Kurdistan National Congress

Not to be confused with Kurdish National Council.

Members of the Kurdistan National Congress with Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party representatives in January 2019.

The Kurdistan National Congress (Kurdish: Kongreya Neteweyî ya Kurdistanê, KNC or KNK؛ (Sorani Kurdish: کۆنگرەی نەتەوەییی کوردستان)) is a multi-national platform of Kurdish groups and parties of all tendencies, which aims for the independence of Kurdistan. It was founded on 14 April 1985 on the initiative of the Kurdistan Workers' Party. It was inaugurated on 24 May 1999 in Brussels.[1][2] The group has more recently be referred to as the Kurdistan National Congress in the Diaspora.[3]

The convention of the KNC was endorsed on 26 May 1999, at the organization's founding assembly, and the scholar Ismet Cheriff Vanly was declared the first president.[4] The convention was amended most recently at the ninth assembly which took place in December 2008.[5]

Recently, conferences held by the group have reaffirmed their wish that Kurds may have their national identity recognized and the territory of Kurdistan be respected.[6]

  1. ^ Meho, Lokman I. (2004). The Kurdish Question in U.S. Foreign Policy: A Documentary Sourcebook. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 392. ISBN 9780313314353.
  2. ^ Pojmann, W. (2008). Migration and Activism in Europe since 1945. Springer. p. 72. ISBN 9780230615540.
  3. ^ "What kind of peace? The case of the Turkish and Kurdish peace process". openDemocracy. 9 July 2015. Archived from the original on 23 January 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  4. ^ Gunter, Michael M. (2010). Historical Dictionary of the Kurds. Scarecrow Press. p. 180. ISBN 9780810875074.
  5. ^ "Convention, Kurdistan National Congress". Kurdistan National Congress. 24 June 2016. Archived from the original on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  6. ^ Carment, David; Sadjed, Ariane (2017). Diaspora as Cultures of Cooperation: Global and Local Perspectives. Springer. p. 189. ISBN 9783319328928.