Abdulah Öcalan and the Making of the PKK

Abdullah Öcalan and the Making of the PKK: A Political Biography offers a powerful and original account of one of the most influential and controversial figures in Middle Eastern politics.

Rather than a conventional biography, this book examines how Abdullah Öcalan’s political thought evolved alongside the rise and transformation of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). From his early life in Turkish Kurdistan under a regime of cultural erasure, to his central role in a revolutionary movement and eventual imprisonment, Öcalan’s trajectory reflects broader regional and global shifts in political strategy, ideology, and resistance. The book traces how the PKK transitioned from an armed insurgency inspired by national liberation struggles to a movement rooted in democratic autonomy, feminism, and grassroots social transformation - guided by Öcalan’s writings from prison. Drawing on decades of fieldwork, archival research, and direct engagement, the authors illuminate how Öcalan’s ideas have resonated far beyond Turkey and Kurdistan, shaping debates on liberation and governance across the globe.

Essential reading for scholars of Kurdish studies, political theory, social movements, and Middle East politics, this book will also appeal to students, activists, and anyone interested in revolutionary thought and its real-world applications.

Michael M. Gunter is a professor of political science at Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Tennessee. He also is the Secretary-General of the EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC) headquartered in Brussels. In the past he taught courses for many years during the summer at the International University in Vienna, as well as courses on Kurdish and Middle Eastern politics, among others, for the U.S. Government Areas Studies Program and U.S. Department of State Foreign Service Institute in Washington, D.C. He is the author of eight critically praised scholarly books on the Kurdish question, editor or co-editor of nine more books on the Kurds, and author or editor of another seven books on the Armenians and Azerbaijan. He has also published more than 200 scholarly book chapters and journal articles on the Kurds and many other issues.

Joost Jongerden (PhD) is an Associate Professor at Rural Sociology, Wageningen University, the Netherlands. Trained as a rural sociologist, he has crossed into social movement theory, political science and historical sociology, embracing a kind of disciplinary trespassing. He has worked on forced migration, rural development, and political & violent conflict in the Kurdistan region. His main interest is in the dynamics of dispossession, displacement and conflict and the ways in which people not only respond the conditions in which they are made vulnerable, but also act upon ideas for creating a better future. He refers to this as Do-it-Yourself Development.