The modern Kurdish issue in the research of German think tanks: the main features of expert discourse

The importance of expert analytical structures (the so-called think tanks) for the development of political decisions is increasing, which forces researchers to pay more attention to expert discourse on relevant issues. The paper discusses the understanding of the current state of the Kurdish issue in the Middle East by the leading German information and analytical organizations in the international political sphere. The author traces the 2018 publications of two think tanks - the Foundation for Science and Politics (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik) and the German Council on Foreign Relations (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik). Activities of main actors such as the USA and Turkey draw much of the attention of those think thanks. They emphasize the importance of democratic changes in the Middle East for the partial resolution of the Kurdish issue. As a result, the author concluded that a restrained positive discourse regarding the problem of self-determination of the Kurdish people was established in the expert community of Germany.