Editing Kurdistan (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of the Kurds}}

=== Ancient history ===
{{Main|Hurrians|Gutian people|Mannaeans|Corduene|Assyria|Armenians}}
{{multiple image
|total_width = 500
|image1      = Alexander den stores rike, Nordisk familjebok.jpg
|caption1    = Ancient Kurdistan as Kard-uchi, during [[Alexander the Great]]'s Empire, 4th century BCE
|image2      = Near East ancient map.jpg
|caption2    = 19th-century map showing the location of the Kingdom of Corduene in 60 BCE
}}
Various groups, among them the [[Gutian people|Guti]], [[Hurrians]], Mannai ([[Mannaeans]]), and [[Armenians]], lived in this region in antiquity.<ref>[http://kurdistanica.com/english/history/articles-his/his-articles-02.html] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501191513/http://kurdistanica.com/english/history/articles-his/his-articles-02.html|date=1 May 2008}}</ref> The original Mannaean homeland was situated east and south of the [[Lake Urmia]], roughly centered around modern-day [[Mahabad]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9050086 |title=Mahabad |encyclopedia=Britannica Online Encyclopedia |access-date=13 May 2011}}</ref> The region came under [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] rule during the reign of [[Cyrus the Great]] and [[Darius I]].

The Kingdom of [[Corduene]], which emerged from the declining [[Seleucid Empire]], was located to the south and south-east of [[Lake Van]] between Persia and Mesopotamia and ruled northern Mesopotamia and southeastern [[Anatolia]] from 189 BC to AD 384 as vassals of the vying [[Parthian Empire|Parthian]] and [[Roman Empire|Roman]] empires. Corduene became a [[vassal]] state of the [[Roman Republic]] in 66 BC and remained allied with the Romans until AD 384. After 66 BC, it passed another 5 times between [[Ancient Rome|Rome]] and Persia<!-- Do not link to the disambiguation page, "Persian Empire"; link to a specific iteration of this topic -->. Corduene was situated to the east of [[Tigranocerta]], that is, to the east and south of present-day [[Diyarbakır]] in south-eastern Turkey.

Some historians have correlated a connection between Corduene with the modern names of Kurds and Kurdistan;<ref name="A.D. Lee, 1991 pp. 366–374" /><ref>Rawlinson, George, ''The Seven Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World, Vol. 7'', 1871. [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16167 (copy at Project Gutenberg)]</ref><ref>Revue des études arméniennes, vol. 21, 1988–1989, p. 281, by Société des études armeniennes, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Published by Imprimerie nationale, P. Geuthner, 1989.</ref> ''T. A. Sinclair'' and other scholars have dismissed this identification as false,<ref>T. A. Sinclair, "Eastern Turkey, an Architectural and Archaeological Survey", 1989, volume 3, page 360.</ref><ref>Mark Marciak ''Sophene, Gordyene, and Adiabene: Three Regna Minora of Northern Mesopotamia Between East and West'', 2017. [https://books.google.com/books?id=hwEtDwAAQBAJ&dq=karduchoi&pg=PA204] pp. 220-221</ref><ref>Victoria Arekelova, Garnik S. Asatryan ''Prolegomena To The Study Of The Kurds'', Iran and The Caucasus, 2009 [https://www.academia.edu/8625114/GARNIK_ASATRIAN._PROLEGOMENA_TO_THE_STUDY_OF_THE_KURDS] pp. 82</ref><ref name="I. Gershevitch, 1968. p. 237">I. Gershevitch, ''The Cambridge history of Iran: The Saljuq and Mongol periods'', Vol. 5, 762 pp., Cambridge University Press, 1968. (see p. 237 for "Rawwadids")</ref> while a common association is asserted in the ''[[Columbia Encyclopedia]]''.<ref>[http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Kurds.aspx Kurds], ''The Columbia Encyclopedia'', Sixth Edition, 2001.</ref>

Some of the ancient districts of Kurdistan and their corresponding modern names:<ref>J. Bell, ''A System of Geography. Popular and Scientific (A Physical, Political, and Statistical Account of the World and Its Various Divisions)'', pp. 133–4, Vol. IV, Fullarton & Co., Glasgow, 1832.</ref>
# Corduene or Gordyene ([[Siirt]], [[Bitlis]] and [[Şırnak]])
# [[Sophene]] (Diyarbakır)
# Zabdicene or Bezabde (''Gozarto d'Qardu'' or ''Jazirat Ibn'' or [[Cizre]])
# Basenia ([[Doğubeyazıt|Bayazid]])
# [[Moxoene]] ([[Muş]])
# Nephercerta (''Miyafarkin'')
# Artemita ([[Van Province|Van]])

