Funding: Gerda Henkel Stiftung
Investigators: Prof. Shahram Akbarzadeh, Dr Costas Louatides and Dr Zahid Shahab Ahmed
This project seeks to examine the dynamic interaction between the Kurdish minority and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Ethnic Kurdish identity transcends territorial boundaries, raising significant questions about the impact of conflict across the border on Iranian Kurds and how they interact with the state. Recent conflicts in the region involving Kurds adds to an already difficult relationship between Tehran and the Kurdish community. This project will test the increasing concern among the Iranian political establishment in relation to Kurdish assertiveness, and explore the implications of the prevalent tendency to apply a security lens to ethnic relations.