Ancient
118-465: Medieval Modern Kurdistan Region ( KRI ) is a semi- autonomous administrative division in the Republic of Iraq . It comprises four Kurdish -majority governorates of Arab -majority Iraq: Erbil Governorate , Sulaymaniyah Governorate , Duhok Governorate , and Halabja Governorate . It is located in northern Iraq, which shares borders with Iran to the east, Turkey to the north, and Syria to
236-407: A cold climate receiving annual precipitation adequate to sustain temperate forests and shrubs . Mountain chains harbor pastures and forested valleys, totaling approximately 16 million hectares (160,000 km ), including firs and countryside is mostly oaks , conifers , platanus , willow , poplar and, to the west of Kurdistan, olive trees . The region north of the mountainous region on
354-675: A military operation wherein the Iraqi government forces attacked the Kurds, defeating them and forcing them to abandon the referendum. A month later, Iraq declared full victory over ISIS and re-established control over all previously occupied territory. Following the Kurds’ failed attempt to achieve independence, the government of Iraq has exacted severe punishment against KRI in a number of punitive measures. Some Kurdish officials in Iraq have described this as evidence of
472-508: A region of France , enjoys a greater degree of autonomy on matters such as tax and education compared to mainland regions. New Caledonia , a sui generis collectivity, and French Polynesia , an overseas collectivity , are highly autonomous territories with their own government, legislature, currency, and constitution. They do not, however, have legislative powers for policy areas relating to law and order, defense, border control or university education. Other smaller overseas collectivities have
590-406: A Kurdish majority, while others campaign for greater autonomy within the existing national boundaries. The delineation of the region remains disputed and varied, with some maps greatly exaggerating its boundaries. Historically, the word "Kurdistan" is first attested in 11th century Seljuk chronicles. Many disparate Kurdish dynasties, emirates, principalities, and chiefdoms were established from
708-669: A battle near Amid and Siverek in 1062 as to have taken place in Kurdistan . The second record occurs in the prayer from the colophon of an Armenian manuscript of the Gospels , written in 1200. A later use of the term Kurdistan is found in Empire of Trebizond documents in 1336 and in Nuzhat al-Qulub , written by Hamdallah Mustawfi in 1340. According to Sharaf al-Din Bitlisi in his Sharafnama ,
826-551: A capital of the same name. The pashalics of Kirkook and Solimania also comprise part of Upper Curdistan. Lower Curdistan comprises all the level tract to the east of the Tigris, and the minor ranges immediately bounding the plains and reaching thence to the foot of the great range, which may justly be denominated the Alps of western Asia. The northern, northwestern and northeastern parts of Kurdistan are referred to as upper Kurdistan, and includes
944-789: A conference program commemorating the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. On 27 November 2010, the Kurdish government officially admitted to violence against women in Kurdistan and began taking serious measures. 21 June 2011 The Family Violence Bill was approved by the Kurdistan Parliament, it includes several provisions criminalizing the practice. A 2011 Kurdish law criminalized FGM practice in Iraqi Kurdistan and law
1062-466: A degree of autonomy — self-governance — under the national government. Autonomous areas are distinct from other constituent units of a federation (e.g. a state, or province) in that they possess unique powers for their given circumstances. Typically, it is either geographically distinct from the rest of the state or populated by a national minority, which may exercise home rule . Decentralization of self-governing powers and functions to such divisions
1180-407: A factor of five, to about 1 million barrels per day (160,000 m/d). Notable companies active in Kurdistan include Exxon , TotalEnergies , Chevron , Talisman Energy , DNO , MOL Group , Genel Energy , Hunt Oil , Gulf Keystone Petroleum , and Marathon Oil . Other mineral resources that exist in significant quantities in the region include coal , copper , gold , iron , limestone (which
1298-742: A four-year term. In case of extensions of parliament's term, the president's term is also automatically extended. The current President is Nechirvan Barzani , who assumed office on 1 June 2019. The Kurdistan Parliament has 111 seats and are held every fifth year. Traditionally, the two major parties in Kurdistan Region are Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The Carnegie Middle East Center wrote in August 2015 that: The Kurdistan region of Iraq enjoys more stability, economic development, and political pluralism than
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#17328440061061416-650: A lesser degree of autonomy through local legislatures. The five overseas regions, French Guiana , Guadeloupe , Martinique , Mayotte , and Réunion , are generally governed the same as mainland regions; however, they enjoy some additional powers, including certain legislative powers for devolved areas. New Zealand maintains nominal sovereignty over three Pacific Island nations. The Cook Islands and Niue are self-governing countries in free association with New Zealand that maintain some international relationships in their own name. Tokelau remains an autonomous dependency of New Zealand. The Chatham Islands —despite having
1534-471: A thorough delineation is difficult, the Encyclopaedia of Islam delineated Kurdistan as following: In Turkey, the Kurds inhabit the whole of the eastern region of the country. According to Trotter (1878), the limit of their extent to the north was the line Divriği — Erzurum — Kars ... The Kurds also occupy the western slopes of Ararat, the districts of Kağızman and Tuzluca . On the west they extend in
1652-457: A wide belt beyond the course of the Euphrates, and, in the region of Sivas , in the districts of Kangal and Divriği. Equally, the whole region includes areas to the east and south-east of these limits... Turkish Kurdistan numbers at least 17 of them almost totally: in the north-east, the provinces of Erzincan , Erzurum and Kars ; in the centre, going from west to east and from north to south,
1770-413: A year in the plains, and between 700 and 3,000 mm a year on the high plateau between mountain chains. The mountainous zone along the borders with Iran and Turkey experiences dry summers , rainy and sometimes snowy winters, and damp springs, while to the south the climate progressively transitions toward semi-arid and desert zones. Kurdistan is one of the most mountainous regions in the world with
