Introduction

The Kurds are a distinct group of people who have inhabited the Middle East for as long as there have been written records. Most live in an area located at the intersection of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Armenia. Ethnically, the Kurds are most closely related in culture and language to the Iranians in Iran; the Tajiks and Pashtuns of Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Pakistan; and the Baluchis in Northern Pakistan. Kurds are the second largest ethnic group in Iraq and Turkey and the third largest group (after the Azeris) in Iran. There are also small populations of Kurds in Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan.

In 1975-76, about 2,000 Kurdish refugees from Iraq were admitted to the United States after the failure of their 15-year attempt to wrest autonomy from Saddam Hussein's government. Most of these Kurdish refugees settled around San Diego, California; Nashville, Tennessee; and Washington, D.C.

Just after the Gulf War in early 1991, the Iraqi Kurds again rebelled against the government. They were unsuccessful, but the plight of the Kurdish refugees fleeing reprisal became a matter of intense international scrutiny. It resulted in the establishment of the American-led Operation Provide Comfort, through which the Kurds were protected from Iraqi government reprisals against them by, among other measures, the establishment of a no-fly zone over a part of Kurdish homelands in northern Iraq.

Since the establishment of the northern no-fly zone, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), a 20-year-old Iraqi Kurdish political party, had been struggling for power with another older and more traditional Kurdish political party, the 50-year-old Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), and had in various circumstances applied for and received aid from the Iranian government in its struggles. The KDP gradually lost ground to the PUK and finally appealed to the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein for support.

In the first week of September, 1996, the KDP, with Iraqi troops behind them, quickly took over the major towns and cities in the Kurdish area of Iraq which had been under the control of the PUK. President Clinton responded by extending the no-fly zone in the south and launching two groups of missile strikes to destroy Iraqi SAM sites in southern Iraq.

Fearing a new campaign of repression by Saddam Hussein, thousands of Kurds fled to the Turkish and Iranian borders. Kurdish workers in Operation Provide Comfort also fled with their families to the Turkish border, fearing retaliation on the part of the Iraqi troops for their participation in an American-sponsored operation. The American government agreed to resettle these Kurds in the United States and began to consider resettlement for Kurds who worked for other relief organizations.

The purpose of this Fact Sheet is to provide background information on the Iraqi Kurds and to discuss the ways in which their culture and history might impact on their resettlement in the United States.

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