CANCELLED - The Kurds: Must Stateless Mean Friendless?

This event has been cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The Kurdish people are found spread across a region in west-central Asia covering portions of southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northern Syria.  In recent years Kurdish fighters participated in the U.S. effort to defeat ISIS in the region.  However, in October, 2019, when the Trump Administration decided to reduce U.S. troops in Syria, Turkey was emboldened to move against the Kurds in eastern Turkey. These events have left the Kurds feeling abandoned and in need of more durable alliances. The program will help us understand the Kurds, why they are stateless, and what is their importance to the U.S.

Professor Romano holds the Thomas G. Strong Chair in Middle East Politics at Missouri State University, Springfield, Missouri. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and his M.A. and B.A. from McGill University. In 1997-98 Dr. Romano was a visiting doctoral student at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. From 2003 to 2005 he held post-doctoral fellowships with the Canadian Department of National Defence, during which time he lived in Iraq and conducted research there.  He has authored a book on the Kurds and numerous journal articles.  He writes a weekly column for Rudaw, an Iraqi Kurdish newspaper.

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