In my alt-history timeline, Turkey joins the Axis Powers during WWII and promptly commits a devastating invasion of southern Russia. I'm not sure if this would prolong the war but ultimately, the Axis is still defeated, the USSR survives and as punishment, Turkey's borders are reduced to that of "Anatolia Proper", depicted: here.
Turkey's lost territory is divided between Greece and Soviet Armenia while the southeastern-most portion of Turkey's partitioned territory becomes an independent Kurdistan. This newly independent Kurdistan does not encompass all historic Kurdish claims since Syria, Iraq, and Iran would likely be in no position to surrender territory to Kurdistan and Kurdistan's historic territorial claims overlap with Armenia, so a balance needs to be struck but Kurdistan comes into existence regardless of its small size.
Since this territorial partition is largely invoked by the Soviets with the western allies handling the Istanbul area, I think it's very likely that this Kurdistan could either become an SSR or a Soviet satellite state. What do you think?
Secondly, if Kurdistan did fall under Soviet influence, how would this have affected USSR presence in the Middle East? It's well known that Russia has always wanted warm-water ports and Soviet Kurdistan would bring the USSR closer to the Persian Gulf. Would the USSR perhaps use Kurdistan to launch Soviet-backed communist revolutions in Iraq and Kuwait? Could this cause an early gulf war to transpire?
I'm just trying to figure out what the ultimate outcome would be of this scenario.
Turkey's lost territory is divided between Greece and Soviet Armenia while the southeastern-most portion of Turkey's partitioned territory becomes an independent Kurdistan. This newly independent Kurdistan does not encompass all historic Kurdish claims since Syria, Iraq, and Iran would likely be in no position to surrender territory to Kurdistan and Kurdistan's historic territorial claims overlap with Armenia, so a balance needs to be struck but Kurdistan comes into existence regardless of its small size.
Since this territorial partition is largely invoked by the Soviets with the western allies handling the Istanbul area, I think it's very likely that this Kurdistan could either become an SSR or a Soviet satellite state. What do you think?
Secondly, if Kurdistan did fall under Soviet influence, how would this have affected USSR presence in the Middle East? It's well known that Russia has always wanted warm-water ports and Soviet Kurdistan would bring the USSR closer to the Persian Gulf. Would the USSR perhaps use Kurdistan to launch Soviet-backed communist revolutions in Iraq and Kuwait? Could this cause an early gulf war to transpire?
I'm just trying to figure out what the ultimate outcome would be of this scenario.