The Kurds: A Nation Without A State

Introduction

Of all the ethnic groups in the world, the Kurds are one of
the largest that has no state to call their own. According
to historian William Westermann, "The Kurds can present a
better claim to race purity...than any people which now
inhabits Europe." (Bonner, p. 63, 1992) Over the past
hundred years, the desire for an independent Kurdish state
has created conflicts mainly with the Turkish and Iraqi
populations in the areas where most of the Kurds live. This
conflict has important geographical implications as well.
The history of the Kurdish nation, the causes for these
conflicts, and an analysis of the situation will be
discussed in this paper. History of the Kurds

The Kurds are a Sunni Muslim people living primarily in
Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. The 25 million Kurds have a
distinct culture that is not at all like their Turkish,
Persian, and Arabic neighbors (Hitchens, p. 36, 1992). It
is this cultural difference between the groups that
automatically creates the potential for conflict. Of the 25
million Kurds, approximately 10 million live in Turkey,
four million in Iraq, five million in Iran, and a million
in Syria, with the rest scattered throughout the rest of
the world (Bonner, p. 46, 1992). The Kurds also have had a
long history of conflict with these other ethnic groups in
the Middle East, which we will now look at. full text