Kurdish fighters withdraw from the border area near the northern Syrian town of Amuda on 27 October 2019. Credit: Delil Souleiman/Getty Images)
Last on
More episodes
Previous
Broadcasts
- Thu 31 Oct 2019 03:06GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service Europe and the Middle East & West and Central Africa only
- Thu 31 Oct 2019 04:06GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service Online & UK DAB/Freeview only
- Thu 31 Oct 2019 06:06GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service Australasia, Americas and the Caribbean & South Asia only
- Thu 31 Oct 2019 07:06GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service East and Southern Africa & East Asia only
- Thu 31 Oct 2019 15:06GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Thu 31 Oct 2019 18:06GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service East and Southern Africa, South Asia & West and Central Africa only
- Thu 31 Oct 2019 20:06GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service Online, Australasia, Americas and the Caribbean, UK DAB/Freeview & Europe and the Middle East only
- Thu 31 Oct 2019 21:06GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service News Internet & East Asia only
- Sat 2 Nov 2019 17:06GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service News Internet
- Mon 4 Nov 2019 00:06GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Mon 4 Nov 2019 09:06GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service except East and Southern Africa & East Asia
Podcast
-
The Inquiry
Getting beyond the headlines to explore the forces and ideas shaping the world