Kurdistan - The Kurds

Definitely not God's chosen people. Split between Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria with a smattering in Armenia, the Kurds have been persecuted by all the aforementioned countries-except Armenia. Ayatollah Khomeini sent the firing squads into Iranian Kurdistan, Saddam sent his delightful cousin, Chemical Ali (Ali Hassan al Majid), and doses of nerve gas, to Iraqi Kurdistan and the Turkish military have trashed Turkish Kurdistan, embarking in the largest forced depopulation since the 1930s. The Kurds missed out savagely in the post World War I peace deal and were sold down the river by the British, who had promised them an independent state. Typical of the double-dealing Brits though, they turned around and did a deal with Kemal Ataturk instead. Bye-bye Kurdistan. It was a blow that the Kurds have never recovered from. To make matters worse, the Kurds have never-like the Palestinians-been united. Possibly this is because that they face four different enemies.

Today, the vast mountainous territory that all Kurds call Kurdistan is poor, underdeveloped and riven by sporadic warfare. Tourists have been repeatedly kidnapped by the PKK in southeastern Turkey. Aid workers have been murdered in northern Iraq. And extra-judicial murder and torture are generally the lot that most Kurds can expect for opening their mouths.