One of the earliest records of the phrase ''land of the Kurds'' is found in an [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] Christian document of [[late antiquity]], describing the stories of Assyrian saints of the [[Middle East]], such as [[Abdisho (died 345)|Abdisho]]. When the [[Sasanian]] [[Marzban]] asked Mar Abdisho about his place of origin, he replied that according to his parents, they were originally from ''Hazza,'' a village in [[Assyria]]. However, they were later driven out of Hazza by [[Assyrian paganism|pagans]], and settled in ''Tamanon,'' which according to Abdisho was in the ''land of the Kurds.'' Tamanon lies just north of the modern Iraq-Turkey border, while Hazza is 12&nbsp;km southwest of modern [[Erbil]]. In another passage in the same document, the region of the [[Khabur (Tigris)|Khabur River]] is also identified as ''land of the Kurds''.<ref>J. T. Walker, ''The Legend of [[Mar Qardagh]]: Narrative and Christian Heroism in Late Antique Iraq'' (368 pages), University of California Press, {{ISBN|0-520-24578-4}}, 2006, pp. 26, 52, 108.</ref> According to [[Al-Muqaddasi]] and [[Yaqut al-Hamawi]], Tamanon was located on the south-western or southern slopes of [[Mount Judi]] and south of [[Cizre]].<ref>T. A. Sinclair, "Eastern Turkey, an Architectural and Archaeological Survey", Vol. 3, Pindar Press, {{ISBN|978-1-904597-76-6}}, 1989, page 337.</ref> Other geographical references to the Kurds in [[Syriac Orthodox Church|Syriac]] sources appear in [[Zuqnin Chronicle|Zuqnin]] chronicle, writings of [[Michael the Syrian]] and [[Bar Hebraeus]]. They mention the mountains of Qardu, city of Qardu and country of Qardawaye.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mouawad |first=R. J. |date=1992 |title=The Kurds and Their Christian Neighbors: The Case of Orthodox Syriacs |journal=Parole de l'Orient |volume=XVII |pages=127–141 }}</ref>

=== Post-classical history ===
{{Main|Shaddadids|Rawadids|Hasanwayhids|Annazids|Marwanids (Diyar Bakr)}}
[[File:Old Kurdistan Map, Ibn Hawqal.png|thumb|225px|left|Map of [[Jibal]] (mountains of northeastern Mesopotamia), highlighting "Summer and winter resorts of the Kurds", the Kurdish lands. Redrawn from [[Ibn Hawqal]], 977 CE.]]
[[File:Kashgari map.jpg|thumb|225px|The map from [[Mahmud al-Kashgari]]'s ''[[Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk]]'' (1072–74), included Kurdistan.<ref name = "Gunes">{{cite book |editor1-last=Gunes |editor1-first=Cengiz |editor2-last=Bozarslan |editor2-first=Hamit |editor3-last=Yadirgi |editor3-first=Veli |title=The Cambridge History of the Kurds |date=22 April 2021 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=31}}</ref>]]

In the tenth and eleventh centuries, several [[Kurdish principalities]] emerged in the region: in the north the [[Shaddadids]] (951–1174) (in east [[Transcaucasia]] between the [[Kura (Caspian Sea)|Kur]] and [[Aras (river)|Araxes]] rivers) and the [[Rawadids]] (955–1221) (centered on [[Tabriz]] and which controlled all of [[Azerbaijan (Iran)|Azerbaijan]]), in the east the [[Hasanwayhids]] (959–1015) (in Zagros between Shahrizor and [[Khuzistan]]) and the [[Annazids]] (990–1116) (centered in [[Hulwan]]) and in the west the [[Marwanids (Diyar Bakr)|Marwanids]] (990–1096) to the south of [[Diyarbakır]] and north of [[Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia|Jazira]].<ref>Maria T. O'Shea, ''Trapped between the map and reality: geography and perceptions of Kurdistan '', 258 pp., Routledge, 2004. (see p. 68)</ref><ref name="I. Gershevitch, 1968. p. 237"/>

