When talk of modern day independence movements comes up, Kurdistan and Catalonia always feature heavily. Catalans have recently been seeing a surge in support for independence from Spain, thanks in no small amount to the ever worsening economic situation in that country, but also because of the ever present threat to Catalan language and culture which the central Spanish government represents. Then there is the fact that the Spanish political system was set up by those who inherited power from General Franco's dictatorship without a clear split from the past and, at least in some people's minds, returning to it is only one crisis away. Whilst Kurdistan may be in the same boat in terms of being a nation without a state, the situation itself is quite different. Firstly the 30 million or so Kurds are spread out among four different states, none of which are Kurdish. In Turkey and Iran they are still being oppressed political, economically and culturally, in a way that the Catalans probably haven't experienced for one or even two generations. However, due to the great size and complexity of the entire Kurdish region, I am mostly going to talk about the Iraqi Kurdish autonomous region or South Kurdistan. This region was able to achieve de-facto autonomy after the first Gulf War in 1991 and has enjoyed legal autonomy since helping set up the new federal Iraqi state. What I wish to look at here is the difference between the socio-linguistic situations in Catalonia and South Kurdistan. This means I will be comparing the state of the languages and their outlooks as well as social and governmental attempts to protect them. Finally I will give my own recommendations for what should be done for the best interests of the two languages.
