Introduction

The lands that the Kurds inhabit straddle primarily four countries: Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. Since the end of WWI and the demarcation of the borders of the Middle East, successive Kurdish generations have strived for self-rule and/or statehood in one or the other of these countries, sometimes contemporaneously, sometimes across borders and often resulting in armed conflict and rebellion. In relation to US foreign policy and the Kurds, for example, Marianna Charountaki has stated that ‘it is impossible to discuss a generalized US foreign policy towards the Kurds since each Kurdish cause is different’. Gunter recognises the Shah’s role in bringing in the US to back the Kurds, albeit symbolically, as part of a strategic game played for its own—Iran’s—purposes. Alvandi also states that the US, throughout the 1960s, refused to be dragged into the Kurds’ conflict with Iraq. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.