Read this very first entry on the Kurdish Movement in the "Wiley‐Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements" co-authored by Interact Guest Researcher Rosa Burç, together with Delal Aydin:

"Kurdish Movement, Contemporary (Turkey)"

Abstract:

The contemporary Kurdish movement, which has gained wide international attention since 2012 as a result of its fight against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, originated in Turkey in the late 1970s. As a way of examining how this large and complex movement has unfolded in different nation-states and contexts of conflicts, this entry focuses on Kurdish mobilization led by the Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê – Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) – which is the hegemonic actor within this movement. Founded in Turkey's turbulent political atmosphere in the late 1970s, today the PKK leads a transregional Kurdish mobilization which has a decisive influence on the Kurdish communities in Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and European countries.