ABSTRACT
The Kurdish issue has constituted a central problem confronting Iraqi governments ever since the state of Iraq was established in 1920. The development of the Kurdish issue between 1920 and 1968 reflected this continued interaction between the domestic political context and the international environment. A new attempt to come to grips with the Kurdish issue followed the Arab Ba'th Socialist Party's return to power in July 1968. From this point the government seems to have come to the conclusion that it would be possible to draw up an autonomy plan in collaboration with the KDP; it began, therefore, to draw up its own plan. The Iranian government, concerned at the potential for Iranian Kurdistan becoming the focus of future Kurdish activity, spread the Iraqi Kurds over different parts of Iranian Kurdistan -mainly in camps around the big towns of Mahabad, Sanandaj and Rizaiyeh.
