The Kurdish portion of Iraq is oil-rich and much of the strife between the Iraqis and Kurds has been regarding this issue. This reached its epoch during Saddam Hussein's reign in the 1980s who started the anfal campaign. Iraq began this campaign to stop the Iraqi Kurds from aiding Iran in a war between the countries. This, however, changed into a genocide which killed 50,000–100,000 Kurds. During this genocide, 3,000 to 4,000 Kurdish towns were destroyed, and 1.5 million Kurds were displaced. The American-led Gulf War restored peace to the Kurds after Resolution 688 of the UN established a no-fly zone. Moreover, the Gulf War, as covered by Western media outlets such as CNN, led to the "Kurdish Question" becoming a global issue. While the coverage was originally focused on the Iraqi treatment of the Kurds, CNN covered Turkish military's treatment as well which was negatively received.
