Quick Answer: Will Kurdistan Become a Country? Verdict: Highly likely — but not imminent. The Kurds are the world's largest stateless nation, an estimated 30–40 million people spread across Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. In Iraqi Kurdistan they already govern a self-ruling region with its own parliament, armed forces and oil exports. Full independence faces formidable obstacles, but the long-term trajectory — a durable national identity, deepening self-rule and a shifting re

What Was the Republic of Ararat? The Republic of Ararat (Kurdish: Komara Agiriyê) was a self-proclaimed Kurdish state declared around 1927 in the region of Mount Ararat (Ağrı) in eastern Turkey, during one of the great Kurdish rebellions of the interwar years. Organised by the Xoybûn nationalist league and led in the field by the former Ottoman officer Ihsan Nuri Pasha, it held out on the slopes of Turkey's highest mountain until it was crushed by a massive Turkish military

What Was the Kingdom of Kurdistan? The Kingdom of Kurdistan was a short-lived, unrecognised Kurdish state proclaimed in Sulaymaniyah, in British-occupied Mesopotamia, in the early 1920s. Led by Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji — who declared himself King of Kurdistan — it was the first attempt to build a modern Kurdish state out of the wreckage of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War. Defying the British Empire, it survived only a few turbulent years before being crushed by 1

What Was the Emirate of Soran? The Emirate of Soran was a Kurdish principality centred on the mountain town of Rawanduz, in what is now the Erbil Governorate of Iraqi Kurdistan. One of the old Kurdish emirates, it is remembered above all for two extraordinary rulers: Mir Xanzad, the warrior-queen of the early seventeenth century, and Mir Muhammad of Rawanduz — the famous 'Mir Kor', or Blind Mir — who in the early nineteenth century forged Soran into one of the most powerful

What Was the Emirate of Bohtan? The Emirate of Bohtan (Botan) was one of the greatest and most celebrated Kurdish principalities, centred on the ancient city of Cizre (Cizîr) on the Tigris, in what is now Şırnak Province in south-eastern Turkey. Ruled for centuries by the Azizan dynasty, it was a leading power among the Kurdish emirates, the cultural setting of the great Kurdish epic Mem û Zîn, and — under its last great emir, Bedir Khan Beg — the scene of one of the final

What Was the Bradost Emirate? The Bradost (Baradost) Emirate was a Kurdish principality in the mountainous borderland between Lake Urmia and the Rawanduz country, on the frontier of what are now north-western Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan. It is remembered above all for one of the most celebrated episodes in Kurdish history: the heroic siege of the fortress of Dimdim in 1609–1610, where the Bradost ruler Amir Khan — known as Khan Lepzerin, the 'Khan of the Golden Hand' — and his

What Was the Principality of Palu? The Principality of Palu was a Kurdish emirate centred on the town of Palu, on the Murat River in what is now Elazığ Province in eastern Turkey. Closely related to the neighbouring Principality of Eğil — both traced their ruling house to the same ancestral lineage — Palu was one of the autonomous Kurdish principalities that survived for centuries under Ottoman suzerainty. In modern times the Palu region became famous as the home of Sheikh

What Was the Mahmudi Emirate? The Mahmudi Emirate was a Kurdish principality in the rugged country south-east of Lake Van, in what is now Van Province in eastern Turkey. Ruled by the Mahmudi (Mahmudî) dynasty from the late-medieval period, it is best remembered today for its spectacular fortress at Hoşap (Xoşab) — dramatically rebuilt by the Mahmudi lord Sarı Süleyman Bey in 1643 — and is counted among the autonomous Kurdish emirates recorded in the Sharafnama. Key Takeaway

What Was the Emirate of Bahdinan? The Emirate of Bahdinan (also Behdinan or Badinan) was one of the greatest and most enduring Kurdish principalities, ruling the mountainous country of what is now Duhok Province in Iraqi Kurdistan from its fortress-capital of Amadiya (Amêdî). Founded in the late fourteenth century and lasting until 1843, the emirate dominated the region for nearly five centuries, gave its name to the Bahdini (Badini) dialect of Kurdish, and remains a byword

What Was the Mukriyan Emirate? The Mukriyan Emirate was a Kurdish principality of the Mukri (Mokri) tribe, ruling the region of Mukriyan in north-western Iran, south of Lake Urmia, from its seat at Savojbolagh — the town known today as Mahabad. One of the leading Kurdish powers of Iran from the sixteenth century onward, it lent its name to both a region and a major dialect of Kurdish, and its heartland would later become the cradle of modern Kurdish nationalism and the seat

