The kurds have lived in a mountainous, roughly 74,000squaremile region known as kurdistan for the past two millennia. Spanning portions of where the nationstates of iraq, iran, turkey, and syria. The main portion of the turkish state is located on the anatolia peninsula, also known as asia minor, the westernmost part of asia. Kurdistan was a great pawn to play in order to get their benefits. It borders iran to the east, turkey to the north, syria to the west and the rest of iraq to the south.
Free kurdistan the kurdish city of dohuk the baath partys legacy. The kurdish uprising the heady days of the uprising. It covers large parts of eastern turkey, northern iraq, northwestern iran and smaller parts of northern syria and armenia. Iraqi kurdistan kurdistan refers to portions of turkey, iraq, iran and syria, however only the iraqi region of kurdistan is discussed here. In modern times, the turkish army has fought against guerilla forces of the kurdistan workers party pkk. On september 25, a referendum will be held on the future. The regional capital is erbil, also known as hawler. The prospect of a kurdish nation the kurdistan region of iraq kri emerging as an autonomous region within iraq and possibly an independent state was viewed as an existential threat to the unitary nature of the republic of turkey. General facts unbelievable kurdistan official tourism. Turkey s military has begun an operation in northern syria to clear usbacked kurdish forces away from its border.
Rojavas sustainability and the pkks regional strategy. It roughly includes zagros and eastern taurus mountain ranges. After operation euphrates shield 2016 and operation olive branch 2018 in syria, the turkish army commenced a ground offensive in the hakurk and zap regions of northern iraq, culminating in its kandil operation also 2018. Kurdistan kurdistan kurdistan is an extensive plateau and mountainous area in middle east, inhabited mainly by kurds. Who are the kurds, and why is turkey attacking them. General information unbelievable kurdistan official. Map depicting various territorial claims of kurdistan. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. The kurds, constituting one of the oldest nations of the middle east, are in the spotlight in 2014 as they fiercely defend their territory against attacks by islamic state, with the syrian kurdish town of kobane becoming a symbol of kurdish persistence and emerging unity. Throughout their history they have remained under the thumb of various conquerors and nations.
Following major social changes associated with the commercialization of agriculture since the 1950s, there were outbreaks of violence in kurdistan during the 1970s, generally linked with the activities of the revolutionary left. Kurdistan is a geocultural region wherein the kurds have historically formed a prominent majority population, and kurdish culture, language, and national identity have historically been based. It ignores turkish controlled kurdistan and irancontrolled kurdistan. Mild to cool winters with dry, hot, cloudless summers. Kurdistan or greater kurdistan is a roughly defined geocultural historical region wherein the. Northern mountainous regions along iranian and turkish borders experience cold winters with occasionally heavy snows whichmelt in early spring. Oct 14, 2019 the turkish military says the operation aims to create a safe zone in kurdishheld territory. There are another 9 to 12 million turkish citizens of kurdish descent in predominantly turkish regions of turkey as the majority of turkish kurds no longer live in southeastern anatolia. It details the premium hotels, restaurants, health clubs, luxury brands, and shopping centers of the region. Turkey, iran, and iraq issued a joint statement condemning the iraqi kurdistan independence referendum. Russias stance on the kurdish problem new eastern outlook. Turkey s claim of a connection between the pkk and the syrian kurds is not.
The kurdish population of syria is that countrys largest ethnic minority, comprising between 7% and 10% of the countrys population according to most sources. The kurdish languages are part of the indoeuropean family and belong to the iranian subgroup, including persian, pashto, and baloch. This is the first report by human rights watch on the kurdish minority in syria. Iraqi kurdistan or the kurdistan region is an autonomous region of iraq. Pdf the political geography of kurdistan researchgate. The region is officially governed by the kurdistan regional government. Indeed, turkish kurds had increasingly begun to articulate nationalist demands and the turkish based kurdistan workers party pkk insurgents had ensconced themselves in northern iraqs uncontrolled areas. Kurdistan maps, map, carte, maps of kurdistan kurdistan map, people map, carte of kurdistan. He even invited krg president masoud barzani to turkey, where the kurdish leader delivered a historic speech under turkish. I was looking at maps of the proposed kurdistan and they seem ridiculous. The male villagers were put in front of a firing squad yet six survived to tell their story.
The leadership of modern turkey has historically viewed its relations with the iraqi kurds through a traditional security lens. Kurdistan workers party pkk, militant kurdish nationalist organization founded by abdullah ocalan in the late 1970s. Kashgharis father, hussein, was the mayor of barskon, a town now in the northeastern country of kyrgyzstan. There are other turkish speakers throughout europe and central asia. Turkish kurdistan, 1920 as proposed by the treaty of sevres kurdistan, 1945 conference of san francisco kurdistan, 1945 conference of san francisco kurdistan, 1945 conference of san francisco division of kurdistan after the civil war, 2003. In june 2015, a kurdishbacked political party, the peoples democratic party hdp, threatened the islamist grip on turkey and redrew the political map of the turkish society.
