What is the Kurdish Issue? A Struggle for Rights and Recognition

After briefly introducing the Kurds, we will explore the Kurdish issue.

Summary:

Imagine you’re a European or American, and Russia invades your country with chemical weapons, committing genocide against women and children. Then, they say: “You can be a leader, but only if you embrace a Russian identity and serve Russian nationalism.” Would you accept? Would you feel proud? Of course not. This is the reality for Kurds in their homeland, Kurdistan, which has been invaded with chemical weapons and subjected to horrific genocides. According to Article 66 of the Turkish Constitution, “Only the Turkish nation exists; everyone is a Turk.” On identity documents, Kurds are labeled as “Turkish” in origin and nationality. Even the country’s name, “Türkiye,” meaning “land of the Turks,” reflects this enforced identity. A Kurd can attend school, access healthcare, work as a civil servant, or enter politics—but only as a Turk, stripped of their Kurdish identity. As Kurds, they have no rights, not even the right to live or breathe freely. This is one of the greatest indignities imposed on a people in the modern world.

The Kurdish struggle resembles the fight for freedom and justice waged by the Swiss hero Wilhelm Tell against the Habsburg dynasty; the states of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria play the role of the occupying Habsburg dynasty. At their core, both situations are remarkably similar. In this article, after briefly introducing the Kurds, we will address the Kurdish issue.

Author: Bedel Boseli, @bedelboseli

In the complex and multicultural landscape of the Middle East, Kurds play a pioneering role by embracing an egalitarian and inclusive approach. As a sizable population with regional influence, Kurds are one of the few peoples advocating for equal rights for all languages, nations, and faith groups. For instance, the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq and the Rojava Autonomous Administration in northern Syria strive to implement this ideal through multi-ethnic and multi-religious governance models. In both regions, Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, Turkmen, and other communities are represented in governance, mother-tongue education is recognized, and the freedoms of diverse religious groups are protected. This approach highlights the Kurds’ commitment to pluralism and human rights in a region dominated by monolithic policies.

The egalitarian character of the Kurds is also rooted in their historical legacy; from the Med Empire and Parthian Confederation to the Ayyubids and Zands, Kurdish history reflects a culture of coexistence with diverse peoples. However, the implementation of these ideals is occasionally hindered by external interventions, economic challenges, and regional conflicts. Nevertheless, the constitutional recognition of minority rights in the Kurdistan Regional Government and the promotion of local autonomous governance through the Democratic Confederalism model in Rojava demonstrate the Kurds’ leading role in fostering peace, democracy, and justice in the Middle East. These efforts prove that Kurds represent a vision that champions not only their own rights but also the equality of all communities in the region.

1. Who are the Kurds?

The Kurds are an ancient nation that has lived in the Middle East for thousands of years. They have their own distinct language, culture, and history. Their language, Kurdish, belongs to the Indo-European language family; thus, Kurdish shares roots with European, Slavic, Indian, and Iranian languages, with many similarities.

2. Where is the homeland of the Kurds?

The homeland of the Kurds is historical Kurdistan. Located in the Middle East, Kurdistan borders Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. In prehistoric times and the earliest periods of history, Mesopotamia—the cradle of civilization, writing, and technology—was centered in the geography of Kurdistan.

3. Who are the ancestors of the Kurds?

Various ethnic groups came together to form the Kurdish nation:

1. The people who first discovered agriculture and invented animal domestication in Mesopotamia, specifically in Kurdistan, during the Neolithic Revolution, are the ancestors of the Kurds. These ancestors laid the foundation for modern world civilization.
2. The peoples who advanced world civilization by inventing pottery, kitchen tools, and other significant innovations are the ancestors of the Kurds.
3. Dozens of Hurrian peoples and the Urartian culture in Kurdistan are ancestors of the Kurds.
4. Indo-European peoples who migrated from Europe and Eurasia to settle in Kurdistan are ancestors of the Kurds.
5. Some clans of neighboring peoples, such as the Sumerians, Hebrews (Israelites), Babylonians, Assyrians, and Arabs, settled in Kurdistan thousands of years ago and contributed to the Kurdish ethnogenesis.

