Kurds presently number more than 30 million and form a sizable chunk of Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria. Most of them are Sunni but are neither Arab nor Persians. Though they have not wandered in search of homeland for as long as Jews, the wait has been long enough.
Historically, they have been abandoned by all major powers. They are most recognized as ferocious fighters, PeshMerga( meaning those who face death) and they truly have faced mass death time and again. In 1946, Soviets tried to trump up Kurds to stand up to Shah's regime only to pull out later. Thousands of them were slaughtered. U.S. and Iran did the same to the Kurds of Northern Iraq only to leave them to be killed at the hands of Saddam Hussein. It again happened when Saddam gassed 5000 of them in Halabja in 1988. Combine this with daily oppression in Turkey and Iran.
Kurds today have some reason to start hoping again. They have sufficient power in Iraq today to create enough headache, at least to begin with, for the Turkish government. They probably are amongst the biggest beneficiary of the war in Iraq besides Iran.The more the anarchy in Iraq, more chances of the possibility of a separate Kurd state in the north( with all the oil wealth of cities like Kirkuk) and more trouble for Turkey and Iran.
Do you hear the song...I wandered far away from home, Now I'm coming home.....
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