ABSTRACT
Over the past years, we have seen large numbers of people fleeing Kurdistan. The Gulf War and the Kurdish armed rebellions in Iraqi and Persian Kurdistan (or rather, the violent repression of the Kurdish movement for autonomy) have dislodged hundreds of thousands of Kurds. Those who succeeded in crossing international borders became visible as political refugees; the numbers of less visible internal refugees and deportees are probably much higher. Apart from the dramatic events of 1991, the only recent instance of flight from Kurdistan which received much media coverage took place in August 1988 after the Iraqilaunched chemical attacks on Kurdish-held valleys in northern Iraq when tens of thousands fled across the Turkish border. Much larger numbers of Iraqi Kurds have fled into Iran during the past few years. In both cases the refugees include political activists and guerrilla fighters, although the vast majority are displaced villagers. Numerous Kurdish political activists from Iran and Turkey have fled Kurdistan and sought asylum in western (and, to a lesser extent, eastern) European countries.
