Editorial

In his editorial for last year’s May issue of Kurdish Studies, founding editor Prof. Ibrahim Sirkeci noted how navigating the “highly contested and politically charged field” of Kurdish studies required impartiality and a commitment to academic integrity on the part of the journal. Yet our professed impartiality does not mean that we stand aloof from social and political developments, nor that our editorial work is not guided by a number of moral, political and academic principles. As the leading scholarly journal in the field of Kurdish studies, we are aware of the role that the journal plays in creating structures of visibility, shaping knowledge production and, not least, influencing careers. We therefore believe that the recent discussion on male violence and sexual harassment in Kurdish studies, which was initiated by the publication of an anonymous letter via the Kurdish Studies Network, is of direct significance to the journal. It has initiated a discussion that was, in many ways, long overdue, both for the field as a whole and for our journal.