1888-903: Is a roughly defined geo- cultural region in West Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture , languages , and national identity have historically been based. Geographically, Kurdistan roughly encompasses the northwestern Zagros and the eastern Taurus mountain ranges. Kurdistan generally comprises the following four regions: southeastern Turkey ( Northern Kurdistan ), northern Iraq ( Southern Kurdistan ), northwestern Iran ( Eastern Kurdistan ), and northern Syria ( Western Kurdistan ). Some definitions also include parts of southern Transcaucasia . Certain Kurdish nationalist organizations seek to create an independent nation state consisting of some or all of these areas with
2006-596: Is a terrorist group and has acted accordingly. According to 2016 estimate Kurdish Institute of Paris , total population of Kurdistan is around 34.5 million, and Kurds making 86% of population of Northern Kurdistan. There are Arab , Turkic , Assyrian (Syriac), Armenian and Azerbaijani minorities in Northern Kurdistan. In Southern Kurdistan there are Christian (Assyrian and Armenian) and Turkish (Turkmen) minorities as well. Iraqi and Syrian Turkmen share close ties with Turkish people and do not identify with
2124-423: Is a way for a national government to try to increase democratic participation or administrative efficiency or to defuse internal conflicts. States that include autonomous areas may be federacies , federations , or confederations . Autonomous areas can be divided into territorial autonomies, subregional territorial autonomies, and local autonomies. Tobago Gibraltar is a self-governing overseas territory of
2242-528: Is an autonomous region in northern Iraq . It borders Iran in the east, Turkey in the north, and Syria in the west. The region encompasses most of Iraqi Kurdistan , which is the southern part of the greater geographical region of Kurdistan . The region lies between latitudes 34° and 38°N , and longitudes 41° and 47°E . Most of the northern and northeastern parts of the region are mountainous, especially those bordering Turkey and Iran. The region has several high mountains and mountain ranges. Other areas of
2360-428: Is divided into four governorates (Kurdish: پارێزگا , Parêzga ): the governorates of Erbil , Sulaymaniyah , Duhok , and Halabja . Each of these governorates is divided into districts, for a total of 26 districts. Each district is also divided into sub-districts. Each governorate has a capital city, while districts and sub-districts have 'district centers'. Economy by sector ( GDP , 2013) The Kurdistan Region has
2478-401: Is dominated by the oil industry . However, Kurdish officials have since the late 2010s attempted to diversify the economy to mitigate a new economic crisis like the one which hit the region during the fight against ISIL. Major oil export partners include Israel , Italy , France and Greece . KRG -controlled parts of Iraqi Kurdistan contain 4 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. However,
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#17328440061062596-419: Is given in the text of Sharafnama , written by Prince Sharaf al-Din Bitlisi in 1597. The emirates included Baban , Soran , Badinan and Garmiyan in the south; Bakran, Bohtan (or Botan) and Badlis in the north, and Mukriyan and Ardalan in the east. The earliest medieval attestation of the toponym Kurdistan is found in a 12th-century Armenian historical text by Matteos Urhayeci . He described
2714-458: Is home to an estimated 6 to 8 million Kurds. In A Dictionary of Scripture Geography (published 1846), John Miles describes Upper and Lower Kurdistan as following: Modern Curdistan is of much greater extent than the ancient Assyria, and is composed of two parts the Upper and Lower. In the former is the province of Ardelan, the ancient Arropachatis, now nominally a part of Irak Ajami, and belonging to
2832-485: Is not self-ruled. Kurds fighting in the Syrian Civil War were able to take control of large sections of northern Syria and establish self-governing regions in an Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (commonly called Rojava), where they seek autonomy in a federal Syria after the war. Kurdistan means "Land of the Kurds" and was first attested in 11th-century Seljuk chronicles. The exact origins of
2950-529: Is professed by Assyrians and Armenians . Yazidis make up a significant minority, with some 650,000 in 2005, or 560,000 as of 2013, The Yarsan (Ahl-e Haqq or Kakai) religion numbers around 200,000 adherents respectively. In 2020, it was reported that 60 Zoroastrian families live in Iraqi Kurdistan. The first Zoroastrian temple was opened in the city of Sulaymaniyah (Silêmanî) in September 2016. A tiny ethno-religious community of Mandaeans also exists within
3068-619: Is the latest with a planned opening in Suleimaniah in September 2011. The Kurdistan Region's official universities are listed below, followed by their English acronym (if commonly used), internet domain, establishment date and latest data about the number of students. Iraqi Kurdistan has been investing in the growth of its human capital in general. Public sector employees are often enrolled in local training programmes or sent overseas to participate in training courses, technical classes, and professional development programmes. However, factors such as
3186-647: Is used to produce cement ), marble , and zinc . The world's largest deposit of rock sulfur is located just southwest of Erbil . In July 2012, Turkey and the Kurdistan Regional Government signed an agreement by which Turkey would supply the KRG with refined petroleum products in exchange for crude oil. However, in March 2023 the International Chamber of Commerce ruled that this agreement was illegal, causing
3304-564: The Financial Times indicating Turkey's readiness to accept an independent Kurdistan in northern Iraq. This became increasingly less likely, however, when in July 2017, the Iraqi government declared victory in the Battle of Mosul against ISIS in the group’s last stronghold in the country. Following this, in September 2017, Iraqi Kurds held a one-sided independence referendum which eventually triggered
3422-661: The Encyclopaedia of Islam , Kurdistan covers around 190,000 km (73,000 sq mi) in Turkey, 125,000 km (48,000 sq mi) in Iran, 65,000 km (25,000 sq mi) in Iraq, and 12,000 km (4,600 sq mi) in Syria, with a total area of approximately 392,000 km (151,000 sq mi). Turkish Kurdistan encompasses a large area of Eastern Anatolia Region and southeastern Anatolia of Turkey and it
