Reasons for Separatism and Consequences

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Separatism refers to the desire of a group of people who are of the same ethnicity, religion, race or another characteristic to separate themselves from a larger group or nation. Separatist movements can form in response to a number of reasons that are mainly based upon cultural and political factors; such as is evident in the Kurdistan conflict. Location can be a major reason for a people’s desire for separatism, for example the Scottish in the UK currently feels that the government does not represent them well and that a more local government would be more suited to their own needs for independence. Although they do have some level of autonomy where they have their own parliament some feel that they should proceed further and become fully independent of the UK in order to form their own nation. The psychology of a group of individuals is a key feature in determining the success of a nation. The idea of a nation must exist in people’s minds; otherwise if they do not feel part of a community then it doesn’t exist. This is why when a group of individuals are geographically separated; this can lead to a lack of feeling of unity. The Kurds, for example, are an ethnic group of thirty million individuals that are socially segregated across adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. They are known to be the largest ethnic group without a country of their own but have occupied the area of Kurdistan for several thousands of years. In each of the countries the Kurds are in minority, and this suppresses Kurdish individuals’ ability to express their own traditions and ethnicity by being made to conform to the host country’s own laws and mores. Without a distinct mainland, the Kurds do not have the liberty of sharing, connecting and communicating with each other through their culture, common language and customs. Also, as is evident in Iran, ethnic
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