Geographical definition

Kurdistan literally means “country of the Kurds”: it is a mountainous territory, geographically homogeneous of about 500.000 square Km. The word Kurdistan has been used for the first time in the XIITh century by Marco Polo. At the time, the Kurd territory was made up of 12 provinces. After travelling through all the Kurd territory, the Turkish historian Celebi wrote that Kurdistan was made up of the following provinces: “Erzerum,Van, Diyarbekir, Armadia, Mossul, Shahrazur, Ardalan”.
In the last centuries, numerous European people who, because of travel, business or diplomacy have visited The East, have described the Kurd boarder. One of the most ancient maps that showed the Kurdistan, date back to 1561. Kurdistan has undergone several partitions by the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Empire.

After the First World War, Kurdistan was split up in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria by the allied governments. After 70 years of oppression and deportations, the today Kurd reality does not correspond to the historical one. Numerous Kurd localities and cities that until the First and the Second World War could be considered historically, ethnically, linguistically as Kurd territories, now have no more these characteristics. Being influenced by Persian, Turkish, and Arabian customs, Kurdistan has changed the geographical and ethnical peculiarities of its territory.

Today in Iran, only a small province is called “Kurdistan”, whereas the Kurd territory, in Turkey is called “East Anatolia”, in Syria “Gerirah”, in Iraq “North or Independent region”. So it is a difficult task to trace exactly the Kurdistan territorial boarder. Kurdistan is 900 Km in length, from 200 to 700 Km in width, 1000 m in average height above sea level, the highest point is the mount Ararat (5168 m). In Kurdistan there are several rivers: the most well-known are the “Tigris” and the “Euphrates” that rise in Kurd territories of Turkey. Other rivers like “Zey Gawra”, “Zey Biciuk” and “Kizil Uzan” rise in Turkey, in Iraq and in Iran respectively. The largest lakes are the “Van” lake in Turkey and the “Urmia” lake in Iran. The climate goes from dry heat to northern cold.

Kurdistan is very rich in natural resources, in particular oil in Iraq, chromium ( it is the second producer all over the world) in the Turkish part, iron, natural gas, gold, coal, aluminium, etc. This area is very productive in agriculture, and in cattle-breeding. The states that rule Kurdistan have practised and still practise a colonial policy of exploitation, so that Kurd population lives in a state of extreme backwardness, distress and starvation.