Ethnic Conflict and the Kurds

Abstract

The Kurds seem further from autonomy or independence today than in the past. In part, the cause lies in their disunity in language, religious behavior, and es pecially tribal structure. The division of their core area among Turkey, Iran, and Iraq after the First World War assured Kurdish nationalism major opponents. In Turkey, the govern ment has attempted to deny the very existence of Kurds as a separate people. While Kurdish leaders can exploit the multi-party system to establish local power bases; they must eschew overt ethnic agitation. In Iraq, the military move of the Barzanis was ultimately squashed by a determined, well- equipped central government. Only minor dissidence seems possible to continue here. In Iran, once the USSR's wartime occupation of the northern part of the country ended in 1946, the Kurdish Republic of Mahabad which the Soviets had stimulated and facilitated collapsed. The shah has since maintained tight political control, while permitting the Kurds some cultural expression. Although there is, thus, little prospect of a renewed Kurdish military bid for autonomy or independence in these three states, economic grievances are likely to continue to foster a sense of ethnic identity among the Kurds.