Human Rights and the Kurdish Question in the Middle East

Abstract

The Middle East has undergone significant sociopolitical change since the end of the Cold War. In particular, the geostrategic map of the region has changed since the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime. The Iraqi Kurds have gained a measure of political freedom that had eluded them for much of their recent history, and the Kurdish struggle in the rest of the region continues unabated. The notion of universal human rights has gained increasing currency as a pillar of the obligations that nation-states have come to accept since the end of World War II when the codification of these rights began to challenge the state-centric focus of international law. This chapter examines the modalities of enhancing the human rights of the Kurds in Iran, Iraq, and Turkey and examines the complexities of issues involved in this process.