THE KURDS AND THE MIDDLE EAST POLITICS: A HISTORICAL EVOLUTION

This article provides a historical analysis of the political evolution of the Kurdish people and their complex and often-tragic role in the politics of the Middle East. It traces the history of the Kurds as one of the world's largest stateless nations, whose homeland (Kurdistan) was divided among four modern states: Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. The study examines the major Kurdish nationalist movements and uprisings in each of these countries throughout the 20th century. The research analyzes how the "Kurdish question" has been a persistent source of internal instability for these states and a major factor in their inter-state relations, with each state often supporting Kurdish groups in a neighboring country to destabilize its rival. The paper argues that the Kurds have been consistently used as pawns in the larger geopolitical games of the Middle East. The analysis concludes by assessing the state of the Kurdish struggle for self-determination at the beginning of the 21st century.

The Kurds, a nation of over 30 million people without a state of their own, have been a central and persistent factor in the politics of the modern Middle East. This paper provides a sweeping historical overview of their political evolution. The study begins with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the broken promises of the Treaty of Sèvres, which had initially provided for the possibility of an independent Kurdistan. It then charts the subsequent division of the Kurdish homeland among the newly created states of the region. The core of the article is a comparative historical analysis of the Kurdish experience in the four main countries. It details the long history of assimilationist policies and brutal repression of Kurdish identity and political aspirations in Turkey. It examines the cycle of autonomy and conflict that characterized the Kurdish struggle in Iraq, culminating in the Anfal genocide. It explores the more complex relationship in Iran and the situation of the relatively smaller Kurdish population in Syria. A key theme of the paper is how the division of the Kurdish people has allowed the regional states to play them off against one another, consistently undermining their quest for unity and self-determination. The findings reveal a long and tragic history of betrayal and struggle. The paper concludes by analyzing the new opportunities that emerged for the Kurds in the post-Saddam era in Iraq, which saw the consolidation of a de facto autonomous Kurdistan region, a development with profound implications for the future of the Kurdish question across the entire Middle East.