The overlord state: Turkish policy and the Kurdish issue

Abstract

Turkey is widely seen by observers in the United Kingdom and United States as an oasis of stability in a fragmented and uncertain region, a view which has added to the prominence accorded it in post-Cold War NATO politics. However, an examination of the problems posed to Turkey both domestically and in its relations with its immediate neighbours, in particular Iraq, shows this view to be an oversimplification. Philip Robins argues that Turkey's allies would do better to recognize the extent and complexity of the problems relating to the Kurdish southeast of the country for the sake of all involved. ‘Kurdistan has always been ruled by “overlord” states, whose centres lay far outside the land of the Kurds’ (Malcolm Yapp)1