3540-521: The Euphrates softshell turtle . Bird species include, the see-see partridge , Menetries's warbler , western jackdaw , Red-billed chough , hooded crow , European nightjar , rufous-tailed scrub robin , masked shrike and the pale rockfinch . The Kurdistan Region is a multi-party, democratic and parliamentary republic and has a presidential system wherein the President is elected by Parliament for
3658-612: The Iraq War (2003–2011) , and built a parliamentary democracy with a growing economy. In 2014, when the Syria -based Islamic State began their Northern Iraq offensive and invaded the country, the Iraqi Armed Forces retreated from most of the disputed territories. The KRI's Peshmerga then entered and took control of them for the duration of the War in Iraq (2013–2017) . In October 2017, following
Kurdistan Region - Misplaced Pages Continue
3776-577: The Kirkuk mega-field . This act caused Baghdad to threaten to revoke Exxon's contract in its southern fields, most notably the West-Qurna Phase 1 project. Exxon responded by announcing its intention to leave the West-Qurna project. As of July 2007, the Kurdish government solicited foreign companies to invest in 40 new oil sites, with the hope of increasing regional oil production over the following 5 years by
3894-634: The Kurd Dagh ;..., to the east of the Euphrates where the river enters Syria near Jarablus ; and finally, a belt of 250 km. in length by 30 km. in depth in the Jazira . Many of the maps delineating Kurdistan are greatly exaggerated, also incorporating non-Kurdish regions, which has made the subject very controversial. Various groups, among them the Guti , Hurrians , Mannai ( Mannaeans ), and Armenians , lived in this region in antiquity. The original Mannaean homeland
4012-715: The Kurdistan Regional Government (in Erbil ) and the Government of Iraq (in Baghdad ) to the present day. The Kurdistan Region Parliament is based in Erbil, the capital of KRI. Throughout the 20th century, Iraqi Kurds oscillated between fighting for autonomy and for full independence. Under the Ba'athist regime , the Kurds experienced Arabization and genocidal campaigns at the hands of
4130-633: The Persian Gulf near Bushehr , and included the Lur inhabited areas of southern Zagros . The historian Jordi Tejel has identified "Greater Kurdistan" as being one of the "Kurdish myths" that the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria (KDPS) were involved in promoting to Kurds in Syria. An academic source published by the University of Cambridge has described maps of greater Kurdistan created in
4248-665: The Royal Air Force . Nonetheless, the Kurdish struggle persisted and the Barzani tribe had by the early 1920s gained momentum for the Kurdish nationalist cause and would become pivotal in the Kurdish-Iraqi wars throughout the 20th century. In 1943, the Barzani chief Mustafa Barzani began raiding Iraqi police stations in Kurdistan , which led the Baghdad government to deploy 30,000 troops to
4366-480: The Safavid and Ottoman empires. A major division of Kurdistan occurred in the aftermath of the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514, and was formalized in the 1639 Treaty of Zuhab . In a geography textbook of late Ottoman military school by Ahmet Cevad Kurdistan span over the cities Erzurum , Van , Urfa , Sulaymanyah , Kirkuk , Mosul and Diyarbakir among others and was one out of six regions of Ottoman Asia. After
4484-915: The Turkmen of Turkmenistan and Central Asia . Kurdistan has also significant Caucasian population, Caucasians of Kurdistan included Chechens and Ingushes in Varto , Ossetians in Ahlat and Circassians . From early stage on, these Caucasians went through a process of Kurdification and thereby had Kurdish as their mother tongue. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica , Kurdistan covers about 190,000 km (or 73,000 square miles), and its chief towns are Diyarbakır (Amed), Bitlis (Bedlîs) and Van (Wan) in Turkey, Erbil (Hewlêr) and Sulaymaniyah in Iraq, and Kermanshah (Kirmanşan), Sanandaj (Sine), Ilam and Mahabad (Mehabad) in Iran. According to
4602-496: The US-led invasion in 2003 to regain what land they considered historically theirs. Despite being landlocked, the Kurdistan Region pursues a proactive foreign policy, which includes strengthening diplomatic relations with Iran , Russia , United States and Turkey . Twenty nine countries have a diplomatic presence in the Kurdistan Region , while the Kurdistan Region has representative offices in 14 countries . The Kurdistan Region
4720-614: The United States mediated a ceasefire and the two warring parties signed the Washington Agreement deal, where in it was stipulated that the two parties would agree on revenue-sharing, power-sharing and security arrangements. The anarchy in Kurdistan during the war created an opportunity for the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which created bases in the northern mountainous areas of the Kurdistan Region, which still operates in
4838-428: The military coup of 1980 , the Kurdish language was officially prohibited in public and private life. Many people who spoke, published, or sang in Kurdish were arrested and imprisoned. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, political parties that represented Kurdish interests were banned. In 1983, the Kurdish provinces were included in the state of emergency region , which was placed under martial law in response to
Kurdistan Region - Misplaced Pages Continue
4956-502: The red fox , goitered gazelle , Eurasian otter , striped hyena , Persian fallow deer , long-eared hedgehog , onager , mangar and the Euphrates softshell turtle . Birds include, the hooded crow , common starling , Eurasian magpie , European robin , water pipit , spotted flycatcher , namaqua dove , saker falcon , griffon vulture , little crake and collared pratincole , among others. Mountains are important geographical and symbolic features of Kurdish life, as evidenced by
5074-509: The 1937 Dersim rebellion . All were forcefully put down by the authorities. The region was declared a closed military area from which foreigners were banned between 1925 and 1965. In an attempt to deny their existence , the Turkish government categorized Kurds as " Mountain Turks " until 1991. The words "Kurds", "Kurdistan", or "Kurdish" were officially banned by the Turkish government. Following
