Early Kurdish nationalism had its roots in the days of the Ottoman Empire , within which Kurds were a significant ethnic group . With the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire , the Kurdish-majority territories were divided between the newly formed states of Iraq , Syria and Turkey , making Kurds a significant ethnic minority in each state . Kurdish nationalist movements have long been suppressed by Turkey and the Arab-majority states of Iraq and Syria , all of whom fear loss of territory to a potential independent Kurdistan . Kurds from Iran are also loyal to the nationalistic movement and this was demonstrated in Iraqi Kurdistans indepenedence referendum in 2017 where thousands of Iranian Kurds risked arrest to march and celebrate waving the banned Kurdish flag . Since the 1970s , Iraqi Kurds have pursued the goal of greater autonomy and even outright independence against the Ba'ath Party regimes , which responded with brutal repression including the massacre of 182,000 Kurds in the Anfal genocide . Since the 1980s , the Kurdish – Turkish conflict led by Kurdish armed groups challenged the Turkish state , which responded with martial law . After the 1991 uprisings in Iraq , Iraqi Kurds were protected against the armies of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein by NATO-enforced no-fly zones , allowing them considerable autonomy and self-government outside the control of the Iraqi central government . After the 2003 invasion of Iraq that ousted dictator Saddam Hussein , Iraqi Kurdistan became an autonomous region , enjoying a great measure of self-governance but stopping short of full independence
Anfal genocide
Anfal genocide
Kurdish nationalism