Kurdistan in the [[Middle Ages]] was a collection of semi-independent and independent states called [[emirate]]s. It was nominally under indirect political or religious influence of [[Khalif]]s or [[Shah]]s. A comprehensive history of these states and their relationship with their neighbors is given in the text of ''Sharafnama'', written by Prince [[Sharaf al-Din Bitlisi]] in 1597.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mazdapublishers.com/book/sharafnama |title=Sharafnama: History of the Kurdish Nation |publisher=Mazdapublishers.com |access-date=10 December 2017}}</ref><ref>For a list of these entities see [http://www.kurdistanica.com/english/geography/maps/map-03.html Kurdistan and its native Provincial subdivisions] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051118033137/http://www.kurdistanica.com/english/geography/maps/map-03.html |date=18 November 2005 }}</ref> The emirates included [[Baban]], [[Soran Emirate|Soran]], [[Badinan Emirate|Badinan]] and [[Garmiyan]] in the south; Bakran, Bohtan (or Botan) and [[Badlis]] in the north, and [[Mukriyan]] and [[Ardalan]] in the east.

The earliest medieval attestation of the [[toponym]] ''Kurdistan'' is found in a 12th-century [[Armenian language|Armenian]] historical text by [[Matthew of Edessa|Matteos Urhayeci]]. He described a battle near [[Diyarbakır|Amid]] and [[Siverek]] in 1062 as to have taken place in ''Kurdistan''.<ref>Matt'eos Urhayec'i, {{in lang|hy}} ''Ժամանակագրություն'' (Chronicle), ed. by M. Melik-Adamyan et al., Erevan, 1991. (p. 156)</ref><ref>G. Asatrian, ''Prolegomena to the Study of the Kurds'', Iran and the Caucasus, Vol. 13, pp. 1–58, 2009. (see p. 19)</ref> The second record occurs in the prayer from the [[Colophon (publishing)|colophon]] of an Armenian manuscript of the [[Gospels]], written in 1200.<ref>A.S. Mat'evosyan, ''Colophons of the Armenian Manuscripts'', Erevan, 1988. (p. 307)</ref><ref>G. Asatrian, ''Prolegomena to the Study of the Kurds'', Iran and the Caucasus, Vol. 13, pp. 1–58, 2009. (p. 20)</ref>

A later use of the term ''Kurdistan'' is found in [[Empire of Trebizond]] documents in 1336<ref>Zehiroglu, Ahmet M. "Trabzon Imparatorlugu" 2016 ({{ISBN|978-605-4567-52-2}}); p. 169</ref> and in ''[[Nuzhat al-Qulub]]'', written by [[Hamdallah Mustawfi]] in 1340.<ref>G. Asatrian, ''Prolegomena to the Study of the Kurds'', Iran and the Caucasus, Vol. 13, pp. 1–58, 2009. (see p. 20)</ref>[[File:British Government memoranda regarding Article 25 of the Palestine Mandate with respect to Transjordan, March 1921.jpg|thumb|left|British Government 1921 proposal from the [[Secretary of State for the Colonies|Colonial Secretary]], [[Winston Churchill]], for an autonomous region of Kurdistan.]]
[[File:Cedid Atlas (Middle East) 1803.jpg|thumb|300px|1803 map from the ''[[Cedid Atlas]]'', the first Muslim atlas, showing Kurdistan in blue]]
According to Sharaf al-Din Bitlisi in his [[Sharafnama]], the boundaries of the Kurdish land begin at the [[Strait of Hormuz]] in the [[Persian Gulf]] and stretch on an even line to the end of [[Malatya]] and [[Kahramanmaraş|Marash]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Özoğlu |first=Hakan |date=2004 |title=Kurdish Notables and the Ottoman State |publisher=State University of New York Press |pages=27–28 |isbn=978-0-7914-5993-5}}</ref> [[Evliya Çelebi]], who traveled in the region between 1640 and 1655, mentioned that Kurdistan includes  [[Erzurum]], [[Van, Turkey|Van]], [[Hakkari (historical region)|Hakkari]], [[Cizre]], [[Amadiya|Imaddiya]], [[Mosul]], [[Shahrizor]], [[Harir]], [[Ardalan]], [[Baghdad]], Derne, Derteng, until [[Basra]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Özoğlu |first=Hakan |date=2004 |title=Kurdish Notables and the Ottoman State |publisher=State University of New York Press |page=34 |isbn=978-0-7914-5993-5}}</ref>

