For thousands of years, Kurds have been conquered by these dynasties in turn, from Seleucus to rest, from Rome to Persia. In the 7th century, Arabs rose strongly, not only defeating the Kurds, but also conquering their ideas? Kurds became members of Islamic Sunnis.
Saladin, who led the Arabs against the Crusaders, was a Kurd.
An unfulfilled wish
The Arabs are weak, the Turks are coming again, and the Kurds can't beat Ottoman Turkey. However, the Ottoman Empire treated the Kurds fairly well, giving them a certain degree of autonomy, and the days went on like this. By the time of World War I, Ottoman Turkey was gone, and the sphere of influence of the Ottoman Empire was divided up by the major imperialists. As soon as the Kurds saw the opportunity, they wanted to take this opportunity to build a country. At that time, the United States became one of the three giants of the Paris Peace Conference through World War I and wanted to challenge the old imperialist framework of Britain and France. Americans shout? National self-determination? It is said that the Ottoman Empire conquered so many countries and nations, and now that Ottoman is gone, let these peoples establish their own countries.
American? Justice? And then what? Bold? , directly attracted the Kurds. Thinking that we are an independent nation, but we have never had a sovereign state, then we have become a precedent for national self-determination! The more Kurds think about it, the happier they are. They simply set up an association and began to prepare for the founding of the country. ? Everything is ready, except the east wind? Just wait for the good news of the Paris Peace Conference.
1920, Turkey was forced by the great powers to sign the "Sever Treaty", which mentioned that Kurdish settlements could establish their own country independently if there were a majority of public opinion stations. The long-cherished wish of the Millennium is coming true, and the Kurds are happy!
Then things started to go wrong. Greece in the Balkans, taking advantage of the signing of the Seville Treaty, wanted to go to Turkey to seize territory, and other countries also supported it. At this time, Kemal, the fierce man who fell from the sky? The savior of Turkey directly led the Turkish army to defeat the Greek army and pushed a group of countries that supported Greece back to the negotiating table.
The Treaty of Lausanne came into being, which did not involve the founding of the Kurds. It also divided the Kurdish gathering into four parts and distributed them to Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria, forming the present situation. At present, the total population of Kurds exceeds 30 million, most of which are distributed in Turkey, 30% in Iran, 20% in Iraq and 5% in Syria.
A thorn in the side of the Middle East.
Kurds have a large population and strong folk customs, and the above four countries can't control this nation. Moreover, thousands of years of history did not integrate Kurds with other ethnic groups, so the leaders of the four countries suppressed Kurds without contract. The Syrian-Iraqi method is forced assimilation, trying to arabize Courtou people and forbidding them to learn Kurdish. Turkey does not recognize the Kurdish people at all, calling them? Mountain Turks? I want them to integrate directly into Turkish culture. Iran discriminated against Kurds in the old dynasty and thought they were stubborn tribes. The most tragic thing is that Kurds were massacred by Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. 1974, the Iraqi government threw chemical weapons at Kurdish villages, killing 200,000 people. Kurds are in a difficult situation in the Middle East and can only live by smuggling, but even so, they are still stubbornly alive.
During this period, the Kurds established a country with the support of the Soviet Union. However, only one year later, it was abandoned by the Soviet Union and destroyed by Iran. The Soviet Union may feel embarrassed, so it took in its leader barzani. However, this barzani is also a strongman. He ran to the Iraqi Kurdish settlement behind him, unexpectedly? Score twice? , entrepreneurial success.
The feudal dynasty in Iran was overthrown. There is no East, no West, only Islam? Khomeini stepped onto the stage. Khomeini is very friendly to the Kurds in Iran. The 7 million Kurds here have finally lived a happy life. They don't want to build another country, and they are far away from the wars and killings outside. Kurds in the other three countries will continue their hard life.
