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The Kurds of Central Anatolia
The History, Identity and Future of a Forgotten People
The Kurds of Central Anatolia
The History, Identity and Future of a Forgotten People
Description
From the 16th century up to the last decades of the Ottoman Empire, dozens of Kurdish tribes migrated west and settled in the Central Anatolian plains.
Geographically isolated, these Kurds sustained a largely peaceful relationship with their Turkish neighbours and maintained their tribal traditions and distinct ethnolinguistic identity. But more recently they have been exposed to forces of modernization and increasingly confrontational Turkish-Kurdish relations. This book is the first study in the English language on the Kurds of Central Anatolia. Based on extensive fieldwork, the majority of the chapters are written by scholars from within the Central Anatolian community and include perspectives from across history, anthropology, sociology and political science. The book analyses how these Kurds came to be in the plains of Central Anatolia, how they maintained their distinct identity and their evolving relationship with Turkey. It also examines the diaspora communities following their large-scale migration toward major urban centres in Turkey and Western countries. At a time when the Kurds of Central Anatolia are undergoing wide-scale transformations and contact with Kurds from the east, this book is an increasingly urgent examination into their past, their Kurdish identity and their future.
Table of Contents
Introduction, Mehmet Gurses, University of Central Florida, US, and Haci Cevik, Humboldt University, Germany
Section I: Kurds of Central Anatolia: An Overview
Chapter 1: The Historical Odyssey of Kurds of Central Anatolia, Yalcin Cakmak, Munzur University, Turkey
Chapter 2: Researching Kurds of Central Anatolia: Conceptual and Methodological Challenges in Studying Kurds of Central Anatolia, Yucel Demirer, Independent Scholar, Turkey
Chapter 3: Literary Works on Kurds of Central Anatolia: Resistance through Publishing, Adem Ozgur, Independent Journalist, Netherlands
Section II: Being Kurdish in a Sea of Turkishness
Chapter 4: Desert Kurds of Kirsehir: Clinging to Kurdishness in the Heart of Anatolia, Arzu Yilmaz, University of Kurdistan, Hewler
Chapter 5: Kurds of Haymana-Ankara: A Kurdish Tribe in Turkish Capital, Reyhan Ozsahin, University of Tubingen, Germany and Haci Cevik, Humboldt University, Germany
Chapter 6: Migration, Identity, and Cultural Memory: Social Construction of Kurdishness in Bala-Ankara, Sena Kaplan, University of Virginia, US
Chapter 7: Kurds of Yunak: Walking a Tightrope in Konya, Beyza Han-Tuncez, University of California, Berkeley, US
Chapter 8: A Kurdish Mahalle in Kastamonu: Neighborhood as Identity, Reyhan Ozsahin, University of Tubingen, Germany
Section III: The Evolving Kurdishness in Central Anatolia
Chapter 9: Identity, Migration, and Architecture among the Kurds of Central Anatolia, Gülüstan Polat-Yilmaz, Technical University of Graz, Austria
Chapter 10: Women and Politics Among Kurds of Central Anatolia, Busra Çelik Kosan, Independent Scholar, Turkey
Chapter 11: The Shifting Ground and Inter-Ethnic Relations in Konya, Haci Cevik, Humboldt University, Germany, and Mehmet Gurses, University of Central Florida, US
Product details
| Published | 11 Dec 2025 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (PDF) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Extent | 208 |
| ISBN | 9780755655793 |
| Imprint | I.B. Tauris |
| Series | Kurdish Studies |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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