Works Cited 
Barkey, Henri J., and Ellen Laipson. "Iraqi Kurds and Iraq's Future." Middle East Policy XII.4 (2005): 66-76. Stimpson Publications. Web. 
Fuller, Graham E. "The Fate of the Kurds." Foreign Affairs 72.2 (1993): 108-21. JSTOR. Council on Foreign Relations. Web. 
Harris, George S. "Ethnic Conflict and the Kurds." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 433 (1977): 112-24. JSTOR. Sage Publications, Inc. Web. 
Viviano, Frank. "The Kurds in Control." National Geographic Jan. 2006. National Geographic. Web. 

Historically the Kurds are bound by their common heritage, religion, culture, and language. However, there is a lot of diversity among the Kurds themselves. They lived within the borders of the Ottoman Empire in the Province of Kurdistan for the majority of the 16th century and until the end of World War I. The Ottoman Empire fell after the First World War and the Allied Powers began divvying up the Middle Eastern region. Kurdistan was not given nation-statehood when the Middle East was carved up. Because of this the Kurds have been separated into some unwelcoming areas. Many Kurds have faced persecution because of the ethnic disparities and prejudices that are augmented by the governments and people of the countries in which the Kurds live.