Kurdistan

:For the Iranian province of Kordestan, please see Kurdistan Province, Iran.

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Kurdistan is an area in the Middle East, inhabited mainly by the Kurds, covering parts of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Armenia, and Syria. Its borders are hard to define, as none of the states in question acknowledge Kurdistan as a demographic or geographical region, but it is generally held to include those regions with large Kurdish populations. According to one account it includes 25 million people in a 190,000 km2 (74,000 sq. mi) area. Others estimate as much as 40 million Kurds are on the globe and their land covers an area as big as France. The Kurdistan Province in Iran and the Kurdish Autonomous Region in Iraq are both included in the usual definition of Kurdistan.

Related Topics:
Middle East - Kurds - Turkey - Iraq - Iran - Armenia - Syria - Demographic - Geographical - France - Kurdistan Province - Kurdish Autonomous Region

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Kurds were first promised an independent nation-state in the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres, which divided the former Ottoman Empire between the United Kingdom, Turkey and others, and gave independence to Armenia. Since that time Kurdish nationalists have continued to seek independence in an area approximating that identified at Sèvres. However the idea of an independent nation-state came to a halt when the surrounding countries joined to reject the independence of Kurdistan.

Related Topics:
1920 - Treaty of Sèvres - Ottoman Empire - United Kingdom - Armenia

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