 Kurdistan literally means “the land of the Kurds”.  Formally the name was Curdia, Curdistan, and Ancient Corduene.  From a political standpoint, Iraqi Kurdistan is the only region which has gained official recognition internationally as an autonomous federal entity. Kurds in Iran are also officially recognized as a minority, and there is a province by the name of Kurdistan in Iran.

 Kurdistan covers around 190,000 km² in Turkey, 125,000 km² in Iran, 65,000 km² in Iraq, and 12,000 km² in Syria and the total area of Kurdistan is estimated at approximately 392,000 km².  Kurdistan is a mountainous region with a cold climate and it receives enough annual precipitation to sustain temperate forests and shrubs. Mountain chains are covered with pasture, and its valleys with forests.

 Mountains, even to this day, have been important geographical and symbolic figures in Kurdish life, so that there is a saying that "Kurds have no friends but the mountains".

 The turkey- Kurds conflict is based on a century long struggle for a land to call their own.  In 1920 at the conclusion of World War I, the Ottoman Empire collapses. The Treaty of Sèvres proposed a division of the Ottoman Empire and its territory that includes an autonomous homeland for the Kurds. The treaty, however, was ultimately rejected.

 In 1923 Turkey was recognized as an independent nation, and the Treaty of Lausanne is signed, replacing the Treaty of Sèvres. Under its terms, Turkey was no longer obligated to grant Kurdish autonomy. The treaty divides the Kurdish region among Turkey, Iraq, and Syria. Then between the period of the Kurdish people had an uprising against the Turkish republic but it was repressed in 1925.

 In 1946 the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) was founded by Iraqi Kurd Mustafa Barzani, and was dedicated to the creation of an independent Kurdistan.  In 1961 the Kurds of northern Iraq, revolt against the government of Abdul Karim Kassem. Iraq puts down the Kurdish revolt, and fighting between the Iraqi government and the Kurds continued for decades.

 In 1970 a peace agreement was signed between the Iraqi government and the Kurds of northern Iraq, granting them some self-rule.  In 1974 the KDP attacks Iraqi troops after the government refuses to give them control of the oil-rich province of Kirkuk, which was traditionally Kurdish territory. The government suppresses the crushes the revolt.

 In 1993 the Turkish government grants limited autonomy to the Kurds, though Kurdish political parties continue to be banned. Martial law is imposed to quell uprisings. Tens of thousands of security forces are sent to southeastern Turkey as the struggle intensifies. But through this all the Kurds have still not really found a place to call their own. They are still scattered around and they have no rightful land with boundaries.