rnment failed to create a new national identity. Arab nationalism rose after World War I, as did Kurdish nationalism.
The Kurds are spread among varying concentrations throughout a region of the Middle East consisting of a large part of the mountainous region between the Black Sea and the steppes of Iraq on one side, and the Anti-Taurus Mountains and the Iranian plateau on the other. Kurdistan is that area where Kurds dominate and so is divided among Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. Kurds are also found in Syria, Lebanon, the Soviet Union, and Afghanistan. The Kurdish language belongs to the Iranian group of Indo-European languages. Their precise number is not certain, but it falls between 7 and 12 million.
The Kurds have never formed an independent political entity and have always been ruled by outsiders, including the Armenians, the Persians, the Byzantines, and later the Turks and the Arabs. After the sixteenth century, they were divided between the Ottoman and Persian empires. British and Russian designs to extend their influence over the area complicated the situation further. Uprisings by the Kurds were put down harshly even as nationalism increased among the Kurds.
The Iraqi government in the 1960s and 1970s had a policy of putting down cultural and political activities by the Kurds. The Kurdish question in Iran show a similar pattern. Turkey has been more successful in subduing the Kurds. Several revolts broke out in Iran when Reza Khan tired to subdue the various tribal communities and bring them under government control. The Kurdish nationalist movement went underground in Iran. The Iranian Revolution and the disintegration of state institutions offered a new opportunity for the Kurds to demand regional autonomy. However, the Iranian government did not welcome such a move for ideological as well as political reasons. The new regime favored the unity of the Muslim umma (nation) and so was not willing to recogn...