until 1918 or so, iraq was three separate provinces of the ottoman empire. it was the same divisions as now" bagdhad, southern shiite and northern kurd turkomen and assyrian.
the kurds in turkey have largely controlled regions of wild south east turkey abutting northern iraq and have been waging a civil war with turkey for over 30 years, only recently quiet. The kurds themselves have been fighting among each other and among all others for hundreds of years. There are multiple kurdish factions know, some allied with Osama, some with more moderate views, all killing each other as we speak.
the british pen sought to separate the kurds into two areas so they could not become a major force and destroy the remains of the ottoman empire. the same pen drew a line through afganistan when it made pakistan and divided the pushtan areas of afganistan and pakistan asunder, for the same reasons.
Turkey is frightened that a free or semi free northern iraq ruled by kurds will be a staging ground for a reawakening of the terrible rebellion of the kurds against the the rest of the turks and that it will stimulate a desire to carve out a piece of turkey into a larger kurdistan. Especially since this semiautonomous kurdistan could benefit from seizing northern iraqs oil pumping areas which lie nearby.
also the newspaper article post 7514 sums it up
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