Another military and humanitarian crisis is on the brink of unravelling in the Middle East, this time on the border of Syria and Turkey.

The conflict between the Kurds and Turkey has a lot at stake for not only does it threaten the political future of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s President, but it could also result in the resurgence of the terrorist group, ISIS.

The conflict could further the civil war that has ravaged Syria for over nine years now, which has resulted in over 5,00,000 deaths and millions unaccounted for.

A Brief History Of The Kurds

Today, around 30 million Kurds live in Greater Kurdistan, an area that stretches across southeastern Turkey, parts of northern Iraq, and northeastern Syria.

The history of their interaction with Arab, Persian, and Turkic empires and groups spans centuries. At various points in history, the Kurds have collaborated or fought against these groups, depending on what was at stake for them.

The contemporary history of the Kurds begins at the end of the first World War, after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.

The 1920 Treaty of Sevres between the Allied Forces and the Ottomans promised an independence referendum in areas of Kurdish majority. However, what followed was a century of betrayal.

A Century of Betrayal

1920: The promise of an independence referendum made by Britain, France, and the United States to Kurds does not materialise. However, national borders for other nations are drawn across the region, leaving the Kurds stateless.

1923: The year when the Turkish republic is founded. Subsequent Kurdish uprisings are put down with brute Turkish force. There is also a ban on Kurdish languages and cultural practices. More rebellions are squashed in 1925, 1930, and 1937.

1946: After the Second World War, Iran is under the control of the Soviet Union. USSR encourages the idea of a Kurdish republic, independent of Iran, called the Republic of Mahabad. However, the dream is destroyed as soon as the Soviets leave.

1958: Kurdish leader, Mustafa Barzani, who fought for the Republic of Mahabad leads another uprising in Iraq and this leads to a war that will go on until 1970. In this war, the Kurds find themselves backed by the Shah of Iran, an ally of the United States of America (US).

1962: Over 20 per cent of the Syrian Kurdish population lose their Syrian nationality. This voids them of rights to employment, education, civil property, and political standing. Their landholdings are transferred to Arab settlers.

1975: The year of great betrayal for the Kurds as the Shah of Iran --- who had gone as far as asking President Richard Nixon of the United States to help Barzani --- makes a deal with Iraq. The Kurds are left helpless.

1978: A new ray of hope rises for the Kurds as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), radical in its means, is created by a Turkish Kurd, Abdullah Ocalan. PKK employs guerilla war against Turkey in 1980s. Conflict unfolds over the next four decades.

1988: The Iran-Iraq war, on since 1980, is drawing to a close. However, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein unleashes a genocide against Iraqi Kurds. 5000 people, mainly Kurds, are killed in a single day in a chemical attack sanctioned by him.

1991: US President George HW Bush fuels a Kurdish uprising in northern Iraq. Saddam Hussein crushes the uprising. An exodus of Kurds to the border of Iraq and Turkey ensues. The West then creates a no-fly zone in the region to stop Iraq’s aerial bombing.

2003: The US invades Iraq on the pretext of the latter having nukes or WMDs (weapons of mass destruction). During the war, the Iraqi Kurds support the US. After the fall of Saddam Hussein, the Kurdistan region of Iraq attains limited economic independence.

2011: Syria’s Civil War begins. Kurds fight ISIS alongside the US, and bear the brunt. The Kurdish fighters hail from the PKK-aligned People’s Protection Units (YPG). ISIS, at this point, controls a vast area across Iraq and Syria.

2015: A new wave of violence is unleashed across Kurdish majority regions as the peace process between the PKK and Turkish republic breaks down. PKK-backed bombings hit Ankara and Istanbul.

2018: President Donald Trump issues a statement that hints at US withdrawal from the region. This announcement is met with backlash, given the move would abandon the Kurds who have been their loyal supporters in the fight against ISIS.

2019: ISIS loses most of its territory. Just months later, President Trump announces the departure of the US troops from the region.



This leaves the Kurds vulnerable to Erdoğan’s Turkey. Just days after Trump’s move, Turkey begins bombarding the areas under Kurdish control.