Kurdistan
- For the Iranian province of Kordestan, please see Kurdistan (province).
 Map of Kurdistan courtesy of The General Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin |
 Kurdish National Flag |
Kurdistan is an area in the Middle East, inhabited mainly by the Kurds. Kurdistan covers parts of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Georgia and Syria. The borders of Kurdistan are hard to define, as none of the states in question acknowledge Kurdistan as a demographic or geographical region. There is a province of Kurdistan in Iran.
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2 Flag 3 Iran 4 Turkey 5 Iraq 6 Officials 7 External links |
Before World War I, most Kurds lived within the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Allies created several countries within its former boundaries. Originally Kurdistan, along with Armenia was to be one of them, according to the Treaty of Sèvres. However, the reconquest of these areas by Kemal Atatürk and other pressing issues caused the Allies to accept the renegotiated Treaty of Lausanne, giving this territory to Turkey and leaving the Kurds without a self-ruled region. Other Kurdish areas were assigned to the new states of Iraq and Syria under both treaties. These boundaries were drawn with more concern for the division of oil resources and influence between different colonial powers and for rewarding pro-Allied Arab leaders than for ethnic distributions.
Since then, Kurds have been divided between several states, in each of which they are minorities. Many Kurds have campaigned for independence or autonomy since then, but there has been no support by any of the regional governments or by outside powers for changes in regional boundaries. A sizeable Kurdish diaspora exists in Western Europe that participates in agitation for Kurdish issues, but most of the governments in the Middle East have historically banned open Kurdish activism.
In Turkey, Iran, and Iraq, Kurdish guerilla groups, known in the Kurdish culture as Peshmerga, fight against the government and have some control over Kurdish areas.
The flag regarded as the national flag is the flag of the Kurdish Republic of Mahabad, proclaimed in 1946 and sacked later the same year. The flag resembles the Iranian Flag. It is said to be created in the 1920's by the organisation of Xoybûn (Khoyboon). The flag is now widely used by Kurds from all parts of Kurdistan, be they separatist or not.
In the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, all language minorities including Kurdish speakers have the right to teach the language in schools and have publications. There are various Kurdish books and newspapers published in Iran.
In Turkey, the largest Kurdish group is the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which fought a guerilla war with the Turkish government from 1978 to 1999. In this war, the Turkish government destroyed more than 3,000 Kurdish villages and performed ethnic cleansing of around several million Kurds from their land, with full acknowledgement from the West. Even the everyday use of the Kurdish language was strictly banned in Turkey until recently. There are tens of thousands of documented cases of torture, disappearances etc. Recently captured leader of PKK, Abdullah ÃÂcalan is still being imprisoned lifelong in Turkey since 1999 for his terrorist activities, murdering thousands of Turkish villagers and war crimes against Turkish Republic.
Notably, PKK has agreed to respect the borders of Turkey and do not support an independent Kurdistan. Turkey has also begun liberalizing its policies toward Kurds in recent years after decreasing terrorist activities of PKK, and it is likely that Turkey may meet many of the demands of Kurdish nationalists in order to qualify for EU entry.
In Iraq, the Kurds have had de-facto independence from the central government since 1991, becase of the Gulf War and the no-fly zones over much of the Kurdish-dominated areas. The two groups Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and Kurdistan Democratic Party control most of the Iraqi-Kurdish areas. In 1992, an election for a Kurdish parliament was held, although the parliament has not met since 1995. The current situation in Iraq, following the Anglo-American invasion in 2003, has allowed the Kurds to maintain their de-facto independence due to the weakness of the American-dominated Provisional Iraqi Government. (During the 2003 Iraq War, there were considerable tensions when Turkey repeatedly gave the impression that it was going to invade Kurdish-held territory in the north to "protect the Turkoman minority" ). Currently, there are no official plans which have been made public for what is actually going to happen with regard to Kurdish autonomy or how Kurdish-controlled territories might be incorporated back under an Iraqi central government.
Before the Second Gulf War, the Kurdish-controlled areas included most of the provinces of Arbil, Dahuk, and As Sulaymaniyah. During and after the war, Kurdish militias entered the cities of Mosul and Kirkuk. Although it appears likely that the future of Iraq involves some kind of Kurdish autonomy within a federal system, the future status of Mosul and Kirkuk remains unclear due to the presence of Turcoman and Arab minorities in those cities. Because the policies of the Hussein government pushed Kurds out of these cities and encouraged the settlement of other groups, it is difficult to determine who the inhabitants of the regions are for purposes of self-determination.
Prime Minister: Nechervan Idris BarzaniHistory
Flag
Iran
In 1946, a Soviet-backed Kurdish entity in Iran was crushed by government forces when Soviet protective forces were withdrawn.Turkey
Iraq
Officials