In the 16th century, after prolonged wars, Kurdish-inhabited areas were split between the [[Safavid Empire|Safavid]] and [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] empires. A major division of Kurdistan occurred in the aftermath of the [[Battle of Chaldiran]] in 1514, and was formalized in the 1639 [[Treaty of Zuhab]].<ref>C. Dahlman, "The Political Geography of Kurdistan", ''Eurasian Geography and Economics'', Vol.43, No.4, pp.271–299, 2002.</ref> In a geography textbook of late Ottoman military school by [[Ahmed Cevad Pasha|Ahmet Cevad]] Kurdistan span over the cities [[Erzurum]], [[Van, Turkey|Van]], [[Urfa]], [[Sulaymaniyah|Sulaymanyah]], [[Kirkuk]], [[Mosul]] and [[Diyarbakır|Diyarbakir]] among others and was one out of six regions of Ottoman Asia.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Özkan |first=Behlül |date=2014-05-04 |title=Making a National Vatan in Turkey: Geography Education in the Late Ottoman and Early Republican Periods |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/00263206.2014.886569 |journal=[[Middle Eastern Studies]] |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=461 |doi=10.1080/00263206.2014.886569 |s2cid=144455272 |issn=0026-3206}}</ref>

=== Modern history ===
After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]] contrived to split Kurdistan (as detailed in the ultimately unratified [[Treaty of Sèvres]]) among several countries, including Kurdistan, [[Armenia]] and others. However, the reconquest of these areas by the forces of [[Kemal Atatürk]] (and other pressing issues) caused the Allies to accept the renegotiated [[Treaty of Lausanne (1923)]] and the borders of the modern Republic of Turkey, leaving the Kurds without a self-ruled region.<ref>Sardar Aziz (2013). "Re-conceptualizing Kurdistan as a Battlefield." ''"Un mondo senza stati è un mondo senza guerre". Politisch motivierte Gewalt im regionalen Kontext'', ed. by Georg Grote, Hannes Obermair and Günther Rautz (EURAC book 60), Bozen–Bolzano, {{ISBN|978-88-88906-82-9}}, pp. 45–61.</ref> Other Kurdish areas were assigned to the new British and French [[League of Nations mandate|mandated]] states of [[Mandatory Iraq|Iraq]] and [[Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon|Syria]].

[[File:WholeRegionSevres.gif|thumb|300px|Kurdistan (shaded area) as suggested by the [[Treaty of Sèvres]]]]
At the [[San Francisco Peace Conference]] of 1945, the Kurdish delegation proposed consideration of territory claimed by the Kurds, which encompassed an area extending from the Mediterranean shores near [[Adana]] to the shores of the [[Persian Gulf]] near [[Bushehr]], and included the [[Lurs|Lur]] inhabited areas of southern [[Zagros]].<ref>C. Dahlman, ''The Political Geography of Kurdistan'', Eurasian Geography and Economics, Vol.43, No.4, p. 274.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.akakurdistan.com/kurds/map/map.html |title=The map presented by the Kurdish League Delegation, March 1945 |publisher=Akakurdistan.com |access-date=13 May 2011}}</ref>

The historian [[Jordi Tejel]] has identified "Greater Kurdistan" as being one of the "Kurdish myths" that the [[Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria]] (KDPS) were involved in promoting to Kurds in Syria.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Tejel|first=Jordi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5lh9AgAAQBAJ&q=%22Kurdish+myths+%28Kawa+and+%22Greater+Kurdistan%22%29%22|title=Syria's Kurds: History, Politics and Society|publisher=Routledge|year=2008|isbn=9780415613460|location=|pages=92|language=en|quote="The KDPS continued to promote the teaching of the Kurdish language in Latin characters and to cultivate the nationalist doctrine of the Syrian Kurds, using Kurdish myths (Kawa and "Greater Kurdistan")"}}</ref>

