Turkey and Kurdistan united

I have often wondered the impact of Turkey and Kurdistan united into one country as equals? What POD would be needed for this to happen? What would the impact be of a successful union? Kurdistan is in orange on the map below. Lets assume that it is the continuous orange area this is in union with Turkey.
Gegenwärtiges_Kerngebiet_der_kurdischen_Siedlungsgebiete.jpg
 
One of the benefits to the Turks and Kurds that I am thinking about is the oil revenue from the oil fields that are now part of Turkey. Assuming that the oil revenue is used wisely, this area would be more economically developed.
 
For this to happen, you need to find a way to resolve the differences between the Turks and the Kurds. The Kurds had been pushing for an independent homeland since the 1880s. If the Turks would have accepted some sort of Federation with the Kurds, that may do the trick.
How do you plan to incorporate the Iranian Kurds into this nation?

The oil would definitely make for a country with a much stronger economy.

It might make for a more stable Iraq since it wouldn't be a three-way food-fight for control in that country.
 
I think you would have to have had a Kurdistan created as part of the WW1 peace settlement, one that then wages a victorious war against persia for its eastern provinces.

Then some time in 50s to 60s the countries of Turkey and Kurdistan having had amiable relations since formation (the Turks being more focused in antagonism with the greeks.) decide to amalgamate into an Anatolian Federation.
 
This scenario is possible, although I have a couple of concerns.
King Faisal was adamant about the Mosul Vilayet becoming part of his Kingdom of Iraq, how is this butterflied away?
How is Kurdistan to remain independent once oil is found around Mosul in the 1920's? Without a Great Power protector, I just can't see an independent Kurdistan remaining that way.
Lastly, it has been almost 100 years since the Ottoman Empire broke up and they Turks and Kurds still don't get along, how is this to happen in your scenario?
 
This scenario is possible, although I have a couple of concerns.
King Faisal was adamant about the Mosul Vilayet becoming part of his Kingdom of Iraq, how is this butterflied away?
How is Kurdistan to remain independent once oil is found around Mosul in the 1920's? Without a Great Power protector, I just can't see an independent Kurdistan remaining that way.
Lastly, it has been almost 100 years since the Ottoman Empire broke up and they Turks and Kurds still don't get along, how is this to happen in your scenario?

Well a lot of that turko-kurdish tension is down to the last 100 years of repression and insurgency, if that is removed by giving the Kurds an independant state from the outset then it becomes far more likely that better relations are established.

It could be that Iraq does invade Kurdistan in the 20s to try and seize the oil, but Turkey intervenes on the side of the Kurds, reasoning that it will be easier to get access to those resources from a friendly Kurdistan rather than a conquered one.

The formation of an Anatolian Federation might require an outside threat, so it could be that they do so in the face of a (semi-) successful United Arab Republic.
 
Just wait for Kurdistan to declare independence from Iraq in the referendum, and then it won't get to have any real independence, since Turkey wouldn't think before invading. Problem solved. Then wait for Syria to collapse with the Rojava taking over in the north, where their own Kurdistan is annexed by Turkey, and then have the West take a strike at Iran, and you should hopefully have a fully Turkish-owned Kurdistan.

Oh, I see. Equals. Ha, good joke there friend. On wait, you're serious? Really? Well, you know who else were equals? The Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians, if you know what I mean. Erdogan will just wait for a WW3 to break out and then Enver Pasha can be resurrected for a party up in Gaziantep.
 

BlondieBC

Banned
I have often wondered the impact of Turkey and Kurdistan united into one country as equals? What POD would be needed for this to happen? What would the impact be of a successful union? Kurdistan is in orange on the map below. Lets assume that it is the continuous orange area this is in union with Turkey.View attachment 326615

Most of the map is a pretty easy POD. In the original WW1 treaty, the Ottomans were to keep what is the now the northern 1/3 of Iraq but they had not troops there, so the UK occupied it anyway. Simply have a bit stronger Ottomans at the end of WW1 or maybe just move some troops there. We are probably talking just a handful of regiments and a little bluster.

For the parts in Syria, you can either have the reverse of the above. The Ottomans have a few troops in these unimportant areas, and France decides not to make a big deal of it. Or you can simply make it a butterfly. The Ottomans are stronger when the finally win against the UK in the early to mid 1920's, and get some border adjustments.

The Iranian part is harder. The Ottomans sent some troops into this area in WW1. Not much came of it. Have these operations be successful.


OR

If you want a cleaner POD. Cancel the 1914 Ottoman offense in the east. I like Enver gets sick and gets there a few weeks later, but whatever reason you like. This saves the Ottomans a corp or more. I can leave much of the rest of WW1 alone, but since things are less bad in the east for the Turks, these reinforcements trickle down into the Levant. The operations in Persia are bigger and successful. The case fire line is roughly where you want it. The post war treaty simply recognizes the facts on the ground, and then you can go wherever you want with this POD. You will have some Kurdish/Turkish power replace the Ottomans. Really will not be Turkey, will not be Ottoman, but be something else new.
 
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