Abdullah Öcalan and the Making of the PKK

Michael M. Gunter is a professor of political science at Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Tennessee. He is also the Secretary-General of the EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC) headquartered in Brussels. In the past, he taught courses for many years during the summer at the International University in Vienna, as well as courses on Kurdish and Middle Eastern politics, among others, for the U.S. Government Areas Studies Program and U.S. Department of State Foreign Service Institute in Washington, D.C. He is the author of eight critically praised scholarly books on the Kurdish question, editor or coeditor of nine more books on the Kurds, and author or editor of another seven books on the Armenians and Azerbaijan. He has also published more than 200 scholarly book chapters and journal articles on the Kurds and many other issues.Joost Jongerden (PhD) is an Associate Professor at the Rural Sociology Group, Wageningen University, the Netherlands. Trained as a rural sociologist, he has crossed into social movement theory, political science, and historical sociology, embracing a kind of disciplinary trespassing. He has worked on forced migration, rural development, and political and violent conflict in the Kurdistan region. His main interest is in the dynamics of dispossession, displacement and conflict, and the ways in which people not only respond the conditions in which they are made vulnerable but also act upon ideas for creating a better future. He refers to this as Do-it-Yourself Development.

“Drawing on decades of scholarship, Gunter and Jongerden illuminate the intellectual, political, and strategic evolution of Öcalan and the movement he shaped. This book is an indispensable contribution—clear, rigorous, and courageous—providing readers with the analytical tools necessary to understand the roots, transformations, and future trajectories of the Kurdish question."Tugrul Keskin, China Global Strategic Research Institute-USA and Turan University-Kazakhstan“Love him or loathe him, Öcalan’s impact is impossible to ignore. This bold, incisive book offers an indispensable examination for anyone seeking to understand insurgency, revolutionary movements, and the evolving dynamics of Kurdish-Turkish politics and beyond.”Mehmet Gurses, Director, Kurdish Political Studies Program, Professor of Political Science, University of Central Florida

• The Political Life of Abdullah Öcalan and the PKK: Introduction to a Duography - Joost Jongerden and Michael M. Gunter Chapter 1 Overview - Michael M. Gunter Chapter 2 Öcalan’s Earlier Career Before His Capture - Michael M.Gunter Chapter 3 Abdullah Öcalan and the Becoming of the PKK - Joost Jongerden Chapter 4 From Ankara to Kurdistan - Joost Jongerden Chapter 5 Conversations with the State - Joost Jongerden Chapter 6 Transformations: Redefining the Political - Joost Jongerden Chapter 7 Transformations: Ideological Change - Joost Jongerden Chapter 8 Delisting the PKK as a Terrorist Organization - Michael M. Gunter Chapter 9 Looking forward - Michael M. Gunter