| 1843 | principality of Vedr-Khan Bek (Kurdistan) revolts against Ottoman Empire control |
| 1847 | Kurdish revolt finally suppressed, Vedr-Khan Bek is integrated into the Empire |
| 1908 | first attempt at organizing a national Kurdish movement |
| 1910 | another independence movement, the Hewa Society of Northern Iran is created |
| 1918 | A Kurdish tribal leader named Mahmud presents the British governor Sir Wilson Arnold a "bill of Kurdish rights" signed by forty other tribal leaders |
| 1920 | Treaty of Sevres brings hope to the Kurdish question |
| 1923 | Treaty of Lausanne excludes the formation of a Kurdish nation |
| 1924 | A British High Commissioner speaks for British views on Kurdistan, which recognized "the right of the Kurds living within the frontiers of Iraq to establish a Kurdish government within these frontiers." |
| 1925 |
-The Council of the League of Nations adopts borderline between Turkey and Iraq that annexes Kurdistan to northern Iraq against the will of the Kurdish population -revolt of Sheik Said |
| 1927 | creation of the Kurdish National Community |
| 1930 | Anglo-Iraqi Treaty |
| 1945 |
-Memo from Kurds to the UN Constitutive Assembly declaring "the State of the Kurdish Republic" in Iran -founding of the KDP |
| 1958 | republican revolution in Iran, article three of the provisional constitution states that "Arabs and Kurds are partners in this fatherland" |
| 1960 | article three never implemented and war begins between Iranian Kurds and Arabs |
| 1963 | declaration of the Kurdish Revolutionary Council claims right to Kurdish autonomy |
| 1964 |
-ceasefire between the Iraqi Kurds and Arabs -Mustafa Barzani of the KDP submits memo to the UN defining Kurdish claims and safeguards |
| 1965 | war resumes in Iraq, mass destruction and brutal killings of Kurds prevalent |
| 1966 |
-Barzani again submits a memo to the UN on war atrocities against the Kurds in Iraq -Iraqi Arabs and Kurds ceasefire and sign a peace treaty -peace treaty not upheld by Iraqi Arabs and fighting begins |
| 1968 |
-Barzani writes several letters to U Thant, Secretary General of The United Nations outlining the worsening situation -Kurdistan and Iraq request a UN mediator to intervene and settle dispute |
| 1970 | Kurdish people and Iraqi government finally reach a ceasefire |
| 1974 | The Autonomy Law of 1974 that gave regional autonomy to Iraqi Kurds, thought the government never actually puts the law into practice |
| 1975 | Iraq assists Iran in cutting off American aid to the Iraqi Kurds |
| 1978 | Shah's lack of control in Iran leads Kurds to seek more freedom |
| 1979 |
KDPI holds an international press conference to assert their goals for an autonomous Kurdistan within Iran -Ayatollah Khomeini identifies Kurdish leaders as enemies of the revolution, and officially outlaws them in Iran |
| 1980 | Kurdish resistance became stronger, more organized, and more polarized as the Democratic National and Patriotic Front and the Democratic National front were formed by many Kurdish groups joining forces |
| 1981 |
-The PUK and the KDPI start working together against Saddam Hussein in Iraq -KDP assists Khomeini against the KDPI in Iran, setting the standard for mistrust among the various Kurdish independence movements |
| 1983 | elections held for the Legislative Council of the Kurdish Autonomous Region |
| 1988 | Holocaust at Halabjah, a series of chemical weapons attacks on the Kurdish people by the Iraqi government, renews the call for Kurdish autonomy |
| 1991 | The Gulf War begins and America and the Northern Iraqi no fly zone is created to protect Kurdish area |