Explores the issues that affect the identity and political progress of the Kurds as well as the factors that motivate Kurdish nationalism. The report also traces the experience of the Kurds since the break-up of the Ottoman and Qajar empires and their position in the countries in which they live. Chapters cover: (1) the Kurds’ relationship and claims to the land, their language, and their religion; (2) Kurdish society, including the bonds of both religion and tribalism and the power of village chiefs, or aghas; (3) early history until the defeat of the Ottoman Empire; (4) the Kurdish experience in Turkey, Iran, and Iraq, in which political opposition has been met with repression; (5) the genocide between 1976 and 1988 in Iraq; (6) the uprising of the Kurds and self-rule in the 1990s; (7) factional in-fighting in Iraqi Kurdistan; (8) the challenges of relief and rehabilitation; (9) the Kurds in Syria, Lebanon, Europe, and the former Soviet Union and their fear of either arrest or assimilation; and (10) recommendations for protecting Kurdish populations in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria.
