Kurdish Bibliography
It’s truly inspiring to see the remarkable growth in English-language literature on the subject of Kurds in recent years. We are delighted to present an inspiring selection of literature that will enrich your understanding of this vital topic. Check here for a selection of Kurdish films and websites as well.
Akkaya, Ahmet Hamdi; Jongerden, Jost, Reassembling the Political: The PKK and the project of Radical Democracy, [Publisher], [Year].
Ali, Bakhtiyar & Kareem Abdulrahman (Translation), I Stared at the Night of the City, [Publisher], [Year].
Allsopp, Harriet; van Wilgenburg, Wladimir, The Kurds of Northern Syria: Governance, Diversity and Conflicts (Kurdish Studies), – 2019.
Arakon, Maya, Kurds at the Transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic, in: Turkish Policy Quarterly, 2014, Vol. 13, No.1, S. 139-148, [Publisher], [Year].
Bengio, Ofra, Kurdish Awakening: Nation Building in a Fragmented Homeland, [Publisher], [Year].
Bengio, Ofra, Kurdistan’s Moment in the Middle East, [Publisher], [Year].
Bidlîsî, Sharaf Khān, The Sharafnâma, or, the history of the Kurdish nation: 1597, Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publ., 2005.
Bekas, Sherko; Hardi, Choman (Translator), Butterfly Valley, 2018.
Biehl, Janet, Their Blood Got Mixed: Revolutionary Rojava and the War on ISIS, SKU: 9781629639444, PM Press/Kairos, Published: 06/21/2022.
Bozarslan, Hamit, Human Rights and the Kurdish Issue in Turkey: 1984-1999, in: Human Rights Review, 2001, Vol. 3, Issue 1, S. 45-54, online unter: https://www.academia.edu/435664/Human_Rights_and_the_Kurdish_Issue_In_Turkey_1984_1999.
Butterfield, Peter, The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War Without End, Simon & Schuster, 2006.
Cansiz, Sakine, Sara: My Whole Life Was a Struggle, [Publisher], [Year].
Cansiz, Sakine, Sara: Prison Memoir of a Kurdish Revolutionary, [Publisher], [Year].
Çağlayan, Handan, From Kawa the Blacksmith to Ishtar the Goddess: Gender Constructions in Ideological-Political Discourses of the Kurdish Movement in post-1980 Turkey, European Journal of Turkish Studies, 2012, https://journals.openedition.org/ejts/4657.
Dirik, Dilar, The Kurdish Women’s Movement: History, Theory, Practice, [Publisher], [Year].
Elmas, Gülen, Women, Urbanization and Regional Development in Southeast Anatolia: A Case Study for Turkey, Turkish Studies, Vol.5, No.3, 2004, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/1468384042000270308?needAccess=true.
Erturk, Yakin, Rural Women and Modernization in Southeastern Anatolia, in: Sirin Tekeli: Women in Modern Turkish Society, London: Atlantic Heights, 1995.
Gunter, Michael M., A Historical Dictionary of the Kurds, Scarecrow, 2003.
Gunter, Michael M., Out of Nowhere: The Kurds of Syria in Peace and War, London: C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2014.
Gunter, Michael M., The Kurdish Predicament in Iraq: A Political Analysis, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999.
Gunter, Michael M., The Kurds: A Modern History, Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers Inc, 2015.
Gunter, Michael M., The Kurds Ascending: The Evolving Solution to the Kurdish Problem in Iraq and Turkey, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
Gunter, Michael M., The Kurds and the Future of Turkey, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997.
Guneser, Havin, The Art of Freedom: A Brief History of the Kurdish Liberation Struggle, PM Press/Kairos, Published: 07/2021.
Homa, Ava, Daughters of Smoke and Fire: A Novel, 2020.
Human Rights Watch, Iraq’s Crime of Genocide: The Anfal Campaign Against the Kurds, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.
Izady, Mehrdad, The Kurds: A Concise Handbook, [Publisher], [Year].
Kemal, Yashar, Memed, My Hawk, 2005.
Kemal, Yashar, They Burn the Thistles, 2006.
Knapp, Michael; Flach, Anja; Ayboga, Ercan, Revolution in Rojava: Democratic Autonomy and Women’s Liberation in Syrian Kurdistan, [Publisher], [Year].
Kurt, Mehmet, Kurdish Hizbullah in Turkey: Islamism, Violence and the State, [Publisher], [Year].
Mahmoud, Houzan (Editor), Kurdish Women’s Stories, [Publisher], [Year].
Meiselas, Susan, Kurdistan: In the Shadow Of History, 2007 (2nd Edition), [Publisher], [Year].
McDowall, David, A Modern History of the Kurds, London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 2009.
Mojab, Shahrzad, ed., Women of a Non-State Nation: the Kurds, Mazda, 2001.
Öcalan, Abdullah, Beyond State, Power, and Violence, SKU: 9781629637150, PM Press/Kairos.
Öcalan, Abdullah, Building Free Life: Dialogues with Öcalan, PM Press/Kairos, 2020.
Öcalan, Abdullah, Capitalism: The Age of Unmasked Gods and Naked Kings (Manifesto of the Democratic Civilization, Volume II), Second Edition, PM Press/Kairos, 2025
Öcalan, Abdullah, Freedom Shall Prevail: The Struggle of Abdullah Öcalan and the Kurdish People, PM Press/Kairos, 2024
Öcalan, Abdullah, Manifesto for a Democratic Civilization: Civilization: The Age of Masked Gods and Disguised Kings, 2015, PM Press/Kairos.
Öcalan, Abdullah, Prison Writings: The Roots of Civilisation, Gebundene Ausgabe – 2007, [Publisher].
Öcalan, Abdullah, The Road Map to Negotiations: Prison Writings III, 2012, [Publisher].
Sabar, Ariel, My Father’s Paradise: A Son’s Search for His Family’s Past, Broché – 2009, [Publisher].
Schmidinger, Thomas, Rojava: Revolution, War and the Future of Syria’s Kurds, [Publisher], [Year].
Schmidinger, Thomas, The Battle for the Mountain of the Kurds: Self-Determination and Ethnic Cleansing in the Afrin Region of Rojava, PM Press/Kairos, 2019.
Sunca, Yasin, The Regional Kurdish Question in a Global World: Mentalities, Policies and Geopolitical Dynamics, [Publisher], 2022.
Üstündağ, Nazan, The Mother, the Politician, and the Guerrilla: Women’s Political Imagination in the Kurdish Movement, Paperback – 2023, [Publisher].
Westrheim, Kariane, Education in a Political Context: A Study of Knowledge Processes and Learning Sites in the PKK, Bergen: University of Bergen, Norwegen, 2008, http://bora.uib.no/bitstream/handle/1956/3455/Dr.thesis_Kariane%20Westrheim.pdf?sequence=3.
Yildiz, Kerim, The Kurds in Iran: The Past, Present and Future, [Publisher], [Year].
Yildiz, Kerim, The Kurds in Syria: The Forgotten People, Pluto, 2006.
Yildiz, Kerim, The Kurds in Iraq: The Past, Present and Future, by Kerim Yildiz and Tanyel Taysi, [Publisher], [Year].