5192-474: The 1940s and forward as: "These maps have become some of the most influential propaganda tools for the Kurdish nationalist discourse. They depict a territorially exaggerated version of the territory of Kurdistan, extending into areas with no majority Kurdish populations. Despite their production with political aims related to specific claims on the demographic and ethnographic structure of the region, and their questionable methodologies, they have become 'Kurdistan in
5310-521: The 8th to 19th centuries. Administratively, the 20th century saw the establishment of the short-lived areas of the Kurdish state (1918–1919), Kingdom of Kurdistan (1921–1924), Kurdistansky Uyezd i.e. "Red Kurdistan" (1923–1929), Republic of Ararat (1927–1930), and Republic of Mahabad (1946). In Iraq, following the Aylūl Revolt , the government entered into an agreement with the rebellious Kurds, granting Kurds local self-rule. Soon after, however,
5428-540: The Iraqi government began ethnic cleansing Kurdish-populated areas, to reduce the size of the autonomous entity which a census would determine. This mistrust provoked the Second Iraqi–Kurdish War between 1974 and 1975, which resulted in a serious defeat for the Iraqi Kurds (see Algiers Accord ) and forced all of the rebels to flee once more to Iran. The more left-leaning Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)
5546-427: The Iraqi government to punish Kurdistan Region has resulted in the latter losing authorities it had previously possessed, and the future of Kurdish autonomy in Iraq has been called into question. Iraqi Kurdish officials have also complained of efforts by the Iraqi government to return to the pre-2003 centralized government and dismantle Kurdistan Region altogether. There is also a Kurdistan Province in Iran, which
5664-618: The Iraqi government’s aim to return to a centralised political system and abandon the federal system it adopted in 2005. In a leaked letter published by Al-Monitor in September 2023, Masrour Barzani , the prime minister of KRG warned about an imminent collapse of the federal model in Iraq (i.e. a return to centralism ) and urged the United States to intervene, saying: "I write to you now at another critical juncture in our history, one that I fear we may have difficulty overcoming. …[W]e are bleeding economically and hemorrhaging politically. For
5782-554: The Islamist Ansar al-Islam group in Halabja area as Kurdistan hosted thousands of soldiers. The Kurdish autonomy which had existed since 1992 was formally recognized by the new Iraqi government in 2005 in the new Iraqi constitution and the KDP- and PUK-administered areas reunified in 2006, making the Kurdistan Region into one single administration. This reunification prompted Kurdish leaders and
5900-412: The KRG has estimated that the region contains around 45 billion barrels (7.2 × 10 ^ m) of unproven oil resource. Extraction of these reserves began in 2007. In November 2011, Exxon challenged the Iraqi central government's authority with the signing of oil and gas contracts for exploration rights to six parcels of land in Kurdistan, including one contract in the disputed territories, just east of
6018-585: The Kurdish President Masoud Barzani to focus on bringing the Kurdish areas outside of the Kurdistan Region into the region and building healthy institutions. In 2009, Kurdistan saw the birth of a new major party, the Gorran Movement , which was founded because of tensions in PUK and would subsequently weaken the party profoundly. The second most important political PUK figure, Nawshirwan Mustafa ,
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#17328440061066136-518: The Kurdish capital estimates that around 50,000 Kurds from Turkey are now living in the Kurdistan Region. The Kurdistan Region is hosting 1.2 million displaced Iraqis who have been displaced by the ISIS war, as of early December 2017. There were about 335,000 in the area prior to 2014 with the rest arriving in 2014 as a result of unrest in Syria and attacks by the Islamic State . Before the establishment of
6254-591: The Kurdish-inhabited regions of eastern Anatolia was opposed by many Kurds, and has resulted in a long-running separatist conflict in which tens of thousands of lives have been lost. The region saw several major Kurdish rebellions, including the Koçgiri rebellion of 1920 under the Ottomans, then successive insurrections under the Turkish state, including the 1924 Sheikh Said rebellion , the Republic of Ararat in 1927, and
6372-737: The Kurdistan List, provoking both KDP and PUK. Gorran also attempted to create goodwill with the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki , which only aggravated the situation in Kurdistan, and the KDP and PUK chose to boycott Gorran from politics. In the period leading up to the ISIL invasion of Iraq in June 2014, the Iraqi-Kurdish relations were in a decline that the war against the Islamic State of Iraq and
6490-416: The Kurdistan Region in 2005 (as a 'federal region'), after the American-led 2003 invasion of Iraq overthrew Saddam Hussein . In September 2017, the KRI passed a non-binding independence referendum , inviting mixed reactions internationally. The KRI largely escaped the privations that afflicted other parts of Iraq in the last years of Saddam Hussein's rule as well as the chaos that followed his ousting during
6608-441: The Kurdistan Regional Government, primary and secondary education was almost entirely taught in Arabic. Higher education was always taught in Arabic. This however changed with the establishment of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region. The first international school, the International School of Choueifat opened its branch in the Kurdistan Region in 2006. Other international schools have opened and British International Schools in Kurdistan
6726-547: The Levant (ISIL) only worsened. When Iraqi forces withdrew from the Syrian-Iraqi border and away from the disputed areas, the Kurdistan Region consequently had a 1,000 km front with ISIL, which put the region into an economic stalemate. However, Kurdistan did not compromise on their stance regarding financial independence from Baghdad. Due to the Iraqi withdrawal, Kurdish Peshmerga took control of most disputed areas, including Kirkuk , Khanaqin , Jalawla , Bashiqa , Sinjar and Makhmur . The strategically important Mosul Dam
6844-418: The Region in the 2010s with frequent calls for withdrawal. In advance of the Iraq war in 2003, the two parties united in the negotiations with the Arab opposition to Saddam Hussein and succeeded in harvesting political, economic, and security gains and the Arab opposition agreed to recognize Kurdish autonomy in the case that Saddam Hussein was removed from power. America and Kurdistan also jointly rooted out