An academic source published by the [[University of Cambridge]] has described maps of greater Kurdistan created in the 1940s and forward as: "These maps have become some of the most influential propaganda tools for the Kurdish nationalist discourse. They depict a territorially exaggerated version of the territory of Kurdistan, extending into areas with no majority Kurdish populations. Despite their production with political aims related to specific claims on the demographic and ethnographic structure of the region, and their questionable methodologies, they have become 'Kurdistan in the minds of Kurds' and the boundaries they indicate have been readily accepted."<ref name = "Kaya">{{cite book| last =Kaya| first =Zeynep N.| author-link =|title=Mapping Kurdistan: Territory, Self-Determination and Nationalism |publisher=Cambridge University Press| date =2020|pages=108| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=qRzhDwAAQBAJ|isbn =9781108474696}}</ref>

At the end of the 1991 [[Gulf War]], the [[Coalition of the Gulf War|Coalition]] established a [[Operation Provide Comfort|no-fly zone over northern Iraq to provide humanitarian relief to and safeguard the Kurds]] who would be subjected to Iraqi air attacks. Amid the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from three northern provinces, [[Kurdistan Region]] emerged in 1992 as an autonomous entity inside Iraq with its own local government and parliament.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Gareth R. V. Stansfield|title=Iraqi Kurdistan - Political development and emergent democracy|year=2003|isbn=0-415-30278-1|pages=146–152|publisher=RoutledgeCurzon |citeseerx=10.1.1.465.8736}}</ref>

A 2010 US report, written before the instability in Syria and Iraq that exists as of 2014, attested that "Kurdistan may exist by 2030".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2012/12/turkey4356.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121112352/http://ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2012/12/turkey4356.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 January 2013 |title=Turkey may be divided, a Kurdish state could become a reality by 2030: U.S. Intelligence report |work=ekurd.net }}</ref> The weakening of the Iraqi state following the [[Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014)|2014 Northern Iraq offensive]] by the [[Islamic State|Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]] has also presented an opportunity for independence for Iraqi Kurdistan,<ref name="opportunity" /> augmented by Turkey's move towards acceptance of such a state although it opposes moves toward Kurdish autonomy in Turkey and Syria.<ref name="turkey_ok" />

==== Northern Kurdistan ====
{{Main|Kurdish–Turkish conflict (1978–present)|Iraqi–Kurdish conflict}}

[[File:Abdullah Öcalan.png|thumb|[[Abdullah Öcalan]] pictured 1997]]
The incorporation into Turkey of the Kurdish-inhabited regions of eastern Anatolia was opposed by many Kurds, and has resulted in a long-running separatist conflict in which tens of thousands of lives have been lost. The region saw several major Kurdish rebellions, including the [[Koçgiri rebellion]] of 1920 against the [[Government of the Grand National Assembly|Grand National Assembly]], then successive insurrections under the Turkish state, including the 1924 [[Sheikh Said rebellion]], the [[Republic of Ararat]] in 1927, and the 1937 [[Dersim rebellion]]. All were forcefully put down by the authorities. The region was declared a closed military area from which foreigners were banned between 1925 and 1965.<ref>M.M. Gunter, ''The Kurds and the future of Turkey'', 184 pp., Palgrave Macmillan, 1997. (see p. 6)</ref><ref>G. Chaliand, ''A people without a country: the Kurds and Kurdistan'', 259 pp., Interlink Books, 1993. (see p. 250)</ref><ref>Joost Jongerden, ''The settlement issue in Turkey and the Kurds: an analysis of spatial policies, modernity and war'', 354 pp., BRILL Publishers, 2007. (see p. 37)</ref>

