From Genocide to Self-Rule

1992 was an important year for the Kurdish people. An autonomous Kurdish republic was established in Iraqi territory and the first free elections were held in Kurdistan.
Historically the Kurds have been denied their rights as a people and have been targets for cruel massacres, torture and attempts at extermination. They constitute the largest ethnic population – approx. 40 million people – in the world, which is deprived of any political status, despite the fact that Kurdistan geographically is a clearly defined area. Their land is essentially divided politically between Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria.

”From Genocide to Self-Rule” is a new photo book by Georg Kristiansen. He focuses on the progress of the autonomous region of Kurdistan in Iraq, but he also depicts other parts of Kurdistan. In addition, Jamal Alemdar and other Kurds have contributed with their own texts

From Genocide to Self-rule
The Long March to Freedom
A Story in Pictures of the Kurdish People

Author: Georg Kristiansen
Norrbagge 2009
Pages: 188
Dimensions: 235x295 mm
Weight: 1280 g
Binding: Hard-backed
ISBN: 978-91-633-4109-0

The book is distributed via Bokrondellen and Förlagssystem AB.

You can also order it from info@norrbagge.se Price: 250 SKR plus Postage.

Georg Kristiansen
”My first encounter with Kurdistan goes back to my student days in the 1970s, when I met Kurds living in Sweden as refugees. They were actively involved in campaigning for the human rights of the Kurdish people, and their right to use their native tongue. Many of my Kurdish friends encouraged me to travel to their country and report about events there. In 1975 I travelled for the first time to the Turkish part of Kurdistan. I have taken a keen interest in the Kurdish people and their homeland ever since, and to date I have visited the region some ten times.…In the years 2005–2007 I visited the liberated areas several times and met many people who ex-pressed great joy and optimism for the future. For the first time the Kurds needed not fear atrocities, and were able to express their thoughts openly and speak their native language – rights that are taken for granted in Sweden and in many other countries.”

Jamal Alemdar
has written some of the texts in the book. He was born in Iraqi Kurdistan and he was educated in Istanbul and Stockholm. As a result of his struggle for the Kurds human rights he was one of the 49 persons who were prisoned in the beginning of the 1960s.  Among other things he has been a representative for KDP in Europe 1971-1976.