Kurds, states and tribes

Abstract

At most times, Kurdish society has existed at the periphery of, and functioned as a buffer between, two or more neighbouring states. From c. 1500 until the First World War, the relevant states were the Ottoman Empire in the west and Safavid, later Qajar Iran in the east (with Russia and the British Empire gradually encroaching upon the region from the north and south, respectively). In the aftermath of the World War, Kurdistan was divided among four of the modern would-be nation states succeeding these empires, becoming a peripheral and often mistrusted region in each of them. All these states, whether empire or nation state, have exercised various forms of indirect rule over Kurdistan, which have had a profound impact on the social and political organisation of Kurdish society. The specific tribal formations that existed in Kurdish society in various historical periods were in important respects the products of the interaction of these states with Kurdish society.