Kurdish Studies Conference in Turin – day two

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On the second day of the conference The Kurdistan Freedom Movement at a Crossroads: Historical Roots, Ideological Shifts, and Reconfiguration Processes, held in Turin, Italy, scholars and politicians from diverse backgrounds spoke about the historic events Kurdish politics and the Middle East is experiencing. They proposed solutions and paths forward out of the current instability engulfing the region. 

The Rete Italiana di Studi Curdi (RISC), in partnership with The Amargi, organized the event’s second edition at the University of Turin’s Campus Luigi Einaudi, gathering scholars, political representatives, and researchers. The opening day, convened international scholars to explore the historical and intellectual foundations of Kurdish politics. Multidisciplinary panels in politics, sociology, and identity addressed political trajectories and recent developments in the Kurdish question

The various sessions throughout the second day focused on multiple dimensions of political resistance, civil society, and the future prospects of Kurdish agency, within the wider context of the Middle East. 

Current dynamics and regional perspectives

Friday’s sessions focused on contemporary developments, highlighting ongoing research and significant political changes. The morning was scheduled to begin with a session titled Current Research Avenues from Italy and Kurdistan, chaired by linguist Salar Al-Zangana of the University of Garmian, Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). However, due to the situation in the Kurdistan regional government and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, he was unable to attend. Jacopo Bindi chaired the panel in his place.

Presentations covered topics ranging from peace processes in the Middle East to the social and cultural aspects of Kurdish communities. 

Goran Hussein Ahmed, a jurist from the University of Garmian, participating via Zoom, addressed the challenges of disarming militias, who have been an obstacle to peace in the Middle East. 

Veronica Buffon, anthropologist at Università di Roma Tre, ANPIA, examined gendered experiences of conflict through practices of memory, care, and spirituality among Kurdish women. In her lecture, she spoke about women as a diverse group who shape themselves as complex agents through their actions. Rather than framing them within a “community of suffering” or emphasizing vulnerability, as is common in the Global North, she rejected defining the Kurdish community by shared pain. Instead, she highlighted how individuals transform past wounds into visions of collective good, while recognizing the challenges in capturing this process, in which the focus ultimately shifted to visible arenas of political action.

Miriam Maci, a sociologist from the University of Torino, presented research on post-conflict social dynamics, focusing on political ecology and the historical roots of the Kurdish movement. 

Francesco Ventura, a geographer from the University of Firenze, tackled the emerging concept of “post-statist diaspora diplomacy,” analyzing how diaspora diplomacy moves beyond the traditional nation-state framework while still operating within it, and focusing on society-to-society engagement rather than state-centric interaction. His talk positioned diasporas as key actors connecting struggles, movements, and communities across transnational and global contexts, bridging formal diplomacy and grassroots internationalism; while simultaneously maintaining a strategic approach by leveraging state institutions to advance its objectives.

Higher education under conflict

The fourth session, held in the late morning, revolved around northeastern Syria and examined academic institutions, specifically the confederalist Academic Institutions under Siege. 

Davide Grasso, Sociologist from the University of Turin, chaired the panel, which brought together speakers directly involved in higher education initiatives in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.

Sharvan Muslim, a linguist and Kurdish literature scholar, and head of Kobane University in Syria, discussed the challenges and aspirations of universities in Syria, particularly regarding academic freedom and their potential integration into broader state systems. He highlighted the state of universities in Rojava (West Kurdistan, north Syria) following Bashar Assad’s fall and the establishment of Ahmad Shaar’a’s transitional government. He noted that, despite significant challenges and ongoing conflict, universities in Rojava, which were established in 2016, continue to operate. With the exception of Al Sharq University in Raqqa, which closed in the aftermath of Damascus retaking territorial control in Raqqa. Sharvan Muslim also discussed how integration within Rojava’s universities connects to education under the Syrian transitional government.

Abdul Ilah Al-Mustafa, a politologist from Rojava University in Syria, reflected on the experience of Rojava University, emphasizing it as a model of academic resistance during the war and its post-conflict prospects. Al-Mustafa said that amid the Syrian war and the breakdown of formal education, alternative institutions have emerged, using education as a means of resilience and resistance. 

These universities have continued education, support knowledge production, and preserve identity while promoting values such as ecology, gender equality, brotherhood of the nations, and the right to mother-language education.

Publications and regional movements

The afternoon program resumed as Havin Güneser from the Academy of Social Sciences in Eindhoven presented the journal Democratic Modernity, with Jacopo Bindi from Academia of Democratic Modernity. Güneser highlighted the publication’s call for a critical rethinking of social sciences to address interconnected political, military, economic, and ecological crises. She discussed the active movements that both struggle and uncover knowledge, exposing hidden forms of domination, control, and oppression: “We saw how little was known outside the Kurdish community, so we began translating and sharing the movement’s discussions to make its ideas understood more broadly.”

A subsequent panel examined Kurdish political movements in Iran and Rojhelat (Iranian Kurdistan), addressing shifts from mobilization to armed resistance in a rapidly changing regional landscape. Kamran Matin, international relations scholar at the University of Sussex, together with Somayeh Rostampour, anthropologist at the University of Lille, spotlighted Kurdish movements, parties, and armed forced in Iran, from mobilization to resistance and war. Matin provided some historical context for the Kurdish politics in Rojhelat. In this context, he explained the origins and dynamics of the ideological and political pluralism of Kurdish parties and what this might entail in the current conjuncture.

Roundtable highlights: 

Political engagement

The Amargi’s Transdisciplinary Roundtable closed the conference at 5:30 p.m., drawing together prominent political figures and academics to reflect on the future of Kurdish political organizations.

Moderated by The Amargi’s editor-in-chief Kamal Chomani, the roundtable featured contributions from Elham Ahmad, co-chair of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria; Newroz Uysal Aslan, member of parliament from Turkey and representative of the DEM Party, Akram Salih, Iraqi Kurdish Member of Parliament in Republic of Iraq from Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and Marco Grimaldi Italian Member of Parliament from the Allenza Verdi Sinistra party.

Aslan highlighted the significance of recent discussions on the Kurdish Freedom Movement and its role in addressing Middle Eastern crises, stating that while Kurdish groups in Turkey, Syria, and Iraq face distinct challenges, they share a need for a democratic solution. This need is particularly urgent in Turkey, according to Aslan, where the issue has remained unresolved for over a century due to denial, assimilation, and security-focused policies.

The discussion probed regional geopolitical shifts and their implications for Kurdish political strategies, stressing the need for new forms of engagement, alliance-building, and institutional adaptation in a rapidly transforming Middle East.

Closing remarks

The organizing committee closed the second day with final reflections, reaffirming the importance of interdisciplinary dialogue and international collaboration in Kurdish studies. As the conference wrapped up, participants stressed the significance of bridging academic research and political practice in understanding and shaping the future of the Kurdish movement.