The Kurds, a nation without a state: A century-long fight for rights and autonomy In this special edition of Middle East Matters, we focus on the Kurds. Spread across four nations, they are the world's largest stateless ethnic group. Indigenous to the Middle East and numbering at least 35 million, the Kurds have sought to establish a homeland of their own since the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the 1920s. They have endured decades of bloodshed in Iraq and also faced state oppression in Turkey, Iran and Syria. We take a closer look at the history and location of the Kurds and speak to researcher and journalist Guney Yildiz.