Boy with a Kurdish flag Bulent Kilic/Getty Images

The Case for Kurdistan

The Kurds – who occupy a mountainous region that includes portions of Armenia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey – are the largest ethnic group in the world without a state to call their own. It is time to change that.

TEL AVIV – The Kurds – who occupy a mountainous region that includes portions of Armenia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey – are the largest ethnic group in the world without a state to call their own. It is time to change that.

The Kurds have been making bids for statehood – and having them brutally suppressed – since the early twentieth century. But there is a strong case for the United States, in particular, to work toward securing a homeland for the Kurds – a case buttressed by Kurdish militias’ indispensable contribution to defeating the Islamic State.

To be sure, the establishment of a “greater Kurdistan” that includes all areas where the Kurds comprise a majority remains impossible. If internal Kurdish politics were not enough to prevent such an outcome, geostrategic constraints certainly would be.

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