The Kurds live in a region called Kurdistan, which appeared on maps prior to World War I. Much of the region consists of areas in the central and northern Zagros Mountains, the eastern two-thirds of the Taurus and Pontus Mountains, and the northern half of the Amanus Mountains. The 230,000 square miles that makeup Kurdistan are stretched across the countries of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. Kurds are the fourth largest ethnic group in the Middle East, but they have no modern nation of their own...
Throughout this century and earlier, Kurds have fought to regain control over their ancestral...
About half of the world's 25 million to 30 million Kurds live in Turkey. Six million to 7 million live in Iran, 3.5 million to 4 million live in Iraq, and 1.5 million live in Syria. Others are distributed in such countries as Armenia, Germany, Sweden, France, and the United States. Kurdish communities also exist in countries of the former Soviet Union.