Kurdish Politics in Theory and Practice (w/ Soran Tarkhani)

Kurdish political parties all face a similar set of challenges in how they engage with governments, compete with local rivals, and deconflict issues with counterparts across the region. They have to find a mode of accommodation with the state to demonstrate their ability to govern responsibly, but they also need to preserve their legitimacy as defenders of Kurdish nationalism. Their rhetoric accordingly cuts both ways. The leading parties all try to adopt a historical narrative of fighting for freedom, along with some element of pan-Kurdish ideology, as they appeal to their local base of support and fend off smaller rivals. However, in their messaging to regional and international governments, they also seek to distance themselves from terrorist-designated entities like the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and any claims to separatism.

This can create a number of misperceptions by outsiders, who sometimes jump to the conclusion that each Kurdish community will somehow evolve its own separate and distinct politics, or that all Kurdish parties seek to adopt the same political strategy in coordination with one another. Neither view is entirely true. For example, the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) in Iraq made a strategic decision to build diplomatic and economic relations with Türkiye, which have had major consequences for how it interacts with the pro-Kurdish Democracy and Equity Party (DEM) just across the border. Syrian Kurds established the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) during the civil war and then dismantled it this past winter, all in stark contrast to the 2017 Kurdish referendum attempt in northern Iraq.

In this episode, CFTNI Senior Fellow Joshua Yaphe speaks with Soran Tarkhani, Assistant Professor at Hamptons University and author of the new book, Divided Loyalties, Electoral Rules, and Intra-Party Competition: Kurdish Politics in Iraq (Routledge, 2026).