ABSTRACT
The Turkish nationalist forces defeated the Greek invaders and their Entente allies and wrested from the West the much more favourable Treaty of Lausanne, in which Turkey's enemies officially recognized the Turkish Republic that had managed to carve out double the territory than what had been stipulated at Sevres. The Kurdish nationalist struggle in Iraq, centred on the implementation of the guarantees, was determined by phases of on-and-off negotiations and collaboration with the central government, and, its initial stage aside, remained local in its orientation rather than pursuing a pan-Kurdish agenda. Kurdish leaders in Iraq had come to terms with the concept of the sovereign nation state almost from day one and sought to eke out a degree of self-government within these confines rather than challenging the principle by way of secession. 'Shared spaces for Arabs and Kurds within the anti-imperialist movement encouraged the Kurds' collective identity as Iraqis to become salient alongside their sense of Kurdish ethno-nationalism'.
