Here's a pop quiz for you: who are the Kurds and where is Kurdistan? If you're like me (before viewing this video), your answer probably included a guilty grin and the phrase "somewhere in the Middle East." In Good Kurds, Bad Kurds, investigative journalist Kevin McKiernan attempts to lift the veils of our geo-political ignorance by providing a lengthy, frequently eye-opening look at the history and cultural travails of the Kurdish people--ancient inhabitants of Turkey, Iraq, and Iran, and currently the "largest ethnic population in the world without their own homeland." McKiernan outlines the historical political betrayals and systematic cultural persecution of the Kurdish people by the Turkish government, while also revealing the consistent failure of the U.S. government to take a stand on these often dire human rights infringements in the face of Turkey's strategic military importance to the U.S. The title is meant to be ironic: the "Good Kurds" are those insurgents enlisted by the U.S. to snipe at Saddam Hussein's forces during the Gulf War; the "Bad Kurds" are the P.K.K.--guerillas of the Kurdish Worker's Party waging a violent war for independence against Turkey. McKiernan tells much of his story by focusing on an immigrant family, the Gürdüzes, and particularly on Kani Gürdüz, an ex-appliance salesman who becomes a leading activist for Kurdish rights. While the story is an engaging and highly informative one, it is marred by McKiernan's tendency to fall into a portentous and often obtrusive first person style reminiscent of 60 Minutes, as well as occasionally quote vague sources and put words into the mouth of his interviewees. It's obvious that McKiernan has a deep emotional stake in this material, which could be one reason this piece is so long...too long (there's a fair amount of redundancy, which any competent editor should have caught and excised). Despite these flaws, however, this unique and worthwhile addition to public and academic library collections is recommended. (Libraries may want to also consider a slightly older but more focused look at the Kurds, Dreaming a Nation from Films for the Humanities and Sciences.) Aud: C, P. (G. Handman)
Good Kurds, Bad Kurds
(2000) 80 min. $89.95. Access Productions. PPR. Color cover. Vol. 15, Issue 6
Good Kurds, Bad Kurds
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