The impact of the dissolution of the Soviet Union on the Kurds

Abstract

The Kurds are among the direct neighbours of the Transcaucasian republics of Georgia, Armenia and Azarbayjan, each of which has moreover a Kurdish minority among its population. The Central Asian republics of Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, though further removed from Kurdistan, also have significant Kurdish minorities. It is understandable that the recent dramatic events affecting these former Soviet republics, the new wave of nationalism and the reorientation towards Islam, also have their impact on the Kurds. The nature of this impact is mostly indirect and has therefore remained underreported, the more so because it coincides with the impact of other changes in the political and economic world order. This paper sketches the outlines of the various interrelations.