In an attempt to [[Denial of Kurds by Turkey|deny their existence]], the Turkish government categorized Kurds as "[[Mountain Turks]]" until 1991.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://countrystudies.us/turkey/26.htm |title=Turkey – Linguistic and Ethnic Groups }}</ref><ref>Bartkus, Viva Ona, ''The Dynamic of Secession'', (Cambridge University Press, 1999), pp. 90–1.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Çelik |first=Yasemin |title=Contemporary Turkish foreign policy |year=1999 |publisher=Praeger |location=Westport, Conn. |isbn=978-0-275-96590-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y9PXcwFOLNcC&q=mountain+turks&pg=PA3 |edition=1. publ. |page=3}}</ref> The words "Kurds", "Kurdistan", or "Kurdish" were officially banned by the Turkish government.<ref name=bahar /> Following the [[military coup of 1980]], the Kurdish language was officially prohibited in public and private life.<ref name=NYTK>Toumani, Meline. [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/magazine/17turkey-t.html?ex=1361854800&en=df64cf85326e2103&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink Minority Rules], ''[[New York Times]]'', 17 February 2008</ref> Many people who spoke, published, or sang in Kurdish were arrested and imprisoned.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Aslan |first1=Senem |title=Nation Building in Turkey and Morocco |date=2014 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-05460-8 |page=134 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wTAWBQAAQBAJ}}</ref> Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, political parties that represented Kurdish interests were banned.<ref name=bahar>{{cite book |last1=Baser |first1=Bahar |title=Diasporas and Homeland Conflicts: A Comparative Perspective |date=2015 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |isbn=978-1-4724-2562-1 |page=63 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8MTVBgAAQBAJ}}</ref>

In 1983, the Kurdish provinces were included in the [[OHAL|state of emergency region]], which was placed under [[martial law]] in response to the activities of the militant separatist organization the [[Kurdistan Workers' Party]] (PKK).<ref name="hue">Kurd, ''The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia including Atlas'', 2005</ref><ref name="nytimes">"[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/28/world/africa/28iht-28iraq.7671792.html], NY Times, 28 September 2007</ref> A [[guerrilla war]] took place through the 1980s and 1990s in which much of the countryside was evacuated, [[Kurdish villages depopulated by Turkey|thousands of Kurdish villages were destroyed by the government]], and numerous [[summary execution]]s were carried out by both sides.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ibrahim |first1=Ferhad |title=The Kurdisch conflict in Turkey : obstacles and chances for peace and democracy |date=2000 |publisher=Lit ; St. Martin's press |location=Münster : New York, N.Y. |isbn=978-3-8258-4744-9 |page=182 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3kgierPu_7EC}}</ref><ref name=cengiz>{{cite book |last1=Gunes |first1=Cengiz |title=The Kurdish National Movement in Turkey: From Protest to Resistance |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-58798-6 |page=130 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OMB7pMf8TL4C}}</ref><ref name="ocpw">Martin van Bruinessen, "Kurdistan." ''The Oxford Companion to the Politics of the World'', 2nd edition. Joel Krieger, ed. Oxford University Press, 2001.</ref> Food embargoes were placed on Kurdish villages and towns.<ref name=olson>{{cite book |last1=Olson |first1=Robert |title=The Kurdish nationalist movement in the 1990s: its impact on Turkey and the Middle East |date=1996 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |location=Lexington, Ky. |isbn=978-0-8131-0896-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/kurdishnationali00olso/page/16 16] |url=https://archive.org/details/kurdishnationali00olso|url-access=registration }}</ref><ref name=muftah>{{cite web |last1=Shaker |first1=Nadeen |title=After Being Banned for Almost a Century, Turkey's Kurds Are Clamoring to Learn Their Own Language |url=http://muftah.org/turkey-kurds-learning-kurdish-ban/ |publisher=Muftah}}</ref> Tens of thousands were killed in the violence and hundreds of thousands were forced to leave their homes.<ref name="bbc">"[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6537751.stm Kurdish rebels kill Turkey troops]", BBC News, 8 May 2007</ref>

