Michael M. Gunter – författare

The A to Z of the Kurds covers the largest nation on Earth that does not have its own independent state. Scholars, government officials who are dealing with the Middle East and the Kurds, the news media, as well as the general reader will find this an accessible historical account about a people who are becoming increasingly important for the future of the geostrategic Middle East. Maps, a chronology of Kurdish history, an introductory essay on the Kurds, a dictionary containing several hundred entries on various aspects of the Kurdish experience, and an extensive bibliography comprise this volume.

Abdullah Öcalan and the Making of the PKK: A Political Biography offers a powerful and original account of one of the most influential and controversial figures in Middle Eastern politics.Rather than a conventional biography, this book examines how Abdullah Öcalan’s political thought evolved alongside the rise and transformation of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). From his early life in Turkish Kurdistan under a regime of cultural erasure, to his central role in a revolutionary movement and eventual imprisonment, Öcalan’s trajectory reflects broader regional and global shifts in political strategy, ideology, and resistance. The book traces how the PKK transitioned from an armed insurgency inspired by national liberation struggles to a movement rooted in democratic autonomy, feminism, and grassroots social transformation - guided by Öcalan’s writings from prison. Drawing on decades of fieldwork, archival research, and direct engagement, the authors illuminate how Öcalan’s ideas have resonated far beyond Turkey and Kurdistan, shaping debates on liberation and governance across the globe.Essential reading for scholars of Kurdish studies, political theory, social movements, and Middle East politics, this book will also appeal to students, activists, and anyone interested in revolutionary thought and its real-world applications.

The failed states of Iraq and Syria plus the rise and fall of ISIS have helped lead to near Kurdish statehood in Iraq (the KRG) and Kurdish autonomy in Syria (Rojava). In Turkey too—as illustrated by its negotiations and temporary cease-fire with the PKK and the rise of the HDP as the first pro-Kurdish party to be elected to the Turkish parliament as a party and not as mere independents—the Kurds have reached new heights of recognition. These major developments and much more are prominently reflected and developed in this new third edition of Historical Dictionary of the Kurds.This third edition of Historical Dictionary of the Kurds contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 700 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture of the Kurds. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the Kurds.

Michael M. Gunter explains why Recep Tayyip Erdogan—the current populist, charismatic, but divisive president of Turkey and arguably the most consequential Turkish leader since Kemal Ataturk—was again reelected in May 2023 despite so many negative factors working against him such as a terribly faltering economy, deadly earthquake, and authoritarian reputation, among others. Gunter analyzes how several different domestic and especially foreign initiatives contributed to his continuing electoral success. Gunter introduces succinctly Erdogan’s storied advancement to authoritarianism, how, although an Islamist, he triumphed by eventually humbling the long-ruling, secular Kemalists and even more powerful military who had up to then been the ultimate arbitrator of Turkish politics. Erdogan's Path to Authoritarianism: The Continuing Journey will introduce the consequences of the long-running Kurdish PKK problem, the failed coup attempt in July 2016, neo-Ottomanism, transnational Islamist organizations and pro-Turkish militias such as the Diyanet and SADAT, , as well as back to the Kurds, although this time in Syrian Kurdistan, also known as Rojava. In addition, this book analyzes Erdogan’s many other foreign initiatives regarding Iraq, the EU, Arab Spring, Israel, NATO, Cyprus, Greece, Russia, Azerbaijan, and Iran, among others. The final chapter specifically analyzes the May 2023 presidential elections and how Erdogan won.

While dramatic changes taking place in the Middle East offer important opportunities to the Kurdish century-long struggle for recognition, serious obstacles seem to keep reemerging every time the Kurds anywhere make progress. The large Kurdish geography, extending from western Iran to near the eastern Mediterranean, and a century of repression and denial have engendered various Kurdish groups with competing and at times conflicting views and goals. The Kurds in the Middle East: Enduring Problems and New Dynamics, with an emphasis on continuity and change in the Kurdish Question, brings together a group of well-known scholars to shed light on this complex issue.

In mid 2012 the previously almost forgotten Syrian Kurds suddenly emerged as a potential game-changer in the country's civil war when, in an attempt to consolidate its increasingly desperate position, the Assad government abruptly withdrew its troops from the major Kurdish areas in Syria. The Kurds in Syria had suddenly won autonomy, a situation that has huge implications for neighboring Turkey and the near-independent Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq. Indeed, their precipitous rise may prove a tipping-point that alters the boundaries imposed on the Middle East by the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916. These important events and what they portend for the future are scrutinised by the renowned scholar of the Kurds, Michael Gunter. He also analyses the sudden rise of Salih Muslim and his Democratic Union Party (PYD)-which was created by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and remains affiliated to it-and the extremely complex and deadly fighting between factions of the Syrian Opposition affiliated with al-Qaeda, such as the Jabhat al-Nusra jihadists and the PYD, among others.

This book also explores how such wars begin and end, the international legal precedents of self-determination versus territorial integrity, its implications for post-Soviet developments and conflicts, and the latest successful weaponsdevelopments lessons from the recent war involving drones, among others such as Azerbaijan’s rich oil reserves.

This book also explores how such wars begin and end, the international legal precedents of self-determination versus territorial integrity, its implications for post-Soviet developments and conflicts, and the latest successful weaponsdevelopments lessons from the recent war involving drones, among others such as Azerbaijan’s rich oil reserves.

This edited book examines and analyses Heydar Aliyev, the architect and founder of modern, post-Soviet Azerbaijan. The editors of the volume discuss developments between 1993 and 2003 – a decade that saw the establishment of the institutional foundations of the current republic, the adoption of a new form of national identity, the redefinition of the concept of the Azerbaijani state, and the creation of a security establishment designed to gain control of territories Armenia had held since the 1988-1994 war over Karabakh. The book explains why this fateful period had far-reaching consequences for Azerbaijan as a fully formed state and society, as well as major implications for its political future and its geopolitical strategy.

This edited book examines and analyses Heydar Aliyev, the architect and founder of modern, post-Soviet Azerbaijan. The editors of the volume discuss developments between 1993 and 2003 – a decade that saw the establishment of the institutional foundations of the current republic, the adoption of a new form of national identity, the redefinition of the concept of the Azerbaijani state, and the creation of a security establishment designed to gain control of territories Armenia had held since the 1988-1994 war over Karabakh. The book explains why this fateful period had far-reaching consequences for Azerbaijan as a fully formed state and society, as well as major implications for its political future and its geopolitical strategy.