The History of the Kurds w/ Djene Bajalan

This series features Djene Bajalan, assistant professor of history at Missouri State University.

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Episode 1

Covers the medieval period until the 19th century.

Episode 2

Covers the rest of the 19th century.

Episode 3

Picks up at the beginning of the 20th century, covering various topics through World War I, including the 1908 Young Turks revolution, attempts to forge Kurdish factions into a separatist national movement, and relations with Armenian communities.

Episode 4

Begins in post-World War I Turkey. Discusses life under the Kamalist regime, the new republic’s changing geostrategic position in the 1920s, the “Kurdish Question”, the Sheikh Said Rebellion and other Kurdish nationalist uprisings, and the influence of fascism in the 1930s.

Episode 5

Explores changes in Kurdish nationalism during and after World War II (i.e. when it began to be framed in the context of decolonization), 1950s and 60s Kurdish politics in Iraq and Turkey, and the conditions that led to the formation and rise of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the late 1970s.

Episode 6

Picks up at the 1971 coup in Turkey, which has fractured the left. In its wake, a group led by Abdullah Öcalan forms what will become the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The discussion covers the PKK’s ideology, how it differentiates itself from leftist movements that preceded it, its relationship with regional groups including the PLO, and more.

Episode 7

Catches up on the situation for Kurdish peoples outside of Turkey after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Picking up at the end of the first World War, the conversation focuses on Kurds in the British Mandate of Iraq, leaders therein like Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji, how Kurds in Iraq interacted with Iraqi and pan-Arab nationalists, the Kurds of Persia including Simko Shikak, the short-lived Kurdish Republic of Mahabad, and more.

More episodes coming soon!