Portal:Kurdistan


The Kurdistan Portal

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

Kurdistan generally comprised the following four regions: southeastern Turkey (Northern Kurdistan), northern Iraq (Southern Kurdistan), northwestern Iran (Eastern Kurdistan), and northern Syria (Western Kurdistan). Some definitions also include parts of southern Transcaucasia. 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. 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. 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; 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, and the future of Kurdish autonomy in Iraq has been called into question. 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.

There is also a Kurdistan province in Iran, which is not self-ruled. Kurds fighting in the Syrian civil war, under the banner of the Syrian Democratic forces, established the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (commonly called Rojava), a self-governing administration which seeks to retain its autonomy in a proposed federalized Syria. (Full article...)

Selected article -

Location of Kurdistan Region in Iraq in September 2017.
  Recognized territory of the Kurdistan Region where the referendum was held
  Disputed territory of the Kurdistan Region where the referendum was held; Iraq recaptured all of this territory after the referendum
  Rest of Iraq

The 2017 Kurdistan Region independence referendum was a failed bid at Kurdish independence from the Republic of Iraq. It was held on 25 September 2017 in Kurdistan Region, with preliminary results showing approximately 92.73 percent of votes cast in favour of independence. Despite reporting that the independence referendum would be non-binding, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) characterised it as binding, although they claimed that an affirmative result would trigger the start of state building and negotiations with Iraq rather than an immediate declaration of independence of Kurdistan. The referendum's legality was rejected by the federal government of Iraq and the Federal Supreme Court. The referendum prompted a military confrontation, and after their defeat, KRG eventually conceded and accepted the Supreme Court’s ruling that no Iraqi governorate is allowed to secede.

It was originally planned to be held in 2014 amidst controversy and dispute between the regional and federal governments. Calls for Kurdish independence had been going on for years, with an unofficial 2005 referendum resulting in 98.98% voting in favor of independence. These longstanding calls gained impetus following the Northern Iraq offensive by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant during the Iraqi Civil War in which Baghdad-controlled forces abandoned some areas, which were then taken by the Peshmerga and controlled de facto by the Kurds. (Full article...)

General images -

The following are images from various Kurdistan-related articles on Wikipedia.

Religions in Kurdistan


Arab states


Other countries

Selected picture

Iraqi Kurdish smugglers near the Iraq-Iran border

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Kurdistan
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Sources

  1. ^ "Kurdish lands". Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  2. ^ "The Kurdish lands". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
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