Nader Habibi

Kurds constitute a viable ethnic group with historic roots and presence in four Middle Eastern countries: Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Türkiye. The relations between the central governments of these countries and their minorities have often been contentious and occasionally violent. I propose two policy measures for these four countries in this paper to implement regarding their respective Kurdish minorities. First, while remaining fully committed to the prevention of separatism, they should enhance the cultural and political rights of the minorities and reduce the development gap of the predominantly Kurdish regions relative to the national average. Currently, this gap is visible in all countries other than Iraq. Second, the initiative to enhance minority rights and improve their economic conditions can be better realized if these countries coordinate their policy reforms in the framework of a regional agreement. The article argues that without coordination each country will be worried that if it gives more political and social rights to its Kurdish minority, these rights might be exploited by neighbors to provoke ethnic insurgency and separatist tendencies. A coordination among these countries for harmonization of their policies toward the Kurds, will overcome this concern and will increase the likelihood that all four countries will increase the rights and opportunities that they offer to Kurds.