Kurdistan Province

Kurdistan Province or Kordestan Province or Kurdestan Province (Persian: استان کردستان‎‎, Kurdish: کوردستان Kurdistan) is one of the 31 provinces of Iran, not to be confused with the greater geographical area of Iranian Kurdistan. The province of Kurdistan is 28,817 km² in area which encompasses just one-fourth of the Kurdish inhabited areas of Iran or Iranian Kurdistan . It is located in the west of Iran, in Region 3, and bound by Iraq on the west, the province of West Azerbaijan to its north, Zanjan to the northeast, Hamedan to the east and Kermanshah to the south. The capital of Kurdistan Province is the city of Sanandaj (Kurdish: Sinne‎). Other counties with their major cities are Marivan, Baneh, Saqqez, Qorveh, Piranshahr, Bijar, Kamyaran, Dehgolan, Diwandarreh and Sarvabad.

History

The mountainous lands of this area first encouraged Aryan tribes to settle in this region after their immigration to Iran. It was from here where the first plan to overthrow the Assyrian Empire began, leading to their defeat in 612 BCE, and setting the stage for the commence of the Median empire.

Kurdistan

Kurdistan /ˌkɜːrdɪˈstɑːn/ (Kurdish: [ˌkurdɪˈstan]; "Homeland of the Kurds or Land of the Kurds"; also formerly spelled Curdistan; ancient name: Corduene) or Greater Kurdistan, is a roughly defined geo-cultural region wherein the Kurdish people form a prominent majority population, and Kurdish culture, language, and national identity have historically been based. Kurdistan roughly encompasses the northwestern Zagros and the eastern Taurus mountain ranges.

Contemporary use of the term refers to four parts of a greater Kurdistan, which include parts of eastern and southeastern Turkey (Northern Kurdistan), northern Syria (Western Kurdistan), northern Iraq (Southern Kurdistan), and northwestern Iran (Eastern Kurdistan). Some Kurdish nationalist organizations seek to create an independent nation state of Kurdistan, consisting of some or all of the areas with Kurdish majority, while others campaign for greater Kurdish autonomy within the existing national boundaries.

Iraqi Kurdistan first gained autonomous status in a 1970 agreement with the Iraqi government, and its status was re-confirmed as an autonomous entity within the federal Iraqi republic in 2005. There is a province by the name Kurdistan in Iran; it is not self-ruled. Kurds fighting in the Syrian Civil War were able to take control of large sections of northern Syria as forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad withdrew to fight elsewhere. Having established their own government, some Kurds called for autonomy in a democratic Syria; others hoped to establish an independent Kurdistan.

Iraqi Kurdistan

Iraqi Kurdistan, officially known as the Kurdistan Region (Central Kurdish: هه‌رێمی کوردستان‎, translit. Herêmî Kurdistan; Arabic: إقليم كردستان‎, translit. Iqlīm Kurdistān), is located in the north of Iraq and constitutes the country's only autonomous region. Bordering the Kurdish-inhabited regions of Iran to the east, Turkey to the north, and Syria to the west, it is frequently referred to as Southern Kurdistan (Central Kurdish: باشووری کوردستان; Northern Kurdish: Başûrê Kurdistanê). The region is officially governed by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), with the capital being Erbil.

Kurdistan is a parliamentary democracy with a regional assembly that consists of 111 seats.Masoud Barzani, who was initially elected as president in 2005, was re-elected in 2009. In August 2013 the parliament extended his presidency for another two years. His presidency concluded on 19 August 2015 after the political parties failed to reach an agreement over extending his presidency term. The new Iraqi constitution defines the Kurdistan Region as a federal entity of Iraq, and establishes Kurdish and Arabic as Iraq's joint official languages. The four governorates of Duhok, Hawler, Silemani, and Halabja comprise around 41,710 square kilometres (16,100 sq mi) and have a population of 8.35 million (2013 estimate). In 2014, during the 2014 Iraq Crisis, Iraqi Kurdistan's forces also took over much of the disputed territories of Northern Iraq.

Kurdistan (disambiguation)

Kurdistan may refer to: