What you need to know about the Kurds

Q. Who are the Kurds?

The Kurds are an ethnic group native to Western Asia. There are an estimated 30-40 million Kurds living in the mountainous region known as Kurdistan, which covers parts of eastern Turkey, northeastern Syria, northern Iraq and western Iran. Most Kurds are Sunni Muslims, although some in Iran practise Shia Islam. Kurds speak a number of languages and dialects that have collectively been termed Kurdish.

Q. Why do the Kurds not have their own state?

In the aftermath of World War I and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, which had previously ruled over large parts of the region, the Allied powers agreed to establish an independent Kurdistan at the Treaty of Sevres in 1920.

Unfortunately for the Kurds, this settlement was overturned by the successes of the Turkish Army, led by Kemal Ataturk. The Turks' victories over a combination of Greek, French and British forces allowed them to conclude the Treaty of Lausanne, which made no mention of the Kurds.

The Kurds rebelled against the new Turkish state in which they found themselves, but they were unable to secure victory without Western assistance. Indeed, the British, who were setting up the colonial state of Iraq, also put down a number of Kurdish rebellions in the 1920s and 1930s.

Q. What happened in Turkey? 

Throughout the 20th century, Kurds in Turkey faced oppression, with their language and culture heavily repressed. Infamously, the use of the word Kurd itself was banned, with ethnic Kurds being referred to as Mountain Turks. In 1984, a group of Kurds from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) launched an insurgency, which has continued ever since with only brief ceasefire periods. Tens of thousands have died, including large numbers of civilians.

Q. What about the Kurds in Iraq?

The Kurds in Iraq have suffered a similar story of persecution from the central government in Baghdad. In particular, during his war with Iran in the 1980s, Saddam Hussein launched a notorious campaign of chemical warfare and mass murder against the Iraqi Kurds known as the Anfal genocide.

Since 1992, Kurds in Iraq have had their own Kurdish Regional Government. The Kurds were key partners of the United States in the Iraq war and in the war against ISIS. They held a referendum on Kurdish independence in 2017, but it was not recognised internationally.

Q. What about Syria?

The Kurds inhabit the north-east of Syria, an area known to them as Rojava. They suffered from marginalisation under the Assad regime, but they were able to set up an autonomous self-governing region after the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011.

Their army, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), were vital partners of the West in the war against ISIS, serving as ground troops who called in the coordinates for American, British and French warplanes and drones to bomb the militants.

Q. So why is Turkey invading northern Syria?

Turkey views all Kurds as enemies due to its ongoing struggle against the PKK, an organisation which the US and EU recognises as a terrorist group. It does not differentiate between the SDF and the PKK.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is aiming to create a 'safe zone' within Syria that will serve as a buffer zone between Syrian Kurdish areas and Turkey, so that the SDF cannot easily aid the PKK.

This border region would also provide a home for some of the 3.5 million Syrian refugees who have fled to Turkey since 2011. The Kurds see this resettlement plan as a policy of ethnic cleansing, along the lines of previous efforts by the Assad regime.

American troops had been in the area for years, preventing any conflict between the Turks and Kurds. In early October, however, US President Donald Trump announced his decision to withdraw these remaining troops, in effect giving Erdogan the go-ahead to advance into northern Syria. The Turkish offensive duly began on October 9.

Q. What happens now?

The Kurds were forced to turn to Syrian President Bashar al Assad and his Russian sponsors for help to counter the Turks, an alliance which dramatically changed the power structures in the region. The Syrian government is now in control of more territory than at any time since the early days of the Syrian Civil War.

The US and Turkey agreed to a five-day ceasefire on October 17, which would involve the Kurdish forces retreating from the proposed safe zone. The SDF only partially accepted the terms, and violations of the ceasefire have continued in border towns. A resumption of serious fighting therefore seems likely in the coming days.

In a worrying development, many ISIS fighters who had been held in Kurdish prisoners have been able to escape in the chaos. This has led to renewed fears of a terrorist resurgence in the region.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 114 civilians and around 250 SDF fighters have been killed by Turkish forces since the invasion began, in what the German Foreign Minister has termed a violation of international law.