Much like in our world, the Kurds in the Divergences universe enjoyed autonomy at the fringes of the Ottoman and Iranian Empires in the form of petty Emirates. However, the collapse of Ottoman authority due to the Janissary Revolt and the descent of Iran into warlordism have allowed the Kurds to finally obtain independence.
Four new Kurdish states have been added to the map: Soran, Bitlis, Bohtan and Hakkari. At the beggining of the game, the most prominent of the Emirates, Bohtan and Bitlis, will be approached by the Kuren Kurdistana Azad, a nationalist militia.
Chosing to support the KKA will allow you to annex any provinces that the rebels occupy during the Ottoman Civil war, and will grant you some hefty modifiers to represent the influx of war-hardened veterans into the army of your Emirate.
However, siding with the KKA also has its downsides - periodically, you will get increasingly humiliating demands from the militia, sometimes even demanding that you roll back westernisation reforms.
This humiliation can be ended at any point by refusing the demands, or by taking a decision to end the privileges of the KKA in the army of the Emirate. Doing so, nevertheless, will inflict a significant reduction on your soldier pops and will remove your beneficial modifiers.
Once your Emirate controls the capitals of the other Kurdish states, Kurdistan can finally be unified into a true nation-state, and much needed modernisation of the economy can be enacted.
You will also get the chance to right the wrongs commited against your Christian citizens - the Assyrians in the South, and the Armenians in the North - finally integrating them into your nation.
Once you have conquered all your core territory (a task that won't be easy, given that you will have to face the rump Ottoman Empire) you can proclaim greater Kurdistan, opening up three mutually exclusive expansion paths: west towards the Mediterranean through Syria, northwards to liberate the Kurds of eastern Anatolia, or Southwards towards the riches of lower Mesopotamia.
You can find the mod here:
This is my favorite mod for victoria 2! Thanks for the update