Kurdish aspirations for statehood are being boosted by recent territorial gains during fighting in Iraq and Syria.

Kurdish aspirations for statehood are being boosted by recent territorial gains.

Kurds are the most effective group standing up to ISIL.

Kurdish fighters are again trying to fend off an attack by ISIL fighters on the border town of Kobane.

And they recently captured Tal Abyad, a strategic border town which ISIL used to bring foreign fighters and supplies to areas they control inside Syria.

The Kurds' fight is driven by their dream of a homeland of their own. They are scattered across the region and the world. Their quest for their own nation is boosted by the continuing wars in Iraq and Syria.

What challenges are they facing? And what risks?

Presenter: Nick Clark

Guests:

Bilal Sambur, professor of social sciences at Yildirim Beyazit University.

Lydia Wilson, research fellow at the Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict at Oxford University.

Lara Fatah, co-founder of Zanraw Consulting, operating regionwide in Kurdistan on business and political matters.

Source: Al Jazeera