ABSTRACT
The Kurds are the world’s largest ethnic group without a country. They populate a mountainous area spanning southeastern Turkey, eastern Syria, northern Iraq, and northwestern Iran—with enclaves in Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Kurds number over 25 million worldwide, though Kurdish sources sometimes place the figure at 40 million or higher. More than half of all Kurds (about 14 million) live in southeastern Turkey, where they make up an estimated 20 percent of the country’s population. About 5 million live in Iran (7 percent of the country’s population), and there are roughly 5 to 6 million (15–20 percent) Kurds in Iraq.