6962-407: The Syrian and Bar Hebraeus . They mention the mountains of Qardu, city of Qardu and country of Qardawaye. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, several Kurdish principalities emerged in the region: in the north the Shaddadids (951–1174) (in east Transcaucasia between the Kur and Araxes rivers) and the Rawadids (955–1221) (centered on Tabriz and which controlled all of Azerbaijan ), in
7080-438: The UK . Most of the other 13 British Overseas Territories also have autonomy in internal affairs through local legislatures. Aruba , Curaçao , and Sint Maarten are autonomous countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands , each with their own parliament. In addition they enjoy autonomy in taxation matters as well as having their own currencies. The French Constitution recognises three autonomous jurisdictions. Corsica ,
7198-427: The activities of the militant separatist organization the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). A guerrilla war took place through the 1980s and 1990s in which much of the countryside was evacuated, thousands of Kurdish villages were destroyed by the government , and numerous summary executions were carried out by both sides. Food embargoes were placed on Kurdish villages and towns. Tens of thousands were killed in
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#17328440061067316-443: The age of 15. Kurdistan has a religiously diverse population. The dominant religion is Islam , which is professed by the majority of Kurdistan Region's inhabitants. These include Kurds, Iraqi Turkmen, and Arabs, belonging mostly to the Shafi'i school of Sunni Islam. There is also a small number of Shia Feyli Kurds . In 2015, the Kurdistan Regional Government enacted a law to formally protect religious minorities. Christianity
7434-429: The agreement collapsed . Later, during the Iraqi no-fly zones conflict , which followed the Gulf War , the Iraqi military withdrew from parts of northern Iraq, allowing the Kurds to fill the vacuum and regain lost control in those areas. After the invasion of Iraq , and since the creation of the new Iraqi federal state , the new constitution issued in 2005 recognises Kurdistan Region as a federal region; even though
7552-407: The areas from west of Amed to Lake Urmia. The lowlands of southern Kurdistan are called lower Kurdistan. The main cities in this area are Kirkuk and Arbil. Much of the region is typified by a continental climate – hot in the summer, cold in the winter. Despite this, much of the region is fertile and has historically exported grain and livestock . Precipitation varies between 200 and 400 mm
7670-434: The autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government . The word 'Kurdistan', whether written or spoken, can still lead to detention and prosecution in Turkey. Kurdistan has been characterized as an "international colony" by the scholar Ismail Besikci . The successful 2014 Northern Iraq offensive by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), and the resultant weakening of the ability of the Iraqi state to project power at
7788-676: The border with Iran and Turkey features meadow grasses and such wild trees as, Abies cilicica , Fagus sylvatica , Quercus calliprinos , Quercus brantii , Quercus infectoria , Quercus ithaburensis , Quercus macranthera , Cupressus sempervirens , Platanus orientalis , Pinus brutia , Juniperus foetidissima , Juniperus excelsa , Juniperus oxycedrus , Prunus cerasus , Salix alba , Fraxinus excelsior , Paliurus spina-christi , Olea europaea , Ficus carica , Populus euphratica , Populus nigra , Crataegus monogyna , Crataegus azarolus , Prunus cerasifera , rose hips , Cercis siliquastrum , pistachio trees , pear and Sorbus graeca . The desert in
7906-480: The boundaries of the Kurdish land begin at the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf and stretch on an even line to the end of Malatya and Marash . Evliya Çelebi , who traveled in the region between 1640 and 1655, mentioned that Kurdistan includes Erzurum , Van , Hakkari , Cizre , Imaddiya , Mosul , Shahrizor , Harir , Ardalan , Baghdad , Derne, Derteng, until Basra . In the 16th century, after prolonged wars, Kurdish-inhabited areas were split between
8024-479: The cabinet broke down due to plagues of embattlement and technocracy which disenfranchised the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and a new more partisan cabinet was formed and led by PUK politician Kosrat Rasul Ali in April 1993. The KDP-PUK relations quickly deteriorated and the first clashes in the civil war took place in May 1994 when PUK captured the towns of Shaqlawa and Chamchamal from KDP, which in turn pushed PUK out of Salahaddin (near Erbil). In September 1998,
8142-399: The collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Allies contrived to split Kurdistan (as detailed in the ultimately unratified Treaty of Sèvres ) among several countries, including Kurdistan, Armenia and others. However, the reconquest of these areas by the forces of Kemal Atatürk (and other pressing issues) caused the Allies to accept the renegotiated Treaty of Lausanne (1923) and the borders of
8260-417: The constitution does not include the term “autonomy”, it emphasises decentralisation and devolution , allowing regions and governorates to administer local affairs. In practice, however, only Kurdistan Region has exercised this authority granted by the constitution. In September 2017, Iraqi Kurds held a one-sided independence referendum , which eventually failed and was abandoned. The subsequent effort by
8378-429: The defeat of the Islamic State, the Iraqi Armed Forces attacked the Peshmerga and reasserted control over the disputed territories. Before Iraq became an independent state in 1923, the Iraqi Kurds had already begun their independence struggle from the British Mandatory Iraq with the Mahmud Barzanji revolts , which were subsequently crushed by the United Kingdom after a bombing campaign against Kurdish civilians by
8496-516: The designation of Territory —is an integral part of the country, situated within the New Zealand archipelago; its council is not autonomous and has broadly the same powers as other local councils, although notably it can also charge levies on goods entering or leaving the islands. In Ethiopia , "special woredas" are a subgroup of woredas (districts) that are organized around the traditional homelands of specific ethnic minorities , and are outside
8614-401: The disputed territories as those areas Arabised and whose border modified between 17 July 1968 and 9 April 2003. Those areas include parts of four governorates of pre-1968 borders. Disputed internal Kurdish–Iraqi boundaries have been a core concern for Arabs and Kurds, especially since US invasion and political restructuring in 2003. Kurds gained territory to the south of Iraqi Kurdistan after