The strongman barzani is in Iraq? Score twice? Iraqi Kurds thought he was a male chauvinist, so they chose him as the man in front of the stage to fight against Iraq with him in order to gain autonomy. Barzani died, and his son Mesud Barzani continued to fight with his father's gun. But Saddam Hussein in Iraq is very strong and runs directly with Masood's map. As Sunni Kurds, they are in a difficult situation in Iraq where Shiites are in power.
But the sky is falling? Savior? Here we go. Shout it out? National self-determination? 30% Americans invaded Baghdad, and Iraqi Kurds were ecstatic and finally achieved the goal of confrontation for many years. Northeast Iraq is rich in oil resources, and the Kurds have won this area and finally got rid of their suffering. This angered the Iraqi government. Kurds are autonomous, even if they don't listen to themselves. They also sell oil themselves, do business with Russia and other countries, and take money that should belong to the Iraqi government. How can they stand it?
George W. barzani, on the other hand, simply ignored the current Iraqi government supported by Americans and had no prestige at all. Even if he sent troops to rob the oil area, he could not beat the Kurdish armed forces. This kind of life lasted for 10 years until an emergency broke out.
"Islamic State" turmoil
In 20 14, the infamous "Islamic State" rose in the Middle East, and Iraqi government forces abandoned their helmets and armour, losing a lot of land. The "Islamic State" made rapid progress and soon occupied the important towns in northern Iraq? Mosul, the second largest city. Iraqi government forces near Mosul heard the news and fled directly. After hearing the news, the Kurds directly took over kurki, an oil town in northern Iraq.
The Kurds suddenly tasted the sweetness, and the "Islamic State" pursued the Iraqi government forces while following Apple. Large oil-producing areas in northern Iraq were all captured by Kurdish armed forces. Oil is money, and the income of Kurds in oil-producing areas is higher than the subsidy given by the Iraqi government. Why do you stay in Iraq when you have so much money? George W. barzani suddenly swelled up and decided to hold a referendum on independence.
The United States and the European Union came forward to stop it, thinking that George W. barzani held an independent referendum at this juncture, and the situation of the "Islamic State" could not be contained, so they began negotiations with George W. barzani. US Secretary of State Kerry immediately flew to Iraq and began to deal with George W. barzani and the Iraqi government. Under the impetus of the United States, George W. barzani gave up his independence and decided to cooperate with Iraqi government forces to develop oil fields and jointly fight against the "Islamic State".
In the battle against the "Islamic State", the performance of Kurdish armed forces is far better than that of Iraqi government forces. Iraqi government forces lost their armor and fled, and even the weapons supported by the United States were paid to the "Islamic State". The United States is very disappointed. Kurds are very powerful in this respect. After all, they got here by knowing how to fight, and their fighting capacity is not just talk. Kurdish armed forces, with the support of the US military, recovered most of Iraq's lost land and regained the Mosul Dam. Even US President barack obama praised them publicly.
The blow of a strong man
Among these three countries, Turkey has the largest number of Kurds. Before the war of independence, Kemal, the father of Turkey, once said to the Kurds: We are all descendants of Osman. ? However, after winning the war of independence, Kemal turned his back on people. The Kurds were divided into territories of four countries and suddenly separated. It can be said that the current situation of Kurds is caused by Kemal's improper handling.
1978, PKK was founded, and it began its struggle with the Turkish government for more than 30 years. Turkey spent more than 400 billion dollars to suppress PKK, and more than 40,000 people died here.
However, even so, PKK has become more and more brave and resilient, and Turkey has been unable to completely destroy them. Peacekeepers in Turkey can't stand it anymore, and they call for peace talks between the two sides to solve the problem by peaceful means. For the current Turkish President Erdogan, PKK is a huge hidden danger, which is best solved through peace talks. It is better to do one more thing.
