The Battle for the Mountain of the Kurds: Self-Determination and Ethnic Cleansing in the Afrin Region of Rojava

Between 2012 and 2018, the “Mountain of the Kurds” (Kurd Dagh) had been one of the quietest regions in a country otherwise torn by civil war. In early 2018, Turkey invaded the autonomous Kurdish region of Afrin in Syria and is currently threatening to ethnically cleanse the region. Dr. Thomas Schmidinger, political scientist and expert for Kurdish studies and jihadism, is one of the very few Europeans to have visited the Canton of Afrin, also known as Rojava. In this book, Schmidinger provides a comprehensive history of the region and gives inhabitants of a variety of ethnicities, religions, political orientations, and walks of life the opportunity to speak for themselves.