Kurdish dreams of a homeland are always dashed
Little has gone right since the end of the Ottoman empire
THE TREATY OF SEVRES, signed in 1920, carved the carcass of the Ottoman Empire into a number of nation states, including a “Kurdish State of the Kurds…east of the Euphrates, south of the southern boundary of Armenia as it may be hereafter determined, and north of the frontier of Turkey with Syria and Mesopotamia.” It would, said Winston Churchill, Britain’s minister of colonies, be “a friendly buffer state” between Turks and Arabs.
This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline “No fixed abode”
From the October 19th 2019 edition
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Who will control the next Congress?
The new president is much less likely than usual to see allies take charge on Capitol Hill
Has the war in Gaza radicalised young Palestinians?
After Gaza, how will the Palestinians try to build their state?
A year on, Israeli society is divided about the lessons of October 7th
Hawks and doves, religious and secular, right and left—all the old cleavages are resurfacing
The bloodshed in the Middle East is fast expanding
Israel seems certain to retaliate to Iran’s missile attack
What Hamas misunderstood about the Middle East
A war meant to draw in the militant group’s allies has instead left them battered
After the decapitation of Hizbullah, Iran could race for a nuclear bomb
The embattled clerical regime might feel the need for stronger deterrence