American University of Iraq, Suliamania

IRAQ

Sunni/Shi’a areas

Where Kurds Live

Turkey

Iran

Iraq

Syria

Who Are the Kurds• Largely Sunni Muslim• Have their own language (related to Persian)• Live in a mountainous region of SW Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria.• Between 25 and 30 million• Traditionally pastoralists – after WW1, farmers• One of the longest ethnic histories in the Middle East –

2400 BC

Post World War 1 Following Defeat of the Ottoman Empire

Britain and France Divided up the Ottoman Empire

Short Iraq History

• A British Mandate 1917

• 1921 Kingdom of Iraq declared

• British imported/imposed a Heshemite King: Faisal

1946 Mahabad Republic: Iran

Iraqi Kurdistan: 1992 – 2005U.S. No fly zone

KDP vs PUK

ISIS Control

Recent Activity

Acronyms & Kobane: Syrian Kurds

KRG Kurdish Regional Government

KDP – Iraqi Kurd – Kurdish Democratic Party: (Barzani)

PUK – Iraqi Kurd - Patriotic Union of Kurdistan: Talabani

PKK Turkish Workers Party

PYD - Syrian Kurdish Party

KNC – Syrian Kurdish party

The Kurdish Regions of Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran