There is no denying that the Kurdish struggle is one of the most complex and misunderstood issues of our contemporary era. For more than a century, the Kurdish people have endured a relentless struggle for identity, recognition, and survival, while their history and nationality have often been defined through the very states that have oppressed and occupied them.
This article aims to briefly explain who the Kurds are historically and highlight the major atrocities they have faced over the last hundred years, as much of what is written about the Kurdish people today is shaped by misleading narratives, historical distortion, and political agendas that continue to obscure the reality of the Kurdish struggle.
The Kurdish people are widely recognized as one of the oldest indigenous nations of the Middle East, with a history stretching back thousands of years to the ancient Medes and the civilizations of Mesopotamia. The Kurdish language itself is ancient, consisting of several major dialects including Sorani, Kurmanji, Zazaki, Luri, Gorani, and Kelhori, reflecting the deep historical and cultural richness of the Kurdish people. Despite their deep historical roots in the region, the Kurds remain the largest nation in the world without a state of their own.
Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the colonial borders imposed by foreign powers through agreements such as the Sykes–Picot Agreement and the Treaty of Lausanne, Kurdistan, with a population today estimated between 50 and 60 million people, was divided among four states: Turkey, which today holds the largest Kurdish population, followed by Iran, Iraq, and Syria. Since then, millions of Kurds have lived under governments that, for more than 100 years, have denied their identity, suppressed their language and culture, and responded to Kurdish demands for freedom and self-determination with imprisonment, forced displacement, massacres, and systematic violence. Despite generations of oppression, the Kurdish people have continued to resist, preserve their identity and language, and fight for recognition in their ancestral homeland.
Kurds are often labeled as “minorities” within Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, but this should not be understood in the same context as minorities in Western countries such as Canada and the United States. The Kurds did not migrate or immigrate to these states. Rather, their homeland was divided by force and absorbed into these countries against their will. That is why the Kurds are known today as the largest stateless nation and the largest ethnic minority across Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria.
Although the Kurds were divided among four different states, the policies used against them shared the same goal: suppressing Kurdish identity and aspirations for self-determination. Across all parts of Greater Kurdistan, Kurdish language, culture, political movements, and uprisings were repeatedly met with violence, forced assimilation, imprisonment, massacres, and repression.
In Northern Kurdistan, occupied by Turkey, where an estimated 20 to 25 million Kurds live, Kurdish identity has long been treated as a threat rather than a reality. For decades, the Turkish state denied the existence of the Kurdish people altogether, referring to them as “Mountain Turks” while banning the Kurdish language, music, and cultural expression. Simply speaking Kurdish in public, listening to Kurdish music, or openly expressing Kurdish identity often resulted in harassment, arrest, or accusations of separatism.
One of the darkest chapters in Kurdish history under the Turkish state was the Dersim Massacre, which took place between 1937 and 1938. During the massacre, over 50,000 Kurdish civilians were killed, displaced, or forcibly assimilated during a military campaign carried out by the Turkish government against the Kurdish population of Dersim.
This repression continues today. In July 2025, a Kurdish family was reportedly subjected to brutal violence by Turkish police simply for listening to Kurdish music in their car. During the assault, one brother was beaten and pepper sprayed, while his pregnant sister was violently struck in the stomach, resulting in the death of her unborn child. Incidents such as these reflect the hostility and discrimination many Kurds continue to face for openly expressing their identity.
Even the word “Kurdistan” remains politically controversial in Turkey, while Kurdish politicians, journalists, musicians, and activists continue to face investigations, censorship, and imprisonment for views tied to Kurdish identity or self-determination.
In Eastern Kurdistan, occupied by Iran, Kurds have faced decades of repression under both the former Shah regime and the current Persian Islamic regime. Regardless of which government has ruled in Tehran, Kurds have consistently been subjected to political repression, executions, cultural discrimination, and state violence simply for being Kurdish. Although there are nearly 18 million Kurds in Iran, human rights reports and UN findings have repeatedly shown that Kurds make up over half of the country’s political prisoners and are disproportionately represented among executions in Iran.
Kurdish identity in Iran has long been viewed as a threat by the state. Kurdish language, culture, and political activism have faced constant suppression, while many Kurdish families have reportedly faced pressure and restrictions over giving their children distinctly Kurdish names. Kurdish activists, journalists, environmentalists, and political prisoners are regularly arrested, imprisoned, or executed under accusations tied to “national security” or “separatism.”
Despite this reality, international media and political narratives often erase the Kurdish identity of these victims by labeling them simply as “Iranians.” One of the clearest examples was Jina Amini from the Kurdish city of Saqqez. Although her real Kurdish name was Jina, she became internationally known as “Mahsa Amini,” a Persian name imposed and recognized by the Iranian state. Much of the international media identified her only as an “Iranian woman,” while ignoring her Kurdish name, identity, and the broader oppression faced by Kurds inside Iran. According to some reports and activists, she was targeted not only for allegedly showing a few strands of her hair, but also because she was speaking the Kurdish language in the streets of Tehran, where Kurdish cultural and linguistic expression has long faced discrimination and restrictions.
This pattern continued during the recent unrest and crackdowns inside Iran, where Kurdish cities witnessed some of the harshest state violence, mass arrests, and killings. Yet many international narratives continued to describe the victims only as “Iranians,” with little to no acknowledgment of their Kurdish identity or the disproportionate repression faced by Kurdish regions.
