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23 - Tribes and Their Changing Role in Kurdish Politics and Society

from Part IV - Religion and Society

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 April 2021

By
Hamit Bozarslan  and
Cengiz Gunes
Edited by
Hamit Bozarslan ,
Cengiz Gunes  and
Veli Yadirgi
Hamit Bozarslan
Affiliation:
Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris
Cengiz Gunes
Affiliation:
The Open University, Milton Keynes
Veli Yadirgi
Affiliation:
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
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Summary

This chapter discusses the changing role of tribes in Kurdish politics and society. It focuses mainly on Turkey but also considers ‘Kurdish situations’ in Iraq, Syria and Iran. It provides a historical overview of the developments and suggests that the tribal factor has been one of the major determinants of Kurdish politics throughout the twentieth century. It is thus no wonder that French and British Mandate officers, as well as Turkish, Iranian, Syrian and Iraqi authorities, have paid specific attention to tribes and tribalism in Kurdistan. The sociopolitical developments in the second half of the twentieth century that have significantly transformed their role in Kurdish politics and society are highlighted before an assessment of their role in the current period is provided.

Keywords

tribestribal identitiesKurdish societyKurdish politicspolitical transformationKurdish nationalism
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of the Kurds , pp. 581 - 600
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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