Kurdistan

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

The Region

Northern Kurdistan

Northern Kurdistan is a geo-cultural region located in present-day southeastern Turkey. After the Treaty of Sèvres, Kemal Atatürk often refered to a "Turco-Kurdish cooperation" during the years of Millî Mücadele ("National Struggle"). This was in accord with acts of the Ankara government such as sending a team of instructors to train the Kurdish rebels, who were then fighting against British troops in modern day Iraq under the banner of the Kingdom of Kurdistan. It is argued, but not proven, that Atatürk promised Kurdish people in North Kurdistan to respect the conditions of the Treaty of Sèvres, implying self-determination for the Kurdish people in exchange for their crucial help in defeating the Allies (The Turkish Grand National Assembly in Ankara, which was formed in 1920, had rejected the Treaty of Sèvres within the first weeks of its meetings, hence the doubt). As soon as victory over the allies was secured, Kurdish people started uprisings in eastern Turkey, which resulted in several reactions as soon as they were suppressed: publishing newspapers and speaking in Kurdish in government property was forbidden, and the Turkish Government started a "geographical nation policy". Since then, the constitution of the Republic of Turkey calls everybody who lives within the borders of Turkey a "Turk," declares the official language of Turkey (and of Turkish Government) "Turkish," and that education will be made in "Turkish." Kurds were officially referred to as "Mountain Turks".

Related Topics:
Turkey - Treaty of Sèvres - Kemal Atatürk - Millî Mücadele - Ankara - British - Iraq - Kingdom of Kurdistan - Atatürk - Kurdish people - Self-determination - Kurdish

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Until the 1960s - 1970s speaking Kurdish was forbidden in all areas of public and private life in Turkey. Since the 1980s militant Kurdish organizations, such as the PKK, have campaigned for an independent Marxist state through force of arms, while other Kurdish activists that were campaigning constitutionally for the same ends were suppressed, as the government sought to put down all forms of separatism.

Related Topics:
1960 - 1970 - 1980 - PKK - Marxist

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In 1999, a joint opperation by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MIT), and the Israeli Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks Agency (Mossad) located and arrested/captured the leader of the Kurdish terrorist group PKK, "Abdullah Ocalan", in Kenya. The Turkish Intelligence Agency later declared that he was staying in the Greek embassy in Nairobi with a Greek Cypriot passport, issued in Greece. The Greek bureaucrats responsible were forced to resign, and Abdullah Ocalan was tried and sentenced to life imprisonment in the island of Imrali, Turkey. This is the only proven case of foreign assistance to the PKK.

Related Topics:
U.S. - Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) - National Intelligence Agency (MIT) - Israel - Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks Agency (Mossad) - Abdullah Ocalan - Nairobi - Greek Cypriot - Greece - Imrali

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As of 2005, PKK/KADEK is described as a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union.

Related Topics:
PKK - KADEK - Terrorist - United States - European Union

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Meanwhile over the last decade, to comply with the European Union's standards to start membership accession talks, the Turkish Government has lifted almost all the bans on Kurdish speech, press, visual/audio production, and education, and also started broadcasting Kurdish language programs in the government TV and radio channels. This, however, did not stop the PKK from breaking its ceasefire of 1999. The PKK has come under pressure fom Kurdish leaders recently to end its campaign, following overtures from the Turkish Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan.

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Southern Kurdistan

Southern Kurdistan is a geo-cultural region located in present-day Northern Iraq. The southern boundary of the present-day Kurdistan Regional Government – known as the 'Green Line' – passes roughly through the middle of the area in which most Iraqi Kurds live, leaving a number of Kurds outside the autonomous zone. On the other hand, this transitional region (which includes the cities of Mosul and Kirkuk) is ethnically quite diverse, as it includes the bulk of Iraqi Turkmen and Assyrians as well as large numbers of Sunni and Shia Arabs.

Related Topics:
Iraq - Mosul - Kirkuk - Turkmen - Assyrian - Sunni - Shia - Arab

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The Kurdish Autonomous Region was designated for three northern provinces in 1970. Since the Persian Gulf War of 1991, the Kurdistan Democratic Party under the leadership of Massoud Barzani, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan under the leadership of Jalal Talabani have controlled much of Southern Kurdistan. The capital of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region is Arbil (also known as Hewler in Kurdish), although the main Kurdish parties have indicated their preference for Kirkuk as the capital of an eventual Kurdish state. The latter city is currently hotly contested by Kurdish, Arab and Turkmen factions, and there is a strong and vocal opposition of Turkey to permanent Kurdish control of the city.

Related Topics:
Kurdish Autonomous Region - 1970 - Persian Gulf War - 1991 - Kurdistan Democratic Party - Massoud Barzani - Patriotic Union of Kurdistan - Jalal Talabani - Arbil - Kurdish - Kirkuk - Turkey

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Other Kurdish inhabited areas

Iranian Kurdistan: Kurds have been part of the Persian Empire since its very beginning, along with all other ethnic groups which make up the present-day nation of Iran. Although Iran had declared its neutrality in the second world war, it was occupied by allied forces. The Iranian Kurdistan province was occupied by the Soviet army, with the support of which a Kurdish state was created in the city of Mahabad in 1946. The republic of Mahabad, as it is often called, lasted less than a year, however, as with the end of the war and the withdrawal of the occupying Soviet forces the central government crushed the separatists and re-joined Kurdistan with Iran.

Related Topics:
Persian Empire - 1946

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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 Iran there is also a province named Kurdistan.

Related Topics:
Islamic Republic of Iran - Kurdistan

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In 1978-83, the Iranian government brutally suppressed the democratic aspirations of the Kurdish people living in its four western provinces. The government sent in mechanized military divisions to Kurdish cities including Mehabad, Sine (Sanandaj), Pawe, and Marivan.

Related Topics:
Mehabad - Sine - Sanandaj - Pawe - Marivan

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Half of the Kurdish population are forced to live under the administration of the "west Azerbaijan" province, in which ethnic Turks and Persians (mainly Shiites) have held a monopoly over important posts for the last 60 years. These areas were cut off the Kurdistan province after the Fall of the Mehabad Republic in 1947, lead by Peshewa Qazi Muhammad, a leader of Kurds.

Related Topics:
Azerbaijan - Shiites - Mehabad Republic - Peshewa Qazi Muhammad

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Kurds also suffer immense discrimination in the Iranian legal system, in which most of the Kurds (mainly Sunnis) are barred by the constitution from standing as candidates for important posts such as the Presidency.

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