In 1988 the iraqi army launched a ferocious attack on kurdish communities south of the turkish border. Unidentified iranian forces engaged in crossborder shelling targeting the juman district of arbil province in kurdistan region of iraq. The public security situation also worsened, notably in the kurdish provinces of the southeast. We are planning of fly to mardin in turkey and cross the border to kurdistan as the erbil airport and sulimani airports are shut. History of the kurds the kurdistan memory programme. Kurdistan s target audience is prominent business community visiting kurdistan.
Turkish business in the kurdistan region of iraq mercantile culture of companies in turkey and the kri contributed to the rapid expansion of economic interdependence between ankara and erbil. To this day, 4 citiessirnak, cukurca,kulp and vartohave been. Much depends on the ability of the authorities in the states with kurdish minorities iraq, turkey, iran and syria to resolve the kurdish problem within their countries justly and peacefully with due consideration for the national identity of this multimillion person ethnic group. Yet despite all of this, the escalating conflict currently being waged between the pkk and turkey has created yet another tinderbox in the region. See the articles on turkey, western iran and syria for information regarding the other regions of kurdistan. Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children were executed during a systematic attempt to exterminate the kurdish population in iraq in the anfal operations in the late 1980s. The major findings are that despite their commonalities, kurdish national narratives are undermined by the factionalism and sectarianism woven. This ethnographic research examines the role of islam in modern kurdish society in iraq and turkey. A comparison of kurdish educational language policy in two situations of occupation article pdf available in genocide studies and prevention 31. In southern kurdistan there is a kurdish autonomous region with its own regional government.
Kurds in each state, such as iraqi kurdistan northern iraq, turkish kurdistan south. Moreover, turkey was a member of nato and syria was a member of opposite side the warsaw pact. Nearly 8590 percent of the kurds that make up the diaspora come from turkish kurdistan. Visit the kurdish projects interactive map to explore this turkish kurdistan. Kurdistan, sparing us forces a risky helicopter airlift. I know that coming via airport this year one could get a thirty date visa to stay in kurdistan but now, i need to visit family at christmas in dohuk, can we still cross. But, as the existence of a kurdish project for territorial autonomy has no place within the turkish political imaginary, a real dialogue between the kurdish community. Turkeykurdish regional government relations after the u. The turkish military says the operation aims to create a safe zone in kurdish held territory. The kurdish minority issue in the context of integration. Block diagram shows kurdish inhabited areas in iraq, turkey, and iran. Relations congressional research service r468 version 64 updated 1 introduction and issues for congress u. Visit the kurdish projects interactive map to explore the kurdish regions in iran, iraq, turkey and syria.
And their openness to input from many quadrants is encouraging. Turkish kurdistan workers party pkk terrorist movement, the ypg has been pivotal to the antiisis campaign, and u. The party of iraqi president jalal talabani, the patriotic union of kurdistan puk, is now in third place. The maps disregard history past 200 years and are based primarily on places with significant kurdish populations instead of historical and ethnic related lands. They were tied together and shot so they fell into mass graves. All structured data from the file and property namespaces is available under the creative commons cc0 license.
The most areas of the mountains in kurdistan are very dry in the summer while cooling down, in the winter and spring. When armenian spokesmen confronted the turkish aga, it brought about enmity between both populations during which the events at sason and moush 1893 occurred. Since the early 20th century, the region has been divided between turkey, iran, syria, and iraq, all of which have repressed, often brutally, their kurdish minority. Siirt spelled sert in kurdish is a city in the kurdish region of turkey, and the seat of siirt province. Kaya a thesis submitted to the department of international relations of the london school of economics for the degree of doctor of philosophy, london, june 2012.
U5 available also through the library of congress web site as a raster image. A funeral of a kurdish fighter killed in the fighting against the islamic state in kobani, november 2014 photo corbis. Iraqi kurdistan first gained autonomous status in a 1970 agreement with the iraqi government, and. The kurds of iraq have also engaged in a struggle against their government. Kurdish fighters in northern syria have served as a crucial u.
