Editing Kurdistan (section)

== Etymology and delineation ==
Kurdistan means "Land of the Kurds"<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Vanly|first1=Ismet Chérif|last2=Vanly|first2=Ismet Cheriff|date=1977|title=Coup d'oeil sur la culture nationale Kurde|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25816505|journal=Oriente Moderno|volume=57|issue=9/10|pages=445|doi=10.1163/22138617-0570910007|jstor=25816505|issn=0030-5472}}</ref> and was first attested in 11th-century [[Seljuk Empire|Seljuk]] chronicles.{{sfn|Mitchell|2010}} The exact origins of the name ''Kurd'' are unclear. The suffix ''[[-stan]]'' ([[Persian language|Persian]]: ـستان, <small>[[Romanization of Persian|translit.]]</small> ''stân'') is [[Persian language|Persian]] for land.

"Kurdistan" was also formerly spelled ''Curdistan''.<ref>The Edinburgh Encyclopædia, conducted by D. Brewster—Page 511, Original from Oxford University—published 1830</ref><ref>An Account of the State of Roman-Catholick Religion, Sir Richard Steele, Published 1715</ref> One of the ancient names of this region was ''[[Corduene]]''.<ref>N. Maxoudian, "Early Armenia as an Empire: The Career of Tigranes III, 95–55 BC", ''Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society'', Vol. 39, Issue 2, April 1952, pp. 156–63.</ref><ref name="A.D. Lee, 1991 pp. 366–374">A.D. Lee, ''The Role of Hostages in Roman Diplomacy with Sasanian Persia'', Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, Vol. 40, No. 3 (1991), pp. 366–74 (see p. 371)</ref> The 19th-century [[Kurdistan Eyalet]] was the first time that the [[Ottoman Empire]] used the term 'Kurdistan' to refer to an [[administrative unit]] rather than a geographical region.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FJsqDwAAQBAJ&q=kurdistan+eyaleti&pg=PA96|title=The Political Economy of the Kurds of Turkey|isbn=9781107181236|last1=Yadirgi|first1=Veli|date=3 August 2017|publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref>

Albeit admitting a thorough delineation is difficult, the ''[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]]'' delineated Kurdistan as following:<ref name="BRILL">{{Cite journal|date=2002|title=Kurds, Kurdistān|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/kurds-kurdistan-COM_0544?s.num=167&s.start=100|journal=Encyclopaedia of Islam|edition=2|publisher=[[Brill Publishers|BRILL]]|doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0544|isbn=9789004161214|last1=Bois|first1=Th|last2=Minorsky|first2=V.|last3=MacKenzie|first3=D. N.}}</ref>{{Blockquote|text=In Turkey, the Kurds inhabit the whole of the eastern region of the country. According to [[Henry Trotter (Indian Army officer)|Trotter]] (1878), the limit of their extent to the north was the line [[Divriği]]—[[Erzurum]]—[[Kars]]... The Kurds also occupy the western slopes of Ararat, the districts of [[Kağızman]] and [[Tuzluca]]. On the west they extend in a wide belt beyond the course of the Euphrates, and, in the [[Sivas Province|region of Sivas]], in the districts of [[Kangal]] and Divriği. Equally, the whole region includes areas to the east and south-east of these limits... [[Turkish Kurdistan]] numbers at least 17 of them almost totally: in the north-east, the provinces of [[Erzincan Province|Erzincan]], [[Erzurum Province|Erzurum]] and [[Kars Province|Kars]]; in the centre, going from west to east and from north to south, the provinces of [[Malatya Province|Malatya]], [[Tunceli Province|Tunceli]], [[Elazığ Province|Elazığ]], [[Bingöl Province|Bingöl]], [[Muş Province|Muş]], Karaköse ([[Ağrı Province|Ağrı]]), then [[Adıyaman Province|Adıyaman]], [[Diyarbakır Province|Diyarbakır]], [[Siirt Province|Siirt]], [[Bitlis Province|Bitlis]] and [[Van Province|Van]]; Finally, the southern provinces of [[Şanlıurfa Province|Şanlıurfa]], [[Mardin Province|Mardin]] and Çölamerik ([[Hakkâri Province|Hakkarî]])...

[Kurds] inhabit the north-west of Iran. Firstly in the provinces of [[West Azerbaijan Province|West Azerbaijan]], to the east of [[Lake Urmia|Lake Rida'iyya]]..., the districts of [[Maku, Iran|Maku]], [[Qotur|Kotur]], [[Salmas|Shahpur]], and to the south of the lake, [[Mahabad]] (ex-Sabla); in the province of Ardalan, called the [[Kurdistan Province|province of Kurdistan]], whose capital is Senna or [[Sanandaj]], [[Avroman|Hawraman]]; in the province of [[Kermanshah Province|Kermanshah]], [[Qasr-e Shirin]]...

In Iraq, the Kurds occupy the north and northeast of the country in the liwaʾs or provinces of [[Duhok Governorate|Duhok]]... Left outside their administration are [[Sinjar]] and [[Ain Sifni|Shekhan]], peopled by the [[Yazidis]]; the liwaʾs of [[Kirkuk Governorate|Kirkuk]], [[Erbil Governorate|Arbil]] and [[Sulaymaniyah Governorate|Sulaymaniyah]] (entirely Kurdish) and, in the... nahiyas of [[Khanaqin]] and [[Mandali, Iraq|Mandali]], where they are neighbours of the Kurds of Iran to the west of the Zagros.

In Syria, they constitute three distinct belts, in the north of the country and to the south of the highway which forms a frontier and where they are in direct contact with their compatriots in Turkey... [I]n the [[Kurd Dagh]];..., to the east of the [[Euphrates]] where the river enters Syria near [[Jarablus]]; and finally, a belt of 250 km. in length by 30 km. in depth in the [[Al-Jazira Province|Jazira]].|author=|title=|source=}}Many of the maps delineating Kurdistan are greatly exaggerated, also incorporating non-Kurdish regions, which has made the subject very controversial.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sheyholislami |first1=Jaffer |title=Kurdish Identity, Discourse, and New Media |date=6 June 2011 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |pages=224–225}}</ref><ref name="Kaya" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=O'Shea |first1=Maria T. |title=Routledge Library Editions: History of the Middle East |date=25 August 2021 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |page=47}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Tinti |first1=Alessandro |title=Oil and National Identity in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Conflicts at the Frontier of Petro-Capitalism |date=29 November 2021 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |page=71}}</ref>