Geographical Locaton of Kurdistan       Kurdistan extensive plateau and mountain region in SW Asia (c.74,000 sq mi/191,660 sq km), inhabited mainly by Kurds and including parts of Northwestern Iran, E Turkey, N Syria, NE Iraq and S Armenia. Ethnically and linguistically close to the Iranians, the Kurds, who number about 20 million, were traditionally nomadic herders but are now mostly semi-nomadic or sedentary. The majority are devout Sunni Muslims and speaks Kurdish. The Kurds have traditionally resisted subjugation by other nations. Kurdistan was conquered by the Arabs and converted to Islam in the 7th cent. The region was held by the Seljuk Turks in the 11th cent., by the Mongols from the 13th to 15th cent., and then by the Ottoman Empire.     Since World War I the Kurds have struggled unsuccessfully in the various countries in which they live for self-determination and autonomy. In 1946 a short-lived, a pro-Communism Soviet-backed, Kurdish republic was formed in Iran. There were Kurdish uprisings in Iraq in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, and since the mid-1980s Kurdish guerrillas have fought the Turkish government. After the Persian Gulf War, Kurdish groups again rose against Iraq but were crushed, and perhaps 1.5 million fled to Turkey and Iran. Returning under UN protection, they established (1992) an autonomous region; in N Iraq, but in 1994 fighting erupted among the rival Kurdish factions. There was also fighting in the early 1990s between Turkish and Iraqi Kurds.