The Kurds in the changing political map of the Middle East

Abstract

This article examines how the rise of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), the on-going Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) insurgency and current peace negotiations with the Turkish government, and the recently declared autonomy by the Syrian Kurds—largely under the leadership of the Democratic Union Party (PYD)—have empowered the Kurds and challenged the existing political map of the Middle East largely established after World War I. At the same time this article also considers the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as one of the other main tipping points changing the Middle East political map. The roles and policies of Turkey and the United States to these transformations are also analysed