HISTORY 241 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Jalal Talabani, Masoud Barzani, Erbil
Document Summary
November 16 lecture: the kurdistan issue and the future of iraq. In iraq, most of the kurds live in sulaimaniya, kirkuk, irbil. Kurds speak an indo-european language, not arabic (semitic) Kurds = 20% of 27 million iraqis (5. 4 million) If kurds became autonomous, they would have to break up 5 countries. Helped by shah and us, but abandoned by henry kissinger in 1975. Some kurds side with iran during iran-iraq war, 1980-1988. Saddam retaliates by gassing them, viewed kurds retaliation as agitation. Us put a no-fly zone after gulf war to protect kurds from saddam. 3 northern provinces of irbil, dohuk and sulaymaniyah. Kurdistan regional authority makes foreign oil deals independently. Acts like sovereign state without the name. Us has strongly backed fundamentalist shiites in iraq. Us policy has been punitive (inflicting punishment) toward sunni arabs, drove them into insurgency. Four major factions: kurdistan democratic party of massed bargain, patriotic union of kurdistan: jalal talabani, kurdistan islamic party, goran (change)
