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THE KURDISH QUESTION AND THE FIGHT
AGAINST ISLAMIC STATE
Wladimir van Wilgenburg
1
T
he Kurds are one of the biggest nations without a state, having been divided over
Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey in the aftermath of World War I. As a result of the
political upheavals in Iraq and Syria, the Kurds have attained significant degrees
of autonomy in those countries, while also participating in the electoral system in Turkey.
Only the Kurds in Iran do not seem to have benefited much from the recent uprisings
in the Middle East, after Tehran managed to reach an agreement with the West over its
nuclear programme.
Nevertheless, the Kurdish semi-states in Iraq and Syria faced a new challenge when
they found themselves in the crosshairs of the caliphate of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. At
the start of August 2015, the militant group Islamic State (IS) attacked the Kurdistan
region of Iraq, taking over significant amounts of territory (ICG 2015: 1). The group
had also previously attacked the Kurds in the Syrian Kurdish city of Kobane on
September 15, 2014, almost taking the city (Van Wilgenburg, 2014). Western airstrikes
in Iraq and Syria prevented the Kurdish cities from falling into the hands of the pan-
Islamist group IS, and the Kurds are now seen as the de-facto “Western” ground troops
against IS; but who are the Kurdish groups fighting IS in Syria and Iraq? And why does
Islamic State fight the secular Kurdish groups? Moreover, what are the prospects for
peace in Turkey?
1 Analyst, The Jamestown Foundation.