Turkey has historically feared that a Kurdish state in Northern Iraq would encourage and support Kurdish separatists in the adjacent Turkish provinces, and have therefore historically strongly opposed Kurdish independence in Iraq. However, following the chaos in Iraq after [[2003 invasion of Iraq|the US invasion]], Turkey has increasingly worked with the autonomous [[Kurdistan Regional Government]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-06-18/half-price-kurdish-oil-threatens-iraq-breakup-with-turkish-help |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140829062511/http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-06-18/half-price-kurdish-oil-threatens-iraq-breakup-with-turkish-help |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 August 2014 |title=Bloomberg Business |work=Bloomberg.com}}</ref> The word 'Kurdistan', whether written or spoken, can still lead to detention and prosecution in Turkey.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Khalidi|first=Ari|date=1 May 2017|title=Three raising Kurdistan flag during May Day arrested in Turkey|url=https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/9e53bc1a-9f82-4ade-8245-f4d1957e38f7/Three-raising-Kurdistan-flag-during-May-Day-arrested-in-Turkey|access-date=2020-10-04|website=www.kurdistan24.net}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=English|first=Duvar|date=2021-10-29|title=Police detain Kurdish man for calling Turkey's southeast 'Kurdistan'|url=https://www.duvarenglish.com/police-detain-kurdish-man-for-calling-turkeys-southeast-kurdistan-news-59378|access-date=2022-02-07|website=www.duvarenglish.com |language=tr-TR}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=October 2021|title=Police detain citizen who told İYİ Party Chair Akşener 'Kurdistan is denied'|url=https://m.bianet.org/english/human-rights/252577-police-detain-citizen-who-told-iyi-party-chair-aksener-kurdistan-is-denied|access-date=7 February 2022|website=[[Bianet]]}}</ref> Kurdistan has been characterized as an "international colony" by the scholar [[İsmail Beşikçi|Ismail Besikci]].<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://merip.org/2020/08/tracing-the-conceptual-genealogy-of-kurdistan-as-international-colony/ |author=Deniz Duruiz |title=Tracing the Conceptual Genealogy of Kurdistan as International Colony |issue=295 |date=Summer 2020 |publisher=[[Middle East Research and Information Project]] |journal=[[Middle East Report]] |editor1=Ayҫa Alemdaroğlu |editor2=Elif Babül |editor3=Arang Keshavarzian |editor4=Nabil Al-Tikriti |access-date=9 January 2021}}</ref>[[File:Syrian, Iraqi, and Lebanese insurgencies.svg|thumb|240px|Military situation on {{#invoke:Iraq_Syria_map_date|date}}:<br />{{legend|#ffffa6|Controlled by [[Kurdish Supreme Committee|Syrian Kurds]]}}{{legend|#d2cd7e|Controlled by [[Peshmerga|Iraqi Kurds]]}}{{legend|#b4b2ae|Controlled by the [[Islamic State|Islamic State in Iraq and Syria]] (ISIL, ISIS, IS)}}]]

==== Iraqi Kurdistan ====
The successful [[Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014)|2014 Northern Iraq offensive]] by the [[Islamic State|Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]] (ISIS), and the resultant weakening of the ability of the Iraqi state to project power at the time, also presented a "golden opportunity" for the Kurds to increase their independence and possibly declare an independent Kurdish state.<ref name="opportunity">{{cite web |url=https://www.thecairoreview.com/tahrir-forum/the-rise-of-isis-a-golden-opportunity-for-iraqs-kurds/ |title=The Rise of ISIS, a Golden Opportunity for Iraq's Kurds |work=aucegypt.edu |date=27 June 2014}}</ref> The [[Islamic State|Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant]], who took more than 80 Turkish persons captive in Mosul during their offensive, is an enemy of Turkey, making Kurdistan useful for Turkey as a buffer state. On 28 June 2014 [[Hüseyin Çelik]], a spokesman for the ruling [[Justice and Development Party (Turkey)|Justice and Development Party]] (AKP), made comments to the ''[[Financial Times]]'' indicating Turkey's readiness to accept an independent Kurdistan in northern Iraq.<ref name="turkey_ok">{{cite web |url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/turkey-ready-accept-kurdish-state-northern-iraq-1454556 |title=Turkey Ready To Accept Kurdish State in Northern Iraq |work=International Business Times UK |date=28 June 2014}}</ref> This became increasingly less likely, however, when in July 2017, the Iraqi government declared victory in the [[Battle of Mosul (2016–2017)|Battle of Mosul]] against ISIS in the group’s last stronghold in the country. Following this, in September 2017, Iraqi Kurds held a one-sided [[2017 Kurdistan Region independence referendum|independence referendum]] which eventually triggered a [[2017 Iraqi-Kurdish conflict|military operation]] wherein the Iraqi government forces attacked the Kurds, defeating them and forcing them to abandon the referendum. A month later, Iraq declared full victory over ISIS and re-established control over all previously occupied territory. Following the Kurds’ failed attempt to achieve independence, the government of Iraq has exacted severe punishment against KRI in a number of punitive measures.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/iraq-demise-federalism |title=Iraq: Demise of Federalism|date=11 July 2023 |publisher=Wilson Center}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/iraq-and-demise-federalism|title= Iraq and the Demise of Federalism|date= 16 July 2024|publisher=Wilson Center}}</ref> Some Kurdish officials in Iraq have described this as evidence of the Iraqi government’s aim to return to a centralised political system and abandon the federal system it adopted in 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/220320243-amp|title=Iraqi court decisions divide Kurdistan's ruling parties|publisher=Rudaw}}</ref> In a leaked letter published by ''[[Al-Monitor]]'' in September 2023, [[Masrour Barzani]], the prime minister of KRG warned about an imminent collapse of the [[federalism|federal model]] in Iraq (i.e. a return to [[centralized government|centralism]]) and urged the United States to intervene, saying: "I write to you now at another critical juncture in our history, one that I fear we may have difficulty overcoming. …[W]e are bleeding economically and hemorrhaging politically. For the first time in my tenure as prime minister, I hold grave concerns that this dishonorable campaign against us may cause the collapse of … the very model of a Federal Iraq that the United States sponsored in 2003 and purported to stand by since."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2023/09/letter-biden-barzani-warns-iraqi-kurdistans-collapse-urges-mediation|title=In letter to Biden, Barzani warns of Iraqi Kurdistan's collapse, urges mediation|publisher=Al-Monitor}}</ref> According to a report published in 2024 by the [[Washington Institute for Near East Policy]], Kurdistan Region's autonomy "hangs in the balance" due to several punitive measures imposed against the former by the government of Iraq in an effort to punish it and ultimately strip it completely of its autonomy.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/house-divided-can-kurdistan-preserve-its-autonomy|title=A House Divided: Can Kurdistan Preserve Its Autonomy?|publisher=Washington Institute}}</ref>