What Were the Ayyubids of Hasankeyf? The Ayyubids of Hasankeyf were the last surviving branch of the Kurdish Ayyubid dynasty founded by Saladin. From their stronghold at Hasankeyf (Hisn Kayfa), an ancient fortress-town on the Tigris in what is now south-eastern Turkey, this cadet line ruled a small but remarkably durable principality from 1232 until the early sixteenth century — outlasting the great Ayyubid sultanates of Egypt and Syria by more than two and a half centuries

What Was the Donboli Dynasty? The Donboli (also written Dunbuli or Dümbüli) were a Kurdish tribe and dynasty who became the dominant power in and around the city of Khoy in north-western Iran (Persian Azerbaijan). From roughly the seventeenth to the early nineteenth century they ruled Khoy — and at times Tabriz — as hereditary khans under successive Iranian dynasties, until their autonomy was extinguished by the centralising Qajars. Their last independent ruler, Jafar Qoli

What Was the Emirate of Çemişgezek? The Emirate of Çemişgezek was a Kurdish principality in the Dersim region of the eastern Anatolian highlands, centred on the town of Çemişgezek in what is today Tunceli Province in eastern Turkey, near the upper Euphrates. One of the autonomous Kurdish emirates recorded in the Sharafnama, it became — after the Ottoman–Safavid struggle of the early sixteenth century — one of the hereditary Kurdish 'hükümet' sanjaks within the Ottoman Empir

What Was the Emirate of Kilis? The Emirate of Kilis was a Kurdish-ruled principality on the northern Syrian frontier, centred on the town of Kilis between Aleppo and Antep (modern Gaziantep). For generations it was governed by the Janbulad family — Kurdish chieftains whose name, from the Kurdish jan polad ('steel soul'), would echo far beyond Syria. Its most famous figure, Ali Pasha Janbulad, led a spectacular revolt against the Ottoman Empire in 1607, and the family's desc

What Were the Zakarids (Mkhargrdzeli)? The Zakarids — known in Georgian as the Mkhargrdzeli ('long-shouldered') and in Armenian as the Zakarians — were one of the most powerful noble dynasties of the medieval Caucasus. In the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries they commanded the armies of the Kingdom of Georgia, drove the Seljuk Turks out of much of historic Armenia, and governed a vast stretch of the Armenian highlands as semi-independent princes under the Georgia

What Was the Principality of Eğil? The Principality of Eğil (also called the Emirate of Eğil) was a Kurdish principality centred on the town of Eğil (Kurdish: Gêl), north of Diyarbakır on the upper Tigris. Ruled by the Bulduqani dynasty from around 1049 until 1864, it was one of the longest-lived Kurdish dynasties in history — a small but remarkably durable mountain polity that survived from the Seljuk era to the age of Ottoman centralisation. Key Takeaways • The principa

Introduction For two centuries — from 1649 to 1850 — a Kurdish dynasty governed the rugged Shahrizor plain and its mountain hinterlands as the principal Ottoman-side counterpart to the Iranian Ardalan principality across the frontier. The Baban dynasty (Babani in Kurdish) ruled from a sequence of mountain capitals — first Qalachwalan, then from 1784 the magnificent new city of Sulaymaniyah — and built one of the most consequential Kurdish polities of the early modern period.

Introduction For seven hundred years — from the late twelfth century to the late nineteenth — a Kurdish dynasty governed the mountain heartland of Iranian Kurdistan from its capital at Sanandaj. The Ardalan principality (Mirneshini Erdelan in Kurdish, Bani Ardalan in the Arabic-Persian sources) is the longest-surviving Kurdish dynasty in history. Founded according to dynastic tradition by Baba Ardalan around 1169, securely documented in the historical record from the fourteen

Introduction For 276 years — longer than the United States has existed as a nation — a Kurdish dynasty ruled the mountain heartland of southwestern Iran. The Hazaraspids, also known as the Atabegs of Greater Lorestan (Atabakan-i Lor-i Buzurg) and as the Fadluyids or Fazlawayhids after their tribal eponym, were the great Kurdish-Lur dynasty of the medieval Zagros. Founded around 1148 by Abu Tahir ibn Muhammad, a Salghurid governor who declared independence in Lorestan, the dyn

Introduction From the middle of the tenth century to the late eleventh, a Kurdicized dynasty of mixed Arab and Iranian origin ruled the Iranian region of Azerbaijan from its capital at Tabriz. The Rawadids — also written Rawwadid, Ravvadid, and Revend in the Kurdish chronicles — were the Kurdish lords of Tabriz, Maragha, Ardabil, and the strongholds of the Sahand mountain. They presided over Azerbaijan during one of the most consequential centuries in Iranian history: the era