WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:00 — 43.3MB)
In the middle of complexity there is also simplicity – sometimes what is good and what is evil is evident.
Today’s interview delves into the Turkish invasion into autonomously governed areas of Northeastern Syria and the history of the Kurdish resistance in this region. On October 6, the Trump administration announced it was withdrawing US troops from northern Syria, essentially giving Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a green light to invade Kurdish autonomously-governed regions. The displacement and death tolls are rising. This is a major shift in U.S. foreign policy. Kurdish fighters have been partners with the US and have been hugely effective in helping overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein, battling al-Qaeda in Iraq, and ultimately pushing the Islamic State out of northern Iraq and Syria.
Our GUEST is David Romano Thomas G. Strong Professor of Middle East Politics at Missouri State University. He’s the author of The Kurdish Nationalist Movement from Cambridge University Press in 2006, in addition to numerous articles on the Kurdish resistance, forced migration, globalization and politics in the Middle East. He writes a weekly political column for Rudaw, an Iraqi-Kurdish newspaper, and has spent several years living in and conducting research in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria.
MUSIC
Our one song today is “Kîne em?” by Şivan Perwer, a Kurdish poet, writer, singer, and musician. Perwer fled Turkey in 1976 due to the political tones of his music and has lived in exile for most of his life. “Kîne em?” means “Who Are We?”
CREDITS
Producer & Host: Doug Storm
Episode Producer: Bella Bravo
Executive Producer: Jar Turner
