Despite never obtaining their own nation-state, the Kurdish people have struggled for their social, cultural and political rights for a century since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. While they have much in common with other ethnic groups in the region, the Kurdish people have their own distinct cultural, historical and political identity. Stateless yet with a strong sense of national identity, the Kurds have constituted a source of both stability and instability in the Middle East. This paper presents a brief historical overview of the Kurds and their social, political and strategic positions in the region, especially in the four main countries in which they are situated, and considers current and future regional developments relating to the Kurdish question.