This keynote lecture delivered by Professor Hamit Bozarslan took place during the Kurdish Studies Conference organised by the LSE Middle East Centre and the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Sheffield.

An expert in the Middle East, Turkey and the Kurdish question, Hamit Bozarslan has been director of studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris since 2006. A doctor of history and political science, he now focuses his research on the historical and political sociology of the Middle East, the revolutionary fact and violence present in the Arab world, and the formation of anti-democracies in the 21st century. Bozarslan is a regular contributor to French media such as Le Monde and is the author of a long list of works, including the essay 'Crisis, violence et dé-civilization' (2019), 'Révolution et état de violence: Middle East 2011-2015' (2015), 'History of Turkey: From the Empire to the Present' (2013), 'A History of Violence in the Middle East: From the End of the Ottoman Empire to al-Qaeda' (2008), 'From Political Struggle to Self-Sacrifice: Violence in the Middle East' (2004) & 'The Kurdish Question: States and Minorities in the Middle East' (1997).

This event was chaired by Dr Zeynep Kaya. Zeynep is a Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Sheffield and a Visiting Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre. Her main research areas involve borderlands, territoriality, conflict, peace, political legitimacy and gender in the Middle East. She is author of 'Mapping Kurdistan: Territory, Self-Determination and Nationalism' with Cambridge University Press. Zeynpe is co-convenor of the Kurdish Studies Series at the LSE Middle East Centre.