CFTNI Policy Brief
The Kurds at a Crossroads: A Survey of Politics and Society
I am writing to share a new Center for the National Interest Regional Perspectives paper with contributions from Center Senior Fellow Dr. Joshua Yaphe, Dr. Soran Tarkhani, and journalist Wladimir van Wilgenburg. Joshua Yaphe’s essay assesses the results of a survey of Kurdish thought leaders across four countries, while Dr. Tarkhani and Mr. Van Wilgenburg offer expert perspectives on Kurdish politics and U.S. policy toward the Kurds.
The Center surveyed leading Kurdish intellectuals in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Türkiye in the spring of 2026 to try to gauge how Kurdish politics is evolving. The period leading up to the survey had witnessed some dramatic changes. The Syrian Transitional Government (STG) was consolidating authority over the formerly semi-autonomous Kurdish regions in the northeast, the Iranian regime was firing drones and missiles at Iranian Kurdish camps on the Iraqi side of the border, the Turkish National Assembly was debating a new framework agreement to disarm and demobilize the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and the Kurdish parties in northern Iraq were still unable to form a cabinet for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) after 18 months. Many Kurds were deeply pessimistic about the future.
Respondents overwhelmingly pointed to corruption, nepotism, and the patronage networks that fuel them as the major factors holding back Kurdish progress and creating obstacles to a properly functioning economy. Many viewed the KRG as an achievement, but not a model to be emulated, while the experiment in self-governance in Syria was admired for its principles, but not for its practicality. Above all, the respondents had lost confidence in the ability of current political elites and institutions to meet the needs of the next generation, and they called for Kurds from all walks of life to create a more vibrant civil society that would allow them to become more involved in politics.
I hope the paper is of interest and welcome your feedback.
Read the brief.
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Paul J. Saunders
President
