We've noted before that Kurdish people live in northern Iraq, eastern Turkey, north-western Iran and northern Syria. They don't have a country of their own and they want one.
Kurds are a problem for all of these countries as they are ethnically and linguistically distinct from the Arabs, Persians, and Turkic peoples among whom they live. What's more, they wish to stay distinct.
As first Iraq and now Syria have experienced civil war, the Kurds have pulled back into their enclaves and stood aside from the fighting. Fights among Arabs don't much interest Kurds. This Christian Science Monitor article has more details.
