Area: Roughly 74, sq mi. Population: approximately million some Kurds reside outside of Kurdistan. Who are the Kurds and why are they under attack? Read More. Other Facts. Kurds have never achieved nation-state status, making Kurdistan a non-governmental region and one of the largest stateless nations in the world. Portions of the region are recognized by two countries: Iran, where the province of Kordestan lies; and northern Iraq, site of the autonomous region known as Kurdistan Regional Government KRG or Iraqi Kurdistan.
The Peshmerga is a more than ,strong national military force which protects Iraqi Kurdistan , and includes female fighters. It calls for the recognition of new independent states, including an autonomous Kurdistan. It is never ratified. In the final treaty marking the conclusion of World War I, the Allies drop demands for an autonomous Turkish Kurdistan. The Kurdish region is eventually divided among several countries. When the uprising is defeated, Barzani and his forces retreat to Kurdish areas in Iran and align with nationalist fighters under the leadership of Qazi Muhammad.
It is blamed on Arab nationalists. The Kurdish language is of Indo-European origin and is among the family of Iranian languages, such as Persian and Pashto, and is distinct from Arabic. The two main dialects are Sorani and Kurmanji.
The Kurdistan Region has 11 public universities and several licensed private universities. A new, liberal foreign investment law was ratified in June , providing incentives for foreign investors such as the possibility of owning land, up to ten-year tax holidays, and easy repatriation of profits. To rapidly benefit from its oil and gas resources, the KRG has signed dozens of production sharing contracts with companies from 17 countries.
Profile: The PKK. Before the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in most lived in the cities of Damascus and Aleppo, and in three, non-contiguous areas around Kobane, Afrin, and the north-eastern city of Qamishli.
Syria's Kurds have long been suppressed and denied basic rights. Some , have been denied citizenship since the s, and Kurdish land has been confiscated and redistributed to Arabs in an attempt to "Arabize" Kurdish regions. When the uprising evolved into a civil war, the main Kurdish parties publicly avoided taking sides. In mid, government forces withdrew to concentrate on fighting the rebels elsewhere, and Kurdish groups took control in their wake.
In March , they announced the establishment of a "federal system" that included mainly Arab and Turkmen areas captured from IS. The PYD says it is not seeking independence, but insists that any political settlement to end the conflict in Syria must include legal guarantees for Kurdish rights and recognition of Kurdish autonomy. President Assad has vowed to retake "every inch" of Syrian territory, whether by negotiations or military force. His government has also rejected Kurdish demands for autonomy, saying that "nobody in Syria accepts talk about independent entities or federalism".
They have historically enjoyed more national rights than Kurds living in neighbouring states, but also faced brutal repression. But it was not until that he launched a full armed struggle. In the late s, the government began settling Arabs in areas with Kurdish majorities, particularly around the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, and forcibly relocating Kurds.
The policy was accelerated in the s during the Iran-Iraq War, in which the Kurds backed the Islamic republic. In , Saddam Hussein unleashed a campaign of vengeance on the Kurds that included the chemical attack on Halabja. Its violent suppression prompted the US and its allies to impose a no-fly zone in the north that allowed Kurds to enjoy self-rule. The parties co-operated with the US-led invasion in that toppled Saddam and governed in coalition in the Kurdistan Regional Government KRG , created two years later to administer Dohuk, Irbil and Sulaimaniya provinces.
Massoud Barzani was appointed the region's president, while Jalal Talabani became Iraq's first non-Arab head of state. In September , a referendum on independence was held in both the Kurdistan Region and the disputed areas seized by the Peshmerga in , including Kirkuk.
The vote was opposed by the Iraqi central government, which insisted it was illegal. KRG officials said the result gave them a mandate to start negotiations with Baghdad, but then Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi demanded that it be annulled. The following month Iraqi pro-government forces retook the disputed territory held by the Kurds.
They make up the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East, but have never obtained a permanent country to settle in. The Kurds are widely recognized to be the largest stateless group in the world. The Kurds in Iran primarily inhabit the Iranian province of Kordestan.
Iraqi Kurdistan is an area of Southern Kurdistan that stretches over around 40, square kilometres. It occupies the northern part of the Republic of Iraq and is home to 5. Iraq Kurdistan gained official autonomous status from the Republic of Iraq in Its capital city is Erbil which has a population of around a million people from all around the Kurdistan region.
The Dohuk region is the north-eastern part of Iraqi Kurdistan, sharing much of its border with Turkey and Syria. The Erbil region is the central governorate which is home to the capital city of Erbil. The region shares a large border with the Kordestan region of Iran. Having split off from Sulaymaniyah Governorate in and becoming the fourth governorate in Northern Iraq, The Halabja region is the smallest region in Iraq Kurdistan.
The city is infrequently visited by tourists, so as such the locals are always pleased to welcome foreigners to their city. The region continues to grow, and hopefully one day the Kurds will have somewhere they can call their permanent home. You can read about the differences between Iraq Kurdistan and the Republic of Iraq here.
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