1 - Introduction

Summary

This chapter provides an introduction, chapter outline and theoretical/conceptual framework for the book. Through this introductory chapter the reader will be introduced to the scope and significance, and the two main elements of the book with relevance to the Iranian Kurdish movement: firstly, the formation and politicisation of Kurdish national sentiment, and the reasons for the emergence and continuation of the Kurdish question in Iran; and secondly, the crossborder dimension of the interactions between Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish political parties, and the impact of this interaction on the capability and direction of the Iranian Kurdish movement. In addition, this chapter reflects on the early twentieth-century nation-state policy in Iran, and its impact on the emergence of the national liberation movement of the Kurds in Iranian and reasons for the intensification and continuation of the Kurdish question.