Kurdish identity: an introduction / Charles G. MacDonald -- Perspective of Nechirvan Barzani, Prime Minister, Kurdistan Regional Government -- Perspective of Michael Van Dusen, Deputy Director, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars -- Perspective of Shafiq Qazzaz, Minister of Humanitarian Assistance and Cooperation, Kurdistan Regional Government -- Perspective of Abdul Aziz Said, Director, Center for Global Peace, American University -- Öcalan's capture as a catalyst for democracy and Turkey's candidacy for accession to the European Union / Michael M. Gunter -- Five stages of the construction of Kurdish nationalism in Turkey / M. Hakan Yavuz -- Perspectives on conflict prevention and reconciliation / Gülistan Gürbey -- Turkey-Iran relations and the Kurdish question, 1997-2001 / Robert W. Olson -- The United States policy and the Iraqi Kurds / David L. Mack -- The Iraqi State, the opposition, and the road to reconciliation / Hanna Y. Freij -- Political impact of sanctions in Iraqi Kurdistan / Rend Rahim Francke -- Ethnic cleansing in Iraqi Kurdistan / Nouri Talabani -- Iraqi Kurdistan: The humanitarian program / Stafford Clarry -- Ottoman lessons for a federal Iran / Ernest Tucker -- Federalism as a model for democracy / Ali Babakhan -- Communalism and the future of Iraq / Carole A. O'Leary -- Kurdish nationalism in Iran / Charles G. MacDonald -- Competing national identities: the Kurdish conundrum in Iran / Nader Entessar -- The human rights of Kurds in the Islamic Republic of Iran / Elahé Sharifpour Hicks and Neil Hicks -- Economic transition of Kurdish nationalism in Iran / Farideh Koohi-Kamali -- The Arab World and the Kurds / Michael Collins Dunn -- The European perspective / Kendal Nezan -- An American diplomat's perspective / Francis J. Ricciardone -- The Kurdish identity: Kurds in a democratic Iraq and beyond / Carole A. O'Leary and Charles G. MacDonald.