8732-825: The east the Hasanwayhids (959–1015) (in Zagros between Shahrizor and Khuzistan ) and the Annazids (990–1116) (centered in Hulwan ) and in the west the Marwanids (990–1096) to the south of Diyarbakır and north of Jazira . Kurdistan in the Middle Ages was a collection of semi-independent and independent states called emirates . It was nominally under indirect political or religious influence of Khalifs or Shahs . A comprehensive history of these states and their relationship with their neighbors
8850-422: The efficiency of the training process. In the long run, this will have an effect on private sector training and growth. In 2010 Human Rights Watch reported that journalists in the Kurdistan Region who criticize the regional government have faced substantial violence, threats, and lawsuits, and some have fled the country. Some journalists faced trial and threats of imprisonment for their reports about corruption in
8968-572: The federal government in Baghdad. However, when the United States , the United Kingdom , and France established the Iraqi no-fly zones , which restricted the federal government's power in the country's northern and southern areas following the Gulf War, the Kurds were given a chance to experiment with self-governance and the autonomous region was de facto established. The Iraqi government only recognized
9086-502: The first time in my tenure as prime minister, I hold grave concerns that this dishonorable campaign against us may cause the collapse of … the very model of a Federal Iraq that the United States sponsored in 2003 and purported to stand by since." According to a report published in 2024 by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy , Kurdistan Region's autonomy "hangs in the balance" due to several punitive measures imposed against
9204-479: The former by the government of Iraq in an effort to punish it and ultimately strip it completely of its autonomy. Various sources have reported that Al-Nusra has issued a fatwā calling for Kurdish women and children in Syria to be killed, and the fighting in Syria has led tens of thousands of refugees to flee to Iraq's Kurdistan region . As of 2015, Turkey was actively supporting Al-Nusra, but as of January 2017, Turkey's foreign ministry has said that Al-Nusra
9322-405: The government has started to publish more detailed figures. The population of the region is notoriously difficult to ascertain, as the Iraqi government has historically sought to minimize the importance of the Kurdish minority while Kurdish groups have had a tendency to exaggerate the numbers. Based on available data, Kurdistan has a young population with an estimated 36% of the population being under
9440-518: The instability in Syria and Iraq that exists as of 2014, attested that "Kurdistan may exist by 2030". The weakening of the Iraqi state following the 2014 Northern Iraq offensive by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has also presented an opportunity for independence for Iraqi Kurdistan, augmented by Turkey's move towards acceptance of such a state although it opposes moves toward Kurdish autonomy in Turkey and Syria. The incorporation into Turkey of
9558-418: The lack of a practical and formal HRD framework specific to the KRG's public sector, the absence of evaluation process, inadequate civil service training institutions, and corruption have hampered effective and efficient professional development and training in the public sector. Therefore, an assessment of such programmes and their outcomes is needed to identify any misuse of public funds, as well as to assist in
9676-469: The land is rainfed arable agricultural land and 328,428 hectares (8%) is Irrigated arable agricultural land. The climate of the Kurdistan Region is semi-arid continental ; hot and dry in summer, and cold and wet in winter. The region is cooler compared to the central and southern parts of Iraq. Summers are hot and dry, with high average temperatures ranging from 35 °C (95 °F) in the cooler northernmost areas to blistering 40 °C (104 °F) in
9794-407: The liwaʾs of Kirkuk , Arbil and Sulaymaniyah (entirely Kurdish) and, in the... nahiyas of Khanaqin and Mandali , where they are neighbours of the Kurds of Iran to the west of the Zagros. In Syria, they constitute three distinct belts, in the north of the country and to the south of the highway which forms a frontier and where they are in direct contact with their compatriots in Turkey... [I]n
9912-408: The lowest poverty rates in Iraq and the stronger economy of the Kurdistan Region attracted around 20,000 workers from other parts of Iraq between 2003 and 2005. The number of millionaires in the city of Sulaymaniyah grew from 12 to 2,000 in 2003, reflecting the economic growth. According to some estimates, the debt of the Kurdish government reached $ 18 billion by January 2016. The economy of Kurdistan
10030-556: The minds of Kurds' and the boundaries they indicate have been readily accepted." At the end of the 1991 Gulf War , the Coalition established a no-fly zone over northern Iraq to provide humanitarian relief to and safeguard the Kurds who would be subjected to Iraqi air attacks. Amid the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from three northern provinces, Kurdistan Region emerged in 1992 as an autonomous entity inside Iraq with its own local government and parliament. A 2010 US report, written before
10148-551: The ministerial decree necessary to implement it, expected in February 2009, was cancelled. As reported to the Centre for Islamic Pluralism by the non-governmental organization, called as Stop FGM in Kurdistan, the Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq, on 25 November, officially admitted the wide prevalence in the territory of female genital mutilation (FGM). Recognition by the KRG of the frequency of this custom among Kurds came during
10266-617: The modern Iraq-Turkey border, while Hazza is 12 km southwest of modern Erbil . In another passage in the same document, the region of the Khabur River is also identified as land of the Kurds . According to Al-Muqaddasi and Yaqut al-Hamawi , Tamanon was located on the south-western or southern slopes of Mount Judi and south of Cizre . Other geographical references to the Kurds in Syriac sources appear in Zuqnin chronicle, writings of Michael
