ABSTRACT
While the Arab Spring may have endangered the fates of certain minorities in the region, the current unrest has created substantial political opportunities for others. The Kurds, the long-suffering people whose homeland straddles war-torn Iraq and Syria, might turn out to be the accidental winners of the era. The Kurdish experience might be a sliver of hope in the darkness of the Arab upheavals. The Arab Spring has helped the Kurds evolve 'from a victimized people to a coherent political community with viable national aspirations'. Probably, the most decisive factor that shaped the Kurdish attitude remains the problematic nature of the opposition itself and the compromises it made. Kurdish aloofness is a reflection of their fears of potential majoritarian tyranny. This was, after all, a Sunni Arab-majority revolution. The widely reported incidence of ethnic cleansing by Kurdish forces in Tal Abyad is fraught with meaning. When opportunity arises, ethnic, sectarian, and religious fault lines and conflicts flare up.
