Kurdistan

Kurdistan
کوردستان (Kurdish)
Kurdish-inhabited areas (according to the CIA, 1992)[1][2]
Kurdish-inhabited areas (according to the CIA, 1992)[1][2]
Main languages
Integrated parts of Iran and Turkey with varying degrees of autonomy in Iraq and Syria
Area
• Total
392,000 km2 (151,000 sq mi)[3]
Population
• Estimate
25–30 million[4]

Kurdistan (Kurdish: کوردستان, romanizedKurdistan, lit.'land of the Kurds'; [ˌkʊɾdɪˈstɑːn] ),[5] or Greater Kurdistan,[6][7] is a roughly defined geo-cultural region in West Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population[8] and the Kurdish culture, languages, and national identity have historically been based.[9] Geographically, Kurdistan roughly encompasses the northwestern Zagros and the eastern Taurus mountain ranges.

Kurdistan generally comprises the following four regions: southeastern Turkey (Northern Kurdistan), northern Iraq (Southern Kurdistan), northwestern Iran (Eastern Kurdistan), and northern Syria (Western Kurdistan).[3][10] Some definitions also include parts of southern Transcaucasia.[11] Certain Kurdish nationalist organizations seek to create an independent nation state consisting of some or all of these areas with a Kurdish majority, while others campaign for greater autonomy within the existing national boundaries.[12] The delineation of the region remains disputed and varied, with some maps greatly exaggerating its boundaries.

Historically, the word "Kurdistan" is first attested in 11th century Seljuk chronicles.[13] Many disparate Kurdish dynasties, emirates, principalities, and chiefdoms were established from the 8th to 19th centuries. Administratively, the 20th century saw the establishment of the short-lived areas of the Kurdish state (1918–1919), Kingdom of Kurdistan (1921–1924), Kurdistansky Uyezd i.e. "Red Kurdistan" (1923–1929), Republic of Ararat (1927–1930), and Republic of Mahabad (1946).

In Iraq, following the Aylūl Revolt, the government entered into an agreement with the rebellious Kurds, granting Kurds local self-rule. Soon after, however, the agreement collapsed. Later, during the Iraqi no-fly zones conflict, which followed the Gulf War, the Iraqi military withdrew from parts of northern Iraq, allowing the Kurds to fill the vacuum and regain lost control in those areas. After the invasion of Iraq, and since the creation of the new Iraqi federal state, the new constitution issued in 2005 recognises Kurdistan Region as a federal region;[14] even though the constitution does not include the term “autonomy”, it emphasises decentralisation and devolution, allowing regions and governorates to administer local affairs. In practice, however, only Kurdistan Region has exercised this authority granted by the constitution. In September 2017, Iraqi Kurds held a one-sided independence referendum, which eventually failed and was abandoned. The subsequent effort by the Iraqi government to punish Kurdistan Region has resulted in the latter losing authorities it had previously possessed,[15] and the future of Kurdish autonomy in Iraq has been called into question.[16] Iraqi Kurdish officials have also complained of efforts by the Iraqi government to return to the pre-2003 centralized government and dismantle Kurdistan Region altogether.[17]

There is also a Kurdistan Province in Iran, which is not self-ruled. Kurds fighting in the Syrian civil war were able to take control of large sections of northern Syria and establish self-governing regions in an Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (commonly called Rojava), where they seek autonomy in a federal Syria after the war.[18]

  1. ^ "Kurdish lands". Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  2. ^ "The Kurdish lands". Library of Congress. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  3. ^ a b Bois, Th; Minorsky, V.; MacKenzie, D. N. (2002). "Kurds, Kurdistān". Encyclopaedia of Islam (2 ed.). BRILL. ISBN 9789004161214. At present, the different provinces of Kurdistān cover around 190,000 km2 in Turkey, 125,000 km2 in Iran, 65,000 km2 in Irāḳ, and 12,000 km2 in Syria. The total area of Kurdistān can then be estimated at approximately 392,000 km2.
  4. ^ "Kurdish People Fast Facts". CNN. 12 April 2023. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  5. ^ "Kurdistan". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
  6. ^ Turkey demands Google remove Greater Kurdistan map by Rudaw, December 25, 2018
  7. ^ Kaya, Zeynep (2020). Mapping Kurdistan: Territory, Self-Determination and Nationalism. Cambridge University Press. pp. 2, 137, 177, 197.
  8. ^ Zaken, Mordechai (2007). Jewish Subjects and Their Tribal Chieftains in Kurdistan: A Study in Survival. Leiden, The Netherlands: BRILL. pp. 1–2. ISBN 9789004161900. Kurdistan was never a sovereign state, though the area with an ethnic and linguistic majority of Kurdish population is defined as Kurdistan.
  9. ^ M. T. O'Shea, Trapped between the map and reality: geography and perceptions of Kurdistan, 258 pp., Routledge, 2004. (see p. 77)
  10. ^ Bengio, Ofra (2014). Kurdish Awakening: Nation Building in a Fragmented Homeland. University of Texas Press. p. 2. Hence the terms: rojhalat (east, Iran), bashur (south, Iraq), bakur (north, Turkey), and rojava (west, Syria).
  11. ^ Kurdistan (1 ed.). Oxford University Press. 2014. ISBN 9780199546091. Extensive mountainous and plateau region in sw Asia, inhabited by the Kurds and including parts of E Turkey, NE Iran, N Iraq, NE Syria, S Armenia and E Azerbaijan. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
  12. ^ Hamit Bozarslan “The Kurdish Question: Can it be solved within Europe?”, page 84 “The years of silence and of renewal” in Olivier Roy, ed. Turkey Today: A European Country?.
  13. ^ Mitchell 2010.
  14. ^ Iraqi Constitution, Article 117
  15. ^ "Kurdistan Region set to lose much of its autonomy". Oxford Analytica.
  16. ^ "The Rise and Fall of Kurdish Power in Iraq". Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
  17. ^ "Attacks targeting Kurdistan Region deliberate attempt to dismantle its structure, says PM Barzani". Kurdistan24.
  18. ^ "Kurds seek autonomy in democratic Syria". BBC. 16 August 2012.

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