How many kurds are there

The group is characterised by its Marxist ideology and has been listed as a terrorist organisation by both the US and the European Union. Two Kurdish parties with a deeply entrenched rivalry share power in Iraqi Kurdistan. However, Nasr said that there are also prominent Kurdish fighters in the ranks of the IS group, most of them from Kurdish regions in Turkey, Iraq notably Halabja or Iran. The jihadist group is keen on showing its Kurdish fighters that its war effort is a religious struggle.

This article was adapted from the original in French. Daily newsletter Receive essential international news every morning. Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 app. The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore. ON TV. On social media. Who are we? Fight the Fake. Daily newsletter Receive essential international news every morning Subscribe. Kurds PKK Turkey. Page not found. Six years later, the group began an armed struggle. Since then, more than 40, people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.

In the s the PKK rolled back on its demand for independence, calling instead for greater cultural and political autonomy, but continued to fight. In , a ceasefire was agreed after secret talks were held. The ceasefire collapsed in July , after a suicide bombing blamed on IS killed 33 young activists in the mainly Kurdish town of Suruc, near the Syrian border.

The PKK accused the authorities of complicity and attacked Turkish soldiers and police. Since then, several thousand people - including hundreds of civilians - have been killed in clashes in south-eastern Turkey. Turkey has maintained a military presence in northern Syria since August , when it sent troops and tanks over the border to support a Syrian rebel offensive against IS. Those forces captured the key border town of Jarablus, preventing the YPG-led SDF from seizing the territory itself and linking up with the Kurdish enclave of Afrin to the west.

Dozens of civilians were killed and tens of thousands displaced. Turkey's government says the YPG and the PYD are extensions of the PKK, share its goal of secession through armed struggle, and are terrorist organisations that must be eliminated.

Turkey's fear of a reignited Kurdish flame. Profile: The PKK. Before the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in most lived in the cities of Damascus and Aleppo, and in three, non-contiguous areas around Kobane, Afrin, and the north-eastern city of Qamishli.

Syria's Kurds have long been suppressed and denied basic rights. Some , have been denied citizenship since the s, and Kurdish land has been confiscated and redistributed to Arabs in an attempt to "Arabize" Kurdish regions.

When the uprising evolved into a civil war, the main Kurdish parties publicly avoided taking sides. In mid, government forces withdrew to concentrate on fighting the rebels elsewhere, and Kurdish groups took control in their wake. In March , they announced the establishment of a "federal system" that included mainly Arab and Turkmen areas captured from IS. The PYD says it is not seeking independence, but insists that any political settlement to end the conflict in Syria must include legal guarantees for Kurdish rights and recognition of Kurdish autonomy.

President Assad has vowed to retake "every inch" of Syrian territory, whether by negotiations or military force. His government has also rejected Kurdish demands for autonomy, saying that "nobody in Syria accepts talk about independent entities or federalism". They have historically enjoyed more national rights than Kurds living in neighbouring states, but also faced brutal repression.

But it was not until that he launched a full armed struggle. In the late s, the government began settling Arabs in areas with Kurdish majorities, particularly around the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, and forcibly relocating Kurds. The policy was accelerated in the s during the Iran-Iraq War, in which the Kurds backed the Islamic republic.

In , Saddam Hussein unleashed a campaign of vengeance on the Kurds that included the chemical attack on Halabja. Its violent suppression prompted the US and its allies to impose a no-fly zone in the north that allowed Kurds to enjoy self-rule. The parties co-operated with the US-led invasion in that toppled Saddam and governed in coalition in the Kurdistan Regional Government KRG , created two years later to administer Dohuk, Irbil and Sulaimaniya provinces.

Massoud Barzani was appointed the region's president, while Jalal Talabani became Iraq's first non-Arab head of state. In September , a referendum on independence was held in both the Kurdistan Region and the disputed areas seized by the Peshmerga in , including Kirkuk.

The vote was opposed by the Iraqi central government, which insisted it was illegal. KRG officials said the result gave them a mandate to start negotiations with Baghdad, but then Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi demanded that it be annulled. The following month Iraqi pro-government forces retook the disputed territory held by the Kurds.

The loss of Kirkuk and its oil revenue was a major blow to Kurdish aspirations for their own state. After his gamble backfired, Mr Barzani stepped down as the Kurdistan Region's president. But disagreements between the main parties meant the post remained vacant until June , when he was succeeded by his nephew Nechirvan. Iraqi Kurdistan: State-in-the-making? Iraqi Kurdistan profile. Image source, AFP. Where do they come from? Why don't they have a state?

Image source, Reuters. Despite their long history, the Kurds have never achieved a permanent nation state. Why were Kurds at the forefront of the fight against IS?