Independent Kurdistan?

WI Kurdistan had achieved independence circa 1900?

Would an independent Kurdistan be able to side-step the current civil war pitting ISIS/ISIL against the Allawies and Iraqi Army and Turkey and NATO and ......?
 
ISIS would not exist in its current form at all. You're thinking of 2015 Kurdistan, the only "country" in the entire region that believes in religious freedom.

But in 1900 this same area is going to be an Islamist stronghold. If they gain independence around this time, there aren't really any forces compelling them to be anything other than a theocratic dictatorship, which isn't very interesting.
 
I'm thinking that independent Kurdistan is one of those ideas that just makes too much sense to happen, much like independent Somaliland.
 
WI Kurdistan had achieved independence circa 1900?

Would an independent Kurdistan be able to side-step the current civil war pitting ISIS/ISIL against the Allawies and Iraqi Army and Turkey and NATO and ......?

How would Kurdistan would get independence? Ottoman Empire was strong enough to beat revolting Kurds. And was there even existing Kurdish nationalism? And independence Kurdistan would change history so much that Syria and Iraq would be totally different and there wouldn't be ISIS.
 
If you want a secular Kurdistan in the region, you could have a Kurdish Atatürk allied to the actual one, the two achieving the establishment of their nation states more or less simultaneously.
I don`t know what this would do to the IS, but way earlier, I think there might be interesting relations between such a Kurdistan and the Soviet Union (Kurdistan might want Azerbaijan and side with Nazi Germany in WW II to capture it from the Soviets, which would backfire badly at the end of the war of course). Also, how do they relate to the establishment of Israel?
 

shiftygiant

Gone Fishin'
Have the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire be more decided at the end of the First World War. During negotiations, there were many proposals for an independent Autonomous Kurdish state, British Officials approach to administer the region, some even going so far as to support the existence of this state as it would provide a buffer between the future Turkish State and the British Administered Mesopotamia. This support can be seen in the abortive Treaty of Sèvres, which set aside a British and French administered area for a possible Kurdish state. However, with the failure of the Treaty also came the death of the state, which itself, whilst preparing for a referendum on the subject of the state, had lengthy internal dispute over the size of Kurdistan. Due to the failure to implement the Treaty, the emergence of the Treaty of Lausann, and ultimately the decision on the Turkish-Iraqi Border, the state failed to come into fruition.

What you need is for the Treaty of Sèvres to be ratified- granted, easier said then done, as the Treaty was signed during the Turkish War of Independence and at a point where Turkish Nationalism was taking a grip, however this would be the best place to start. Also, if at all possible, you would need to have the Kurdish solution survive to Lausann, perhaps as a solution to the Turkish-Iraqi Border.
 
If you want a secular Kurdistan in the region, you could have a Kurdish Atatürk allied to the actual one, the two achieving the establishment of their nation states more or less simultaneously.
I don`t know what this would do to the IS, but way earlier, I think there might be interesting relations between such a Kurdistan and the Soviet Union (Kurdistan might want Azerbaijan and side with Nazi Germany in WW II to capture it from the Soviets, which would backfire badly at the end of the war of course). Also, how do they relate to the establishment of Israel?

Why Kurds would want Azerbaijan? Perhaps some Kurdish area in Armenia, but I am not sure would Kurdistan do anything with that. ISIS would butterfly away. I don't know how would Kurdistan react to Israel. Probably depends what kind of government Kurdistan has. But if Kurdistan is secular nation, it might have pretty good relationship with Israel like Turkey in OTL.
 
WI Kurdistan had achieved independence circa 1900?

Would an independent Kurdistan be able to side-step the current civil war pitting ISIS/ISIL against the Allawies and Iraqi Army and Turkey and NATO and ......?

You would change so many other things as a consequence of An independent Kurdish state so you would not get either ISIS, Assad or Saddam Hussein for that matter.
 
This an most likely happen after World War 1 with some King of Kurdistan imitating the Arabs down south and wining against them. They'd lose their Turkish part in a brutal war with the Ankara government, a competent regime, like the reconquest of Kars and Smyrna.

The reduced Iraqi-Syrian Kurdistan (maybe a bit smaller or bigger) would have an economy based around Arbil oil after the 20s and be considered the least prestigious of the Middle Eastern Kingdoms because it's not so easy to govern this land (today they're divided too) and the Arab Monarchs have more western view. Big spending will be done on the military, building up a considerable but ragtag and backward force. Hashemites and Turks will both have designs, so finding British or Soviet supplies would be hard. Their best bet is with the French.

Ataturk's regime took peace after initial wars as a direction, and Kurdistan would follow them into armed neutrality in world war 2. After the war, it would turn into another Jordan, an armed, army-loyal monarchy. Independence of Syria and resulting instability will mean Arabs agitating on Kurdistan and total loss of aid. It would be an Israeli ally, though that's complicated by Turkey also being close to Israel. Iran would be hard to buy because of the Kurds in Iran and Kurdish irridentism. USA meanwhile will supply Turkey.

Kurdistan after the Arab nationalist revolutions (if it doesn't have a revolution and become republic or socialist state, which I see no reason for it to - Soviets invading Iran established a Kurdish republic, but not a popular one), would have newfound British support, and normalized relations with Turkey and Iran, to a degree. This will eventually phase out to American support.

Kurdish economy would develop along the lines of the Libyan, with big income inequality despite oil, but the conservatives wouldn't be overthrown because there isn't an Israel problem. Arab-Kurdish wars are a possibility, and Kurdistan wouldn't lose them because their supplies are probably better, and their doctrines from their military culture and years of militarism would be too. I see it becoming either a Turkey-style republic, though not necessarily democratic, or a constitutional monarchy.

IS would develop normally, and I don't think Kurds would intervene in Iraq or Iran. They might be subject to an invasion by Saddam, which might devastate the country in the meantime. If that's the case, a dictator would come to power, and deal with the US and USSR as any other middle eastern strongman.
 
Why Kurds would want Azerbaijan? Perhaps some Kurdish area in Armenia, but I am not sure would Kurdistan do anything with that. ISIS would butterfly away. I don't know how would Kurdistan react to Israel. Probably depends what kind of government Kurdistan has. But if Kurdistan is secular nation, it might have pretty good relationship with Israel like Turkey in OTL.
Ethnically, you`re right: there are way more Kurds in Armenia than in Azerbaijan. Economically, though, Azerbaijan`s oil and gas ressources would be cool and might inspire them to go all the way to the Caspian Sea alongside a megalomaniac Nazi Germany which also tried to control the Caucasus, especially for an economically petrol-oriented country. Who says a Kurdistan established along ethno-linguistic lines would also remain ethnically homogeneous?
 
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