WACHH Friday Speaker Series: Henri Barkey

Ignored and repressed for almost all the 20th Century, Kurds in the Middle East have made some significant political and social gains. Always viewed as minorities in within the boundaries of the four states, Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria, Kurds have not only asserted their separate identities challenging the states but have also succeeded in achieving international recognition.

Henri J. Barkey is the Bernard L. Bertha F. Cohen Chair in International Relations at Lehigh University and an adjunct senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He has written extensively on Turkey, the Kurds and other Middle East issues.