In 20 13, Erdogan began to negotiate with PKK representatives, which went smoothly at first. Erdogan agreed to protect the rights of Kurds, give them the right to use the long-banned Kurdish language, and stop forcing Kurds to call themselves? Mountain Turks? . So PKK issued a statement and decided to give up armed confrontation. Kurds are no longer hostile to the Turkish government and no longer seek independence.
However, in just a few months, the situation has changed again. The Turkish military killed dozens of Kurdish smugglers in an air strike in Iraq. Although Erdogan admitted that it was a manslaughter, it broke the meager trust between the two sides. When the war broke out again, PKK took up arms again.
Erdogan felt that there was no way out, so he turned his face. Therefore, PKK leaders were either killed by Turkish air strikes or arrested and imprisoned. However, PKK is elastic. It is well-organized and disciplined, and it deals with the Turkish army through guerrilla warfare. If we can't beat it, it will cross the border and run to Iraq and Syria. What makes Erdogan even more headache is that the Americans took a fancy to PKK's combat power, gave them weapons support, and wanted them to fight the "Islamic State", which greatly increased PKK's strength.
Discordant ethnic relations
Kurds are not a unified country. Even among Kurds, there is contempt. Iraq's Kurdish Democratic Party is very rich, first supported by the United States, and has the strongest fighting capacity. After the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraqi Kurds set up an autonomous region, and have become warlords, basically giving up the goal of independent statehood.
Turkey's Kurds, that is, PKK, attacked Iraq and Syria by Erdogan, and fought guerrilla warfare all the year round. It is also the Kurdish force with the most problems, the greatest threat and the most desire for independence. In the war with the "Islamic State", PKK also learned this set of terrorist attacks and used it in Turkey. In 20 16 years alone, PKK killed more than 130 people through terrorist attacks in Turkey. This organization has been included in the list of terrorist organizations, and Erdogan will destroy them all even if he sends fighter planes to attack northern Iraq. His anger can be imagined.
At the same time, there are also Kurds in Syria who have raised the Kurdish Democratic Army against the Assad regime in Syria. Americans support them and deliberately cultivate this democratic army. What do you think? Killing with a knife? Overthrow the Assad regime. However, Russia sent troops to support Assad. Even with the support of the United States, this democratic army is no match for the Russian-Syrian Coalition forces. Now the situation of the Syrian government forces is very good.
Among these three forces, the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Iraq has become an enemy of the PKK in Turkey. Because Erdo? an adopted the strategy of attacking from afar and defending from near, and doing oil and gas business with PKK, PKK naturally regarded the Democratic Party as a traitor.
However, the Kurdish Democratic Army in Syria has a good relationship with PKK. With the support of Americans, the Democratic Army can get by and take in compatriots crushed by Turkey. However, with the advancement of the war in Syria, the situation of the Democratic Army itself is also very bad, and it is impossible to help the Workers' Party much.
Now because of its own situation, the United States has less involvement in the Middle East, and the Kurds seem to have been abandoned? Puppy? The situation is complicated. Turkey has? Restore the Ottoman Empire? My dream, to intervene in the situation in Syria and Iraq and linger in Syria under the slogan of eliminating Kurds, has occupied the territory in northern Syria. In order to gain a foothold in the Middle East, Russia fully protects the Syrian Assad government and cooperates with Turkey in the confrontation. The two sides have recently joined forces, but Russia obviously does not trust Turkey and has always been vigilant.
Syria's Kurdish Democratic Army has surrendered to Assad, because the Americans have abandoned them and can only seek protection from Russia and Syria, otherwise it will be destroyed by Turkey. The United States is still stationed in Iraq. Although the withdrawal plan has been drawn up, it can be delayed.
The best time for Kurds to build a country is after World War I, which is the best? Golden opportunity? However, they failed to catch it. Now within Kurds, the wealthy Democratic Party is content with the status quo and takes one side. The workers' party without money became a terrorist, fierce and radical.
After being divided into four by Kemal's policy, the Kurds are now unable to unite. The long-cherished wish of the Millennium is drifting away.