Turkey a region referred to as kurdistan by ethnic kurds and their supporters. Kurdish nationalism in turkey is not a simple expression of discontent, but a movement that demands changing the boundaries of the turkish entity to make room. After the truce with the pkk, the turkish government was confronted with some kind of hybrid nationalist political warfare. The map shows turkey, officially the republic of turkey, a country on the anatolian peninsula in western asia with a small enclave in thrace in the balkan region of southeastern europe. And it is these powers, not the ones that aspire for a united. In contrast, the jews of kurdistan until their great exodus in 195051 lived mainly in the iraqi region 146 communities, some in the iranian region 19 communities, and only a few in turkey 11 communities. Yet to the extent that the kurdish regional constitution reflects the aspirations of the kurdish people, as opposed to a wholly hortatory document like the soviet constitution, which was beautifully written, then the kurds have made a start of it.
It has influenced domestic and foreign policies of turkey in a very effective way in the 1990s. Put on a world map by a turk in arabic in bagdad in 1072 a. The low point came under saddam hussein when the iraqi government engaged in outright genocide against parts of the kurdish population. Turkish kurdistan encompasses a large area of eastern anatolia region and southeastern anatolia of turkey and it is home to an estimated 6 to 8 million kurds. Although the group initially espoused demands for the establishment of an independent kurdish state, its stated aims were later tempered to calls for greater kurdish autonomy. Terms like iraqi kurdistan, turkish kurdistan, iranian kurdistan etc. More specifically, these maps frequently marginalized the kurds by questioning. Smaller number of kurdish families live in almost every other country in the world including slovakia and the czech republic. In march, the pkk releases eight turkish soldiers and civil servants. This page was last edited on 12 february 2019, at 19. Attacks in turkey and clashes with kurdish groups significantly increased in 2016. The population of the kurdistan region is skewed young, with 36% aged 014 years and only 4% aged over 63.
Per below, the population of kurds in the united states may be as high as 35,000. It is now the secondmost powerful political party after the kurdistan democratic party kdp, which has 38 seats and is the party of president massoud barzani. Koohzad figure 1 is a world map drafted by mahmud ibn hussein ibn muhammad al kashghari 10051102. Fleeing towards turkey, the villagers of kureme found their route blocked by iraqi soldiers and were captured. In june 2015, a kurdish backed political party, the peoples democratic party hdp, threatened the islamist grip on turkey and redrew the political map of the turkish society. Kurdistan s name put on a world map by a turk in arabic in bagdad in 1072 a political cartography approach by dr. This is the reason why syria gave a protection to abdullah ocalan, who was a communist leader of the kurdistan workers party enemy number 1 for turkish government. Since then, northern iraqi kurdistan has witnessed growing turkish military air and ground activity against pkk targets. Kurdistan 7 essentials demographics the kurdistan region is composed of an ethnically diverse populace that includes kurds, arabs, assyrians, chaldeans, turkmen, and armenians.
This section holds copies of original general maps more than 70. As far as the united states is concerned, regional reactions to an independent kurdistan may not produce greater instability in the region if kurdish independence takes place in a gradual manner or. Kermanshah qasre shirin borujerdarbil dahuka s 36 s u l a y m a n i y a h karbalaan najaf al basrah maysana l f a l l u j a h d a s t s a m a w a h a hal basrah. Central intelligence agency, unless otherwise indicated. Looks like it was drawn based on a map of the areas currently controlled by kurdish forces, rather than historically kurdish areas or areas where kurds live now. The system of double taxation sparked new found enmity between turkish chieftains aga and the armenians and kurds agrarian community who perceived kurdish taxation as exploitation. Trip planning, top tourist sites, offline viewing, and much more, for free. Conflict between turkey and armed kurdish groups global. Turkey ties, always complicated, appear to have reached crisis levels in the summer of 2018. Unbelievable kurdistan official tourism site of kurdistan. Turkey also hopes to resettle, in the zone, up to two. The majority of the muslim population of kurdistan lives in turkey, another part in iran, and the smallest part in iraq.
Sep 21, 2017 why is turkey so disjointed over the iraqi kurds. The kurdish minority issue has been most politically troublesome and challenging. The british did so in turkish kurdistan in the 1920s, and the united states is doing so now in syria, where it supports kurdish peoples protection units to wage a proxy war against the islamic state. Today, the pyd controls a territory in which about 2 million people live but only 60 percent are kurdish see policywatch 2528, ethnic cleansing threatens syrias unity. Keep track of the latest developments on the center for preventive actions global conflict tracker. Includes location map, graphs showing agriculture and rainfall, col. In the eastern jazira canton aka cizire and the central kobane canton, kurds constitute a slight majority of the population. Even though erdogans government itself has negotiated with the pkk, the turkish president justifies the invasion on the grounds that turkey will not allow the creation of a terrorist state on its borders. Turkeys syria offensive explained in four maps bbc news. Kurds form the predominant ethnic group the kurdish institute of paris estimates that there are 20 million kurds living in turkey, the majority of them in kurdistan. Siirt dates back to the 10th century ad and is known for its display of ancient architecture that remains from this time period.
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