Numbering an estimated 60 million, the Kurds are an ancient people of the Middle East, indigenous to the Mesopotamian region—often described as the cradle of civilisation. Today, they are spread across four modern states: Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria. They speak multiple Kurdish dialects, follow diverse faiths, and yet share a strong collective identity shaped as much by culture as by a century of political exclusion.
The roots of the Kurdish struggle lie in the aftermath of the First World War. As the Ottoman Empire collapsed, European powers redrew West Asia’s map, carving new nation-states while leaving the Kurds divided across borders. Promised autonomy in early negotiations, they were ultimately denied a state of their own. Instead, they became minorities in countries that often treated their identity as a threat.
Nowhere was this more severe than in Turkey, where even the words “Kurd” and “Kurdistan” were once forbidden. Kurdish language, names, and cultural symbols were suppressed in an effort not just to control territory, but to erase identity itself. Elsewhere, repression took different forms—chemical attacks in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, executions in Iran, and prolonged marginalisation in Syria.
Over time, Kurdish political movements evolved. As Koç emphasised, the contemporary Kurdish demand is not necessarily for secession, but for democratic autonomy: local self-governance, education in the mother tongue, constitutional recognition, and the right to self-defence in regions repeatedly targeted by extremist groups. Kurdish forces, particularly in Iraq and Syria, played a decisive role in defeating ISIS—contributing not only to regional stability, but to global security.
It is here that India enters the conversation. Koç repeatedly drew parallels between India and the Kurds: ancient civilisations shaped by colonial legacies, managing extraordinary diversity of language, religion, and ethnicity. India’s own experience of holding together a non-homogenous society makes it, in Kurdish eyes, a uniquely empathetic partner.
The connection is not merely philosophical. India maintains a consulate in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region—one of nearly 40 diplomatic missions there. For the Kurds, this is both symbolic and strategic: recognition that their region can be a stabilising force in West Asia.
As global institutions strain under geopolitical pressure, the Kurdish question remains unresolved. But voices like Koç’s suggest that dialogue—especially with countries like India that understand “unity in diversity”—may be one of the few remaining paths toward a durable solution.
