Back during the Iraq war, the Kurds did so much and never got their freedom. They seem to always be besieged on all sides. Does ANYONE defend them and, if not, why not? I must not understand something fundamental about their situation. Could someone help me?
As I understand it ( very little) Kurds are muslim, but are considered heretics on all sides.
They are landlocked. Some factions are communist. Their neighbors don't like them, so it is problematic establishing a base to support them. The US fought with them and established the no-fly zone over Iraq for them. They are hosed by their geography.
Maybe this will be of some use.
Shortly after WW I, Winston Churchill drew up the new borders of the Middle East. He once joked that he'd done it in an afternoon. That's how Iraq got cobbled together out of three different tribal identities--the Sunnis, the Shias, and the Arabs. The carving up of the Middle East was done at the expense of the Ottoman Empire (the Turks) who had the bad judgement to join the losing side.
In my view, the Kurds just got left out. And ever since, no one has wanted to give up "their" territory to form a Kurdish homeland.