Demographic Engineering and Population Alteration in Iranian Kurdistan

Abstract Studying the Iranian Kurdish question reveals the importance of the geopolitical location of the Kurdish region, which has left a massive impact on the framework and capability of the contemporary Kurdish national movement. Aware of this fact, different ruling regimes of Iran, considering territorial threats associated with the Kurdish nationalistic movement, implemented different policies of systematic “demographic engineering,” aimed at reducing the capability of the Kurdish claim for autonomy. Some aspects of the policy of demographic engineering implemented during the Safavid and the Pahlavi dynasties have been examined. Based on this, the article argues that the geopolitical location of the Kurdish region, as a buffer zone between the Ottoman and Safavid dynasties, has diminished and continues to undermine the capability of the Kurdish struggle for autonomy in Iran