ABSTRACT
Under the banner of Arab nationalism and other unitary ideologies, ethnicbased claims to political and other rights in the Middle East have been suppressed. As a result, as the Kurdish question illustrates, ethnic conflict is a very real issue in the post World Wars era. The arbitrary nature of state creation following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the emergence of regimes striving to consolidate and maintain their authority within highly artificial borders has forced issues of ethnic identity underground without eradicating them. It has been the response by states to the pressures imposed by a growing ethnic and national consciousness amongst the Kurdish people, which has brought about episodes of sustained conflict within three countries in the region.