==== Syrian Civil War ====
{{See also|Rojava conflict|Syrian Kurdish–Islamist conflict (2013–present)}}
Various sources have reported that [[al-Nusra Front|Al-Nusra]] has issued a [[fatwā]] calling for Kurdish women and children in Syria to be killed,<ref>See * [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-l-phillips/iraqi-kurds-no-friend-but_b_4045389.html David Phillips (World Post column)] "President Masoud Barzani of Iraqi Kurdistan has pledged protection for Syrian Kurds from al-Nusra, a terrorist organization, which issued a [[fatwa]] calling for the killing of Kurdish women and children"
*[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-l-phillips/unintended-consequneces-o_b_3902414.html David Phillips (World Post column)] "Al-Nusra Front, Syria's Al-Qaeda affiliate, issued a fatwa condoning the killing of Kurdish women and children"
*[http://www.itnsource.com/en/shotlist//RTV/2013/08/20/RTV200813025/?v=1 ITNsource.com] "A fatwa (edict) has been issued permitting the shedding of the blood of the Kurds and they called from the mosque loudspeakers that the shedding of the Kurdish blood is halal"</ref> and the fighting in Syria has led tens of thousands of refugees to flee to [[Kurdistan Regional Government|Iraq's Kurdistan region]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.unhcr.org/521360479.html |title=Some 30,000 Syrians flee to Iraq's Kurdistan region, more expected |date=20 August 2013 |publisher=UNHCR}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/18/syrian-kurds-refugees-iraq |title=Syrian Kurds continue to flee to Iraq in their thousands |author=Martin Chulov |date=19 August 2013 |work=The Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rferl.org/media/photogallery/iraq-syria-refugees-/25080506.html |title=Syrian Kurds Flee To Iraq by the Thousands |date=20 August 2013 |work=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty}}</ref> As of 2015, Turkey was actively supporting Al-Nusra,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-crisis-turkey-and-saudi-arabia-shock-western-countries-by-supporting-antiassad-jihadists-10242747.html |title=Turkey and Saudi Arabia alarm the West by backing Islamist extremists the Americans had bombed in Syria |author=Kim Sengupta |newspaper=The Independent |date=12 May 2015}}</ref> but as of January 2017, Turkey's foreign ministry has said that Al-Nusra is a terrorist group and has acted accordingly.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-turkey-nusra/turkey-sees-nusra-front-as-terrorist-group-acts-accordingly-source-idUSKBN15A12U |title=Turkey sees Nusra Front as terrorist group, acts accordingly: source Reuters Staff |author= |date=26 January 2017 |work=Reuters |access-date=26 September 2017}}</ref>