4. Which states were founded by the ancestors of the Kurds?

The ancestors of the Kurds established more than 50 states and kingdoms in history. Some of their names include: Ancient Hurrian states (5-6 thousand years ago), Mitanni Empire (5500 years ago), Urartu State (2800 years ago), Med Empire (2700 years ago), Zelanid Empire (2100 years ago), Parthian Confederation (2247 years ago), Marwanid State (983/990–1084), Rawadid State (900–1070/1116), Shaddadid State (951–1199), Ayyubid Empire (1171–1260/1341), Zend State (1751–1794), Republic of Kurdistan (Mahabad, 1946), and many others.

5. What is the Kurdish issue? What is the problem between the Kurds and the states of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria?

Through severe massacres and genocidal methods, the states of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria have occupied and divided the Kurdish homeland, Kurdistan, into four parts. These states have refused to recognize any national rights of the Kurds. They banned the Kurdish language with the intent of eradicating it and included clauses in their constitutions that deny and ignore the existence of the Kurds. In other words, they have not granted the Kurds a single national right. They forcibly displaced Kurds from their fertile lands and settled Turks, Arabs, and Persians in their place using military force. When the Kurds democratically demanded, “We, too, should have national rights,” these states responded with massacres targeting Kurdish leaders, intellectuals, writers, and artists. As a result, the Kurds were forced to resort to armed struggle to protect and defend themselves. This is the essence and truth of the matter; anything else fabricated is absolutely false. Thanks to the Kurds’ forced armed struggle and support from the United States and Europe, the Kurdistan Regional Government was established in Iraq, and the Rojava Autonomous Administration was established in Syria. However, the governments of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria are working with all their might to destroy these gains and reduce the Kurds in these two regions to enslaved people with zero national rights once again.

6. What is the Kurdish issue in Turkey? Why is Turkey waging war against the Kurds?

The Turkish state has annihilated the national existence of dozens of peoples in Anatolia, Thrace, the Aegean, Pontus (Black Sea), Kurdistan, and Armenia through genocidal methods. Only the Kurds have preserved their national existence and continue to fight for freedom, justice, and equality. The Kurds are one of the oldest peoples of the Middle East, and their homeland has been occupied and divided into four parts by Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. Of these countries, Turkey, Iran, and Syria do not recognize any rights of the Kurds, denying their identity, language, and culture in their constitutions. In Turkey, with a population of 85 million, more than 30 million Kurds live. Due to the denialist and fascist structure of the Turkish state, conducting an ethnic census is prohibited, so the exact number of Kurds is unknown. Indeed, a Turkish government minister once stated, “We do not conduct an ethnic census because we fear the Kurdish population is larger than you might estimate.”

The Kurdish issue in Turkey dates back 200 years and begins with the Ottoman Empire. Modern-day Turkey is a continuation of the Ottoman Empire. In 1846, Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid awarded medals for the conquest of Kurdistan to his army’s generals. This reaffirms a known truth: the Ottoman Empire fully occupied Kurdistan in 1846, and prior to that, Kurdish kingdoms ruled Kurdistan. These Kurdish kingdoms were allies of the Ottomans. Think of it like NATO today—while the United States effectively leads NATO, member states are independent in their internal and external affairs.

From 1846 onward, the Ottoman Empire fully seized Kurdistan, eliminating the Kurdish Mirs, or kings, and appointing foreign governors in their place. Since then, for approximately 200 years, the Kurds have been resisting this occupation. What the Kurds want is to govern themselves freely; they do not want to be ruled by foreign governors and administrators appointed to their cities from outside.

In 1923, the Ottoman Empire was dissolved, and the Republic of Turkey was established in its place. On paper, Turkey recognized democratic elections, women’s voting rights, and so forth. However, for 30 years until 1950, holding elections was prohibited in Turkey. The Turkish government banned speaking Kurdish, even in public, imposing fines for each Kurdish word spoken on the streets. In Turkish schools, Kurdish children were forced to recite anthems like “Happy is the one who says, ‘I am a Turk’” every day.

