Iranian Kurdistan

Iranian Kurdistan and Eastern Kurdistan (Kurdish: ڕۆژھەڵاتی کوردستان, romanized: Rojhilatê Kurdistanê), also called Rojhelat, are unofficial names for the parts of northwestern Iran with either a majority or sizable population of Kurds. Geographically, it includes the provinces of West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and parts of the provinces of Ilam, Hamadan and Lorestan.

It has also been a centre of repeated Kurdish political mobilization in Iran, including the short lived Republic of Mahabad in 1946 and later armed conflict with the Islamic Republic after the 1979 revolution.

The region has long been marked by discrimination, militarization, and political repression, with Kurdish activists and people suspected of links to Kurdish opposition groups facing arrest, torture, and severe sentences.

An estimated 25 million to 35 million Kurds live across the broader Middle East. Kurds generally regard northwestern Iran, known as Eastern Kurdistan, as one of the four parts of Greater Kurdistan. In this view, the other parts are in southeastern Turkey (Northern Kurdistan), northern Syria (Western Kurdistan), and northern Iraq (Southern Kurdistan).

In totality, Kurds are about 10% of Iran's total population and nearly all of them are bilingual in their ethnic language and Persian. As of 2025, estimates of Iran's Kurdish population range from 7 million to 15 million, or about 8% to 17% of the country's total population.

Outside the traditional Kurdistan region, a sizable isolated community of Kurds live in north-eastern Iran, about 1000 km away from Iranian Kurdistan. They are referred to as the Kurds of Khorasan and speak the Kurmanji dialect unlike Kurds in western Iran.

From the 10th century to 12th century A.D., two Kurdish dynasties were ruling this region, the Hasanwayhids (959–1015) and the Ayyarids (990–1117) (in Kermanshah, Dinawar, Ilam and Khanaqin). The Ardalan state, established in the early 14th century, controlled the territories of Zardiawa (Karadagh), Khanaqin, Kirkuk, Kifri, and Hawraman. The capital city of the state was first in Sharazour in present-day Iraqi Kurdistan, but was later moved to Sinne (Sanandaj) (in present-day Iran). The Ardalan Dynasty continued to rule the region until the Qajar monarch Naser al-Din Shah (1848–1896) ended their rule in 1867.

In the 12th century CE, Sultan Sanjar created a province called "Kurdistan" centered at Bahar, located to the northeast of Hamadan. This province included Hamadan, Dinawar, Kermanshah, Sanandaj and Sharazur. It was ruled by Sulayman, the nephew of Sanjar. In 1217, Kurds of Zagros defeated the troops of Ala ad-Din Muhammad II, the Khwarazmid shah, who were sent from Hamadan.