The Kurdish Experience

THE KURDISH EXPERIENCE

Middle East Report
July-August 1994, No. 189, Vol. 24, No. 4

For many decades now, those states whose borders include and divide Kurdistan have alternately tried to ignore, deny, manipulate and suppress widespread Kurdish demands for political rights. In this, the rulers have enjoyed the unstinting support of their great power patrons, the broad support of the majority communities, and often enough support as well among different Kurdish communities and social strata. These policies comprise a disastrous record that has exacted a horrible price in blood, treasure, and democratic rights of Arabs, Iranians and Turks as well as of Kurds themselves. These policies have failed miserably in their repressive goals, and yet they continue as the order of the day....