When people verbally and democratically demanded, “Kurds and Turks should have equal rights, and Kurds should receive education in their mother tongue,” the Turkish state responded with armed attacks, life imprisonment, and even chemical weapons against those making these democratic demands. They raped children, and Turkish soldiers bet on whether the baby in a pregnant Kurdish woman’s womb was male or female, then slit open their stomachs while they were alive. Elderly men were stripped naked, ropes tied to their genitals, and handed to their newlywed daughters-in-law to be paraded through streets and roads. For these reasons, young Kurdish women committed mass suicides. People wearing traditional Kurdish clothing were stripped naked, and their clothes were burned. In short, the Turkish state subjected the Kurds to every conceivable inhuman atrocity. Unfortunately, more than 90% of Turks, despite knowing these facts, pretend not to, adopting a “I didn’t see, hear, or know” stance. This is because they view everything their state does to other nations, even oppression, as sacred and support it. From birth, every Turk is raised with this mindset. The Kurds initiated a war with light weapons to defend themselves. The Kurds’ ongoing struggle to this day is against this oppression and tyranny. Undoubtedly, the Kurds are the only people in the Middle East with significant power who use that power for peace, democracy, and freedom.

To discredit the Kurds’ struggle for freedom, democracy, and human rights, the Turkish state dressed its police and soldiers in Kurdish fighters’ clothing and committed massacres and atrocities against defenseless civilians, including babies. The primary goal of these actions was to tarnish the Kurdish movement’s reputation in the eyes of the global public. For example, Turkish Special Operations police officer Ayhan Çarkın confessed in a media interview that he was involved in massacres where babies were killed, and the blame was placed on the Kurdish movement. Çarkın stated that he revealed the truth because he was on the verge of losing his sanity due to guilt.

In Turkey, only the Kurds have stood tall, preserving their existence to this day and fighting for freedom, independence, equality, human rights, women’s rights, ecology, and justice.

What are the oppression and injustices faced by the Kurds in Syria?

In the Syrian Arab Republic, with a population exceeding 83 million, more than 3 million Kurds live. Since 1946, the Syrian Arab Republic has banned the Kurds’ identity, language, and culture, displacing Kurds from their fertile lands and settling Arabs in their place. This state policy is called the “Arab Belt.” Kurds were even prohibited from obtaining identification or attending school. As of 2025, the newly established regime constitutionally recognizes none of the Kurds’ national or cultural rights. It rejects the use of Kurdish as an educational or official language, effectively denying the Kurds’ national and cultural existence. It also opposes Kurdish local governance or autonomous rights. They claim, “Kurds are our brothers, we love them,” but officially and in practice, they deny the Kurds’ national existence.

Relying primarily on their own strength, and with additional support from the United States and Europe, the Kurds established an autonomous administration in Syria. However, the governments of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria are working with all their might to dismantle this status.

What are the oppression and injustices faced by the Kurds in Iran?

The Iranian state has historically controlled Kurdish regions through massacres and assimilation policies, systematically denying the Kurdish national identity. From the Safavid, Qajar, and Pahlavi eras to the modern Islamic Republic, Kurdish leaders and local administrations have been eradicated, and the 1946 Mahabad Republic of Kurdistan was brutally suppressed. Over 15 million Kurds in Iran, primarily in the occupied Kurdish provinces (Rojhilat), face the imposition of Persian identity, with their language, culture, and political rights denied. These policies are regarded as deliberate colonialism aimed at economically and socially weakening the Kurds.

The non-recognition of Kurdish as an official language, its prohibition in education and public spheres, and the suppression of Kurdish culture—from music to literature—are key tools of assimilation. Kurdish regions rank among Iran’s poorest, with the central government deliberately limiting infrastructure and service investments while redistributing fertile lands from Kurds to Persians. Kurdish “kolber” (border traders) are frequently killed by Iranian security forces, with these crimes going unpunished. Kurdish women face double oppression from the regime’s misogynistic policies and ethnic repression but lead the freedom struggle under the slogan “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi” (Woman, Life, Freedom).

Political repression targets Kurdish movements with accusations of “separatism”; members of parties like the PDKI and Komalah are detained, tortured, and executed. Iran perceives Kurdish gains in Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government and Syria’s Rojava as threats, intervening militarily in these regions. Kurdish villages are bombed, civilians are targeted, and emergency laws are used to suppress the population. While these policies have failed to break Kurdish national consciousness and resistance, the lack of sufficient international support makes their struggle arduous.

From a Kurdish nationalist perspective, Iran’s policies constitute clear colonialism; Kurds, as an occupied people, are governed by a foreign power on their own lands. This situation legitimizes all forms of resistance, including armed struggle, and strengthens demands for independence or autonomy. The Kurdish struggle in Iran should be recognized as a violation of universal human rights and deserves greater international support. Kurds continue their resistance as a people inspiring democracy, equality, and justice in the Middle East.