Seminar on The Passion and Death of Rahman the Kurd: Dreaming Kurdistan
Posted on 07. Jun, 2010 by KSSO in Calender, News
You are kindly invited to attend the forthcoming Kurdish Studies seminar and book launch
The Passion and Death of Rahman the Kurd: Dreaming Kurdistan
Speaker: Carol Prunhuber, journalist and author of the book “The Passion and Death of Rahman the Kurd: Dreaming Kurdistan”
Date/time: 7th June 2010, 18:00
Venue: G2, School of Oriental and African Studies(SOAS) Nearest tube station: Russell Square, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, LondonWC1H 0XG
Organised by Kurdish Society at SOAS (KSSOAS) and Kurdish Studies and Students Organisation (KSSO)
Seminar abstract
Ms Carol Prunhuber, a Venezuelan author and journalist explores the life of the legendary Kurdish leader, Dr Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou in her book titled “The Passion and Death of Rahman the Kurd: Dreaming Kurdistan”. Dr Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou “was a visionary and cultivated leader of the Iranian Kurdish revolutionary movement and a respected interlocutor for the West. He brought the concepts of democracy to his country. Educated in Paris and Prague with a PhD in Economy, he spoke eight languages. Beloved by his people, Ghassemlou was ahead of his time, leading a movement to oppose the theocratic regime of the Ayatollah Khomeini for ten years.” (from The Passion and Death of Rahman the Kurd ). Dr Ghassemlou was assassinated by the agents of Islamic Republic of Iran on July 13th 1989 in Vienna, Austria where Dr Ghassemlou was holding secret talks on negotiating a supposed peaceful solution of the Iran’s Kurdish question with Iranian envoys sent by then Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
The Assassins were not punished for their terrorist crime by “Austrian democratic law state”. “Soon after his untimely murder, responsibility was directed towards Iran; yet no one was ever tried or punished for the crime. To this day, many unanswered questions remain” (from The Passion and Death of Rahman the Kurd )
The author states that “It was in Paris, in 1983, that I first met Dr Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou. We were introduced at the Kurdish Institute, where I was attending an exhibition with the Kurdish filmmaker Yilmaz Guney and his wife, Fatos Guney
After our meeting in Paris, Ghassemlou invited me to come to Kurdistan. Two years later, I arrived there alongside the French Gamma TV crew to film the Kurdish conflict in Iran. The seed for this book was planted at that time.”
Please join KSSO in this important seminar to hear the words of a journalist who actually witnessed the struggles of Kurds in the mountains of Kurdistan. Ms Carol Prunhuber has kindly accepted our invitation to come and talk about her journey to Kurdistan and her friendship with Dr Ghassemlou.
The book will be available on sale at the venue in English and Kurdish Sorani.
For further information click on www.ksso.org.uk or mc@ksso.org.uk