In Southern Kurdistan, now known as the Kurdistan Regional Government, a semi-autonomous region in Iraq, Kurds endured some of the worst atrocities in modern Middle Eastern history under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. During the 1980s, the Iraqi regime carried out the infamous Anfal Campaign, a genocidal campaign targeting Kurdish civilians through mass executions, village destruction, forced displacement, and chemical attacks that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 182,000 Kurds. One of the darkest moments was the Halabja chemical attack in 1988, when Iraqi warplanes bombed the Kurdish city of Halabja with chemical weapons, killing an estimated 5,000 civilians, most of them women and children, within hours. Thousands more suffered lifelong injuries and trauma. Entire Kurdish villages were erased, and hundreds of thousands of Kurds were displaced during Saddam Hussein’s campaign to crush Kurdish identity and resistance.
Despite decades of genocide and repression, Kurds in Iraq eventually achieved a degree of autonomy following the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime. Today, the Kurdistan Regional Government remains one of the few places in the Middle East where Kurds exercise self-rule and openly preserve their language, culture, and national identity. Yet even with this autonomy, Kurdish regions in Iraq continue to face repeated military violations and bombardments by both Iran and Turkey, often justified under the pretext of targeting armed groups. Kurdish border villages have repeatedly been struck by airstrikes and shelling, forcing civilians to flee their homes and live under constant fear despite being far removed from the era of Saddam Hussein.
In contrast, the Kurdistan Regional Government represents one of the few places where Kurds have achieved a degree of self-rule and political autonomy. Although far from perfect and still facing political and economic challenges, the Kurdistan Region has become one of the safest and most stable areas in the Middle East, often compared alongside Israel in terms of regional security and stability. The region has also become a refuge for minorities fleeing war, extremism, and persecution from across Iraq and neighboring countries. Unlike many governments in the region, Kurdish authorities have generally promoted coexistence between different ethnic and religious communities, allowing minorities to practice their faiths openly and preserve their identities.
The Kurdish people themselves are religiously diverse and cannot be reduced to a single faith. While some Kurds are Muslim, Kurdish society also includes followers of Kurdish religions such as Yazidism, Yarsanism, and Zoroastrianism, as well as Christians and Jews. One of the most misunderstood groups are the Yazidis, who are frequently mislabeled as non-Kurds despite speaking Kurdish and sharing deep historical, cultural, and ancestral ties with the Kurdish people. The Yazidis are among the most ancient indigenous Kurdish communities in the region and have endured centuries of persecution because of their beliefs.
In 2014, Yazidis faced genocide at the hands of Islamic State in Sinjar, where thousands were massacred, enslaved, and displaced. Thousands of Yazidi women and girls were kidnapped, raped, trafficked, and sold into sexual slavery by ISIS militants while much of the international community remained largely silent. The diversity within Kurdish society reflects the broader history of Kurdistan itself: an ancient land shaped by many faiths, cultures, and traditions that existed long before the modern borders of the Middle East were imposed.
In Western Kurdistan, occupied by Syria and commonly known as Rojava, Kurds have also faced decades of systematic discrimination and repression. Under the Assad regime, many Kurds were stripped of citizenship, denied basic civil rights, and prohibited from freely expressing their language and identity. Following the Syrian civil war and the rise of ISIS, Kurdish forces became one of the main ground forces fighting terrorism in the region alongside the United States military, particularly through the defense of Kurdish cities such as Kobani.
At the same time, Kurdish regions in Rojava became targets of repeated Turkish military operations. In 2019, Turkish military offensives and allied Islamist militias displaced hundreds of thousands of Kurdish civilians from their homes in areas such as Afrin and other parts of Rojava. The Turkish government under Recep Tayyip Erdogan has carried out demographic engineering and ethnic cleansing by removing Kurdish populations and resettling Palestinians and other Arab populations into historically Kurdish areas.
Even today, Kurds in Rojava continue to struggle for basic cultural, linguistic, and political rights under Syria’s unstable political landscape. Kurdish communities have faced ongoing violence, political uncertainty, and attacks from extremist factions. During recent unrest and clashes in early 2026, reports emerged of massacres, killings, and abuses against Kurdish civilians carried out by armed factions linked to the new Syrian government led by former ISIS leader Abu Mohammad al Jolani. Many Kurds fear that despite years of sacrifice in the fight against ISIS, their rights and security remain under constant threat in Syria.
The Kurdish struggle does not end at the borders of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, or Syria. Even in Western and European countries, Kurds continue to face hostility, intimidation, and attacks simply for expressing their identity and demanding recognition as a distinct nation. Kurdish activists and protesters have repeatedly faced threats and violence from extremist Turkish nationalists and Persian monarchist groups, particularly during demonstrations against the Persian Islamic regime. In many cases, Kurds have been harassed or assaulted merely for carrying Kurdish flags or refusing to conform to broader Iranian or Turkish nationalist narratives.
Kurdish businesses, restaurants, cultural festivals, and community events have also increasingly become targets of harassment and hate campaigns by individuals who reject the very existence of Kurdish identity. According to many Turkish and Persian nationalist narratives, Kurds are expected to abandon their national identity and assimilate into Turkish or Iranian identity. The moment Kurds openly identify themselves as Kurdish, demand cultural rights, or speak about Kurdistan, they are often labeled as “separatists,” “terrorists,” or “bad Kurds.”
Despite more than a century of massacres, forced assimilation, chemical attacks, executions, displacement, and political repression, the Kurdish people have continued to resist attempts to erase their existence. The Kurdish struggle is not simply a modern political conflict, but the result of more than a century of colonialism, forced division, state repression, and denial of Kurdish identity. It is the struggle of one of the world’s oldest indigenous nations fighting to preserve its language, identity, culture, and homeland in the face of continuous oppression and denial.