10384-539: The modern Republic of Turkey, leaving the Kurds without a self-ruled region. Other Kurdish areas were assigned to the new British and French mandated states of Iraq and Syria . At the San Francisco Peace Conference of 1945, the Kurdish delegation proposed consideration of territory claimed by the Kurds, which encompassed an area extending from the Mediterranean shores near Adana to the shores of
10502-489: The modern names of Kurds and Kurdistan; T. A. Sinclair and other scholars have dismissed this identification as false, while a common association is asserted in the Columbia Encyclopedia . Some of the ancient districts of Kurdistan and their corresponding modern names: One of the earliest records of the phrase land of the Kurds is found in an Assyrian Christian document of late antiquity , describing
10620-486: The name Kurd are unclear. The suffix -stan ( Persian : ـستان, translit. stân ) is Persian for land. "Kurdistan" was also formerly spelled Curdistan . One of the ancient names of this region was Corduene . The 19th-century Kurdistan Eyalet was the first time that the Ottoman Empire used the term 'Kurdistan' to refer to an administrative unit rather than a geographical region. Albeit admitting
10738-419: The north west division called Al Jobal. It contains five others namely, Betlis, the ancient Carduchia, lying to the south and south west of the lake Van. East and south east of Betlis is the principality of Julamerick, south west of it is the principality of Amadia. the fourth is Jeezera ul Omar, a city on an island in the Tigris, and corresponding to the ancient Bezabde. the fifth and largest is Kara Djiolan, with
10856-407: The provinces of Malatya , Tunceli , Elazığ , Bingöl , Muş , Karaköse ( Ağrı ), then Adıyaman , Diyarbakır , Siirt , Bitlis and Van ; Finally, the southern provinces of Şanlıurfa , Mardin and Çölamerik ( Hakkarî )... [Kurds] inhabit the north-west of Iran. Firstly in the provinces of West Azerbaijan , to the east of Lake Rida'iyya ..., the districts of Maku , Kotur , Shahpur , and to
10974-480: The pumping of petroleum products through the Kirkuk–Ceyhan Oil Pipeline between the Kurdistan Region and Turkey to cease. The closure of the pipeline left much of the Kurdistan Region's petroleum output with no legal outlet, causing a rise in illegal smuggling of oil to Iran via tanker trucks. Due to the lack of a proper census , the exact population and demographics of Kurdistan Region are unknown, but
11092-488: The reducing of administrative and political corruption and to make policy recommendations. The government's policies for the public sector have also had an impact on the private sector. However, the government has played a much smaller role in the private sector. In Iraqi Kurdistan, the Ministry of Planning has primarily concentrated on activating training in the public sector, with the goal of expanding opportunities and improving
11210-418: The region are hills and plains, which make up the central and most southern parts of the region. Most of the precipitation there falls as rain or snow between November and April, annual precipitation ranges from about 375 to 724 mm. From ancient times this has made cultivation of winter crops (and vegetables and fruit in the summer) and the raising of livestock possible. Around 1,368,388 hectares (33%) of
11328-411: The region. In 2009 Human Rights Watch found that some health providers in Iraqi Kurdistan had been involved in both performing and promoting misinformation about the practice of female genital mutilation. Girls and women receive conflicting and inaccurate messages from media campaigns and medical personnel on its consequences. The Kurdistan parliament in 2008 passed a draft law outlawing the practice, but
11446-672: The region. The Iraqi Kurdish leadership fled to Iran in 1945. There, Mustafa Barzani founded the Kurdistan Democratic Party , and Iran and the Soviet Union began assisting the Kurdish rebels with arms. Israel began assisting the Kurdish rebels in the early 1960s. From 1961 to 1970, the Kurds fought the Iraqi government in the First Iraqi–Kurdish War , which resulted in the Iraqi–Kurdish Autonomy Agreement . But simultaneously with its promise of Kurdish autonomy,
11564-448: The rest of the country. And public opinion under the Kurdistan Regional Government demands rule-of-law-based governance. But power is concentrated in the hands of the ruling parties and families, who perpetuate a nondemocratic, sultanistic system. These dynamics could foster instability in Kurdistan and its neighborhood, but could also provide a rare window of opportunity for democratization. The Committee for implementing article 140 defines
11682-404: The saying "Kurds have no friends but the mountains." Mountains are regarded as sacred by the Kurds . Included in the region are Mount Judi and Ararat (both prominent in Kurdish folklore), Zagros , Qandil , Shingal , Mount Abdulaziz , Kurd Mountains , Jabal al-Akrad , Shaho, Gabar, Hamrin , and Nisir . Iraqi Kurdistan is a region relatively rich in water, especially for countries in
11800-451: The semi-autonomous region. The National Association of Jews from Kurdistan in Israel stated there is a small number of expatriate Jews in the Kurdistan Region, but no Jews remaining from original Jewish communities. Widespread economic activity between the Kurdistan Region and Turkey has given the opportunity for Kurds in Turkey to seek jobs in the Kurdistan Region. A Kurdish newspaper based in
11918-459: The south is mostly steppe and would feature xeric plants such as palm trees , tamarix , date palm , fraxinus , poa , white wormwood and chenopodiaceae . Animals found in the region include the Syrian brown bear , wild boar , gray wolf , golden jackal , Indian crested porcupine , red fox , goitered gazelle , Eurasian otter , striped hyena , Persian fallow deer , onager , mangar and
12036-407: The south is mostly steppe and would feature xeric plants such as palm trees , tamarix , date palm , fraxinus , poa , white wormwood and chenopodiaceae . The steppe and desert in the south, by contrast, have such species as palm trees and date palm . Animals found in the region include the Syrian brown bear , wild boar , gray wolf , the golden jackal , Indian crested porcupine ,
12154-455: The south of the lake, Mahabad (ex-Sabla); in the province of Ardalan, called the province of Kurdistan , whose capital is Senna or Sanandaj , Hawraman ; in the province of Kermanshah , Qasr-e Shirin ... In Iraq, the Kurds occupy the north and northeast of the country in the liwaʾs or provinces of Duhok ... Left outside their administration are Sinjar and Shekhan , peopled by the Yazidis ;
