Kurdistan (Scotland says "Yes")

Kurdistan ("Land of the Kurds") is a sovereign nation located in the Middle East, around the geographic area of the Zagros and Tauras Mountains. It's main two allies are Russia (which provides arms and training) and Scotland (which provides economic (e.g. food) support, and is considering sending over humanitarian and medical workers).

The Kurds are an ethnicity that lives in the Middle East, previously currently in the countries of Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkey, before gaining independence. The Kurds are first mentioned in the 7th century A.D. and have lived in these areas for over 1300 years. Since World War I with the fall of the Ottoman Empire a desire for independence and their own Kurdish state arose but was denied at the time and until 2013 there was heavy guerrilla fighting by the Kurds to gain independence.

It is only recently with the dramatic rise of ISIS that the Kurds have gained both notoriety and a degree of autonomy. They suddenly found their area's in much of Iraq and Syria unoccupied by government troops and facing a dangerous enemy alone, and so they fought hard against them stopping much of their significant advances.

On June 15th 2015 Alexander Salmond, the current First Minster of Scotland and the man said to be most likely to be Prime Minster of it, declared that he would recognize Kurdistan if elected as he sympathized with their struggle. This brought the issue of Kurdistan to the forefront of world politics and gave Alexander Salmond very easy solution to Syria as an issue. Many other politicians around the world in an attempt to provide an easy solution to ISIS agreed although no country recognized them.

On 24 November the Turks shot down a Russian jet for violating their airspace. Putin was irate and angry at the actions of Turkey and determined to bite back, but was offered a solution by a member of his cabinet, who had seen American politicians talking about Kurdistan, who gave Putin the suggestion to back Kurdistan as a country.

On 21 December, after four days of negotiation, Putin came out of a meeting with the Syrian, Iraqi, Iranian and Kurdish leaders as they all jointly declared Kurdistan a state. Several oil and mining companies then made deals with the Peshmerga which gave them enough money to take out loans from Russian banks to buy weapons to fight with.

''The cause of Kurdistan came to light very much when the Peshmerga armed with Russian equipment such as 100 T- 72 and 80 2A65- Msta- B on the 8th March 2016 launched a major assault and retook Tal Afar from ISIS and then march right into the outer defences of Mosul and managed to encircle the city and are currently while besieging the city encountering heavy attacks from ISIS counter attacks although remain a grip on the city. This has caused many western leaders to start supporting them through air strikes and it grows ever likely they will gain independence.''

Military
See: Peshmerga

Economy
Kurdistan's economy is currently dominated by the oil industry, agriculture and tourism, especially due to its more peaceful nature compared to the rest of Iraq. However, more recently, due to the war with ISIL and tensions growing, less tourists have been visiting.

Due to the stability of the region, many people have been attracted from parts of Iraq, and has extremely low poverty rates.

Infrastructure
However, due to campaigns by Saddam Hussein's government, Kurdistan has had little time to modernize its infrastructure.

Southern (Iraqi) Kurdistan

 * Sulaymaniyah
 * Erbil
 * Dahuk
 * Halabja

Eastern (Iranian) Kurdistan

 * Kermanshah
 * Ilam
 * Kordestan

Western (Syrian) Kurdistan
Also known as Rojava
 * Jazira
 * Tell Abyad
 * Kobanî
 * Afrin

Northern (Turkish) Kurdistan
At the moment only claimed - little or no control exerted. The named provinces are current Turkish ones, but if under Kurdish control, some are likely to be merged.

'''N.b from Author: This list may be inaccurate and may need to be changed - discuss in talk page. Please also see here'''
 * Ağrı
 * Batman
 * Muş
 * Bingöl
 * Tunceli
 * Bitlis
 * Mardin,
 * Şanlıurfa
 * Hakkâri
 * Siirt
 * Şırnak
 * Van
 * Diyarbakır
 * Iğdır
 * Tunceli
 * Bingöl
 * Muş
 * Ağrı
 * Adıyaman
 * Diyarbakır
 * Siirt
 * Bitlis
 * Van
 * Şanlıurfa
 * Mardin
 * Hakkâri