Kurdish Statehood and Islamist Political Concept

Abstract

The article is devoted to the situation in the international Kurdish movement in the context of the growing popularity of Islamist ideas and concepts. For a long time, the leftist doctrine was considered to be the prevailing trend among the Kurds, but after 2011 and the appearance on the regional arena of such major players as ISIS and other radical religious organizations based in Syria and Iraq, ultra-conservative parties and movements gained momentum. In fact, today there is a confrontation between the evolving leftist doctrine, represented by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and the Syrian Rojava, and the Islamic concept of the caliphate (the territory of universal social harmony, built on the principles of Sharia). During the period of the greatest power of ISIS, several Kurdish groups supported the Islamists and, being part of the extremist international movement, managed to seize signi fi cant territories in Northern Syria and Central Iraq. Later, however, left-wing organizations went on the o ff ensive and returned to their pre-war status. In this regard, it is important to understand exactly what socio-economic reasons led to the growth of the Islamists in fl uence and what the prospects for religious radicals within the international Kurdish movement are.