12272-940: The southwest, with lows around 21 °C (70 °F) to 24 °C (75 °F). Winter is dramatically cooler than the rest of Iraq, with highs averaging between 9 °C (48 °F) and 11 °C (52 °F) and with lows hovering around 3 °C (37 °F) in some areas and freezing in others, dipping to −2 °C (28 °F) and 0 °C (32 °F) on average. Vegetation in the region includes Abies cilicica , Quercus calliprinos , Quercus brantii , Quercus infectoria , Quercus ithaburensis , Quercus macranthera , Cupressus sempervirens , Platanus orientalis , Pinus brutia , Juniperus foetidissima , Juniperus excelsa , Juniperus oxycedrus , Salix alba , Olea europaea , Ficus carica , Populus euphratica , Populus nigra , Crataegus monogyna , Crataegus azarolus , cherry plum , rose hips , pistachio trees , pear and Sorbus graeca . The desert in
12390-626: The stories of Assyrian saints of the Middle East , such as Abdisho . When the Sasanian Marzban asked Mar Abdisho about his place of origin, he replied that according to his parents, they were originally from Hazza, a village in Assyria . However, they were later driven out of Hazza by pagans , and settled in Tamanon, which according to Abdisho was in the land of the Kurds. Tamanon lies just north of
12508-508: The time, also presented a "golden opportunity" for the Kurds to increase their independence and possibly declare an independent Kurdish state. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant , who took more than 80 Turkish persons captive in Mosul during their offensive, is an enemy of Turkey, making Kurdistan useful for Turkey as a buffer state. On 28 June 2014 Hüseyin Çelik , a spokesman for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), made comments to
12626-575: The usual hierarchy of a kilil , or region. These woredas have many similarities to autonomous areas in other countries. Other areas that are autonomous in nature but not in name are areas designated for indigenous peoples , such as those of the Americas : Kurdistan Kurdistan ( Kurdish : کوردستان , romanized : Kurdistan , lit. 'land of the Kurds';; [ˌkʊɾdɪˈstɑːn] ), or Greater Kurdistan ,
12744-625: The vacuum and the first Kurdish elections were consequently held in May 1992, wherein the Kurdistan Democratic Party secured 45.3% of the vote and a majority of seats. The two parties agreed to form the first Kurdish cabinet led by PUK politician Fuad Masum as Prime Minister in July 1992 and the main focus of the new cabinet was to mitigate the effect of the American-led sanctions on Iraq and to prevent internal Kurdish skirmishes. Nonetheless,
12862-506: The violence and hundreds of thousands were forced to leave their homes. Turkey has historically feared that a Kurdish state in Northern Iraq would encourage and support Kurdish separatists in the adjacent Turkish provinces, and have therefore historically strongly opposed Kurdish independence in Iraq. However, following the chaos in Iraq after the US invasion , Turkey has increasingly worked with
12980-534: The vying Parthian and Roman empires. Corduene became a vassal state of the Roman Republic in 66 BC and remained allied with the Romans until AD 384. After 66 BC, it passed another 5 times between Rome and Persia. Corduene was situated to the east of Tigranocerta , that is, to the east and south of present-day Diyarbakır in south-eastern Turkey. Some historians have correlated a connection between Corduene with
13098-459: The war against Iran. In 1983, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan agreed to cooperate with Baghdad, but the Kurdistan Democratic Party remained opposed. In 1983, Saddam Hussein signed an autonomy agreement with Jalal Talabani of the PUK, though Saddam later reneged on the agreement. By 1985, the PUK and KDP had joined forces, and Iraqi Kurdistan saw widespread guerrilla warfare up to the end of
13216-558: The war. On 15 March 1988, PUK forces captured the town of Halabja near the Iranian border and inflicted heavy losses among Iraqi soldiers. The Iraqis retaliated the following day by chemically bombing the town , killing about 5,000 civilians. This led the Americans and the Europeans to implement the Iraqi no-fly zones in March 1991 to protect the Kurds, thereby facilitating Kurdish autonomy amid
13334-513: The west. It does not govern all of Iraqi Kurdistan and lays claim to the disputed territories of northern Iraq ; these territories have a predominantly non-Arab population and were subject to the Ba'athist Arabization campaigns throughout the late 20th century. Though the KRI's autonomy was realized in 1992, one year after Iraq's defeat in the Gulf War , these northern territories remain contested between
13452-410: Was accepted four years later. The studies have shown that there is a trend of general decline of FGM. Autonomous administrative division An autonomous administrative division (also referred to as an autonomous area , zone , entity , unit , region , subdivision , province , or territory ) is a subnational administrative division or internal territory of a sovereign state that has
13570-563: Was also captured by Kurdish forces. However, the control was only temporary as Iraqi forces retook control over most of the disputed areas in October 2017, after the 2017 Kurdistan Region independence referendum . As of 2019, the Kurdistan Region and the Federal Government in Baghdad are negotiating joint control over the disputed areas as their relations have become more cordial in the aftermath of ISIL's defeat. The Kurdistan region of Iraq
13688-465: Was founded in 1975 by Jalal Talabani and regenerated the Kurdish insurgency with guerrilla warfare tactics as the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) was slowly recovering from their defeat. However, the Kurdish insurgency became entangled in the Iran–Iraq War from 1980 onwards. During the first years of the war in the early 1980s, the Iraqi government tried to accommodate the Kurds in order to focus on
13806-547: Was situated east and south of the Lake Urmia , roughly centered around modern-day Mahabad . The region came under Persian rule during the reign of Cyrus the Great and Darius I . The Kingdom of Corduene , which emerged from the declining Seleucid Empire , was located to the south and south-east of Lake Van between Persia and Mesopotamia and ruled northern Mesopotamia and southeastern Anatolia from 189 BC to AD 384 as vassals of
13924-538: Was the founder of Gorran, who took advantage of sentiments among many PUK politicians critical of the cooperation with the KDP. Gorran would subsequently win 25 seats (or 23.7% of the votes) in the 2009 parliamentary elections to the detriment of the Kurdistan List . In the aftermath of the elections, Gorran failed at its attempts to persuade the Kurdistan Islamic Group and Kurdistan Islamic Union to leave
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