This article discusses the future relevance of the concept of diaspora in the case of the Kurdish communities in Europe. The article presents the analytical value of the concept of diaspora and outlines how it has been used to study minority communities with a migration history that retain a collective memory, vision, or myth about their original homeland. Relying on a large body of previous studies on the Kurdish diaspora, the article outlines three key developments of relevance for the Kurdish communities : the development of migration patterns over time, the collective identity of later generations, and the changing meaning of the homeland. These three interrelated developments give some indications as to what extent the communities also in the future will display diasporic features. A comparison with classic cases of diasporas provides some additional insight into the future relevance of the concept of diaspora.
KEYWORDS: collective identity, community formation, diaspora, migration, transnationalism