United States-Kurdish Relations over North-eastern Syria: From instrumentalism to doctrinism?
United States-Kurdish Relations over North-eastern Syria: From instrumentalism to doctrinism?

Author(s): Nazan Bedirhanoğlu
Subject(s): Government/Political systems, International relations/trade, Military policy, Inter-Ethnic Relations, Politics and Identity
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: United States; Kurdish Relations North-eastern Syria; instrumentalism; doctrinism;
Summary/Abstract: October 31, 2014 was not an ordinary day for the Rhode Island College community. Barack Obama was about to give a speech on their campus and a large crowd enthusiastically filled a hall waiting to see him. Some in the crowd, however, were even more interested in this public spectacle: it was almost one and a half month after the siege of Kobane by the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIS). Members of the New England Kurdish Association (NEKA), a non-profit cultural organisation of Kurdish Americans, were ready at the hall, wearing ‘Save Kobane’ and Kurdistan-mapt-shirts, even though the event’s organisers strictly prohibited the use of any political symbols during the event. While the crowd gathered, two officials asked the group about their leadership and Mehmet Akbas stepped forward thinking that they would be warned about the ‘no signs’ rule.

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