From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Kurdistan (کردستان in Persian) is an area in the Middle East, inhabited mainly by the Kurds. Kurdistan covers parts of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Georgia and Syria. The borders of Kurdistan are hard to define, as none of the states in question acknowledge Kurdistan as a demographic or geographical region. There is a province of Kurdistan in Iran.
The national flag of Kurdistan is here [1]
For over a century, many Kurds have been campaigning to make Kurdistan an independent state. However, despite promises of the creation of such a state made in the early 20th century, all the region's governments are opposed to it.That is because the region's borders were carefully defined during the retreat of the former colonial powers as to create a constant hotbed of tension and ease the post-colonial controllability of this region.
In 1946, Kurdish independence in Iran was crushed by government forces when Soviet protective forces were withdrawn.
In Turkey, Iran, and Iraq, Kurdish guerilla groups fight against the government and have some control over Kurdish areas. In Turkey, the largest Kurdish group is the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which fought a guerilla war with the Turkish government from 1978 to 1999. In this war, the Turkish state destroyed more than 3.000 kurdish villages and performed the ethnic cleansing of several million Kurds from their land, with full acknowledgement from the West. Even the everyday use of the Kurdish language was strictly banned in Turkey until recently. There are tens of thousands of documented cases of torture, disappearings etc.
Notably, PKK has agreed to respect the borders of Turkey and to not wish an independent Kurdistan.
In Iraq, the Kurds have had de-facto independence from the central government since 1991, becase of the Gulf War and the no-fly zones over much of the Kurdish-dominated areas. The two groups Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and Kurdistan Democratic Party control most of the Iraqi-Kurdish areas. In 1992, an election for a Kurdish parliament was held, although the parliament has not met since 1995.
Prime Minister: Nechervan Idris Barzani
![[1]](http://www.kurdish.com/kurdistan/nation/flag/flag.gif){kind=link}