Hrothgar: you're dead right. The situation the Kurds are in fits in to a list that includes Northern Ireland, Cyprus and Palestine/Israel: problems which seem to defy any attempt to find an easy solution. (Middle Eastern history is not simple. Saladin was a Kurd, not an Arab, for example).
    Sorry if dragging in the Kurds seems to be thread-creep. But I think it's valuable to point out that statements that start "Muslims think...." or ""Arabs are....." or "Iraqis believe...." need reading rather carefully.