Iraqi Kurdish refugees wait with children in Cukurca refugee camp in Turkey April 8, 1991. Reuters photographers have chronicled Kurdish refugee crises over the years. In 1991 Srdjan Zivulovic documented refugees in Cukurca who had escaped a military operation by Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq aimed at “Arabising” Kurdish areas in the north. Hundreds of thousands fled into Turkey and Iran. Images shot in recent months show familiar scenes as crowds of people flee Islamic State militants in Syria. There are as many as 30 million Kurds, spread through Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran. Most Kurds are Sunni Muslims, but tend to feel more loyalty to their Kurdishness, rather than their religion. (Photo by Srdjan Zivulovic/Reuters)

A young YPJ recruit (in pink) arrives to the training base for her first day in training near Derek City, Syria. The YPJ schedule is demanding and requires discipline – new soldiers in training get about 6 hours of sleep a night and wake up at 4 AM to begin exercising; afterwards, their day consists of a full schedule of drills and classroom lessons. Before joining the YPJ many of the girls had never participated in physical activity or sports before. (Photo by Erin Trieb/NBC News)

Mohammad, a 13-year-old fighter from the “Free Syrian Army”, plays with a cat in Aleppo's Bustan al-Basha district, Syria October 28, 2013. Mohammad joined the Free Syrian Army after his father died during clashes with the Syrian regime. The gun he is using was his father's. (Photo by Molhem Barakat/Reuters)

Armed Syrian Turkmen villagers are seen near the northern Syrian village of Yamadi, near the Turkish-Syrian border, Syria, November 24, 2015. Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border on Tuesday saying it had repeatedly violated its air space, one of the most serious publicly acknowledged clashes between a NATO member country and Russia for half a century. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

In this Thursday, July 19, 2018, photo, a Syrian shopkeeper spraying water as waits for customers at the Hamadiyah market, named after the 34th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Abdul Hamid II, in the Old City of Damascus, Syria. The celebratory mood in government-controlled areas stems from successive military advances in the past year and an impression that President Bashar Assad, with massive support by unwavering allies Russia and Iran, has won the war or at least militarily defeated the opposition trying to topple him. (Photo by Hassan Ammar/AP Photo)

A boy wearing a Lebanon's Hezbollah military outfit and carrying a toy gun walks during the funeral of three Hezbollah fighters who were killed while fighting alongside Syrian army forces in Syria in Nabatieh town, southern Lebanon, October 27, 2015. The fighters names are Hussein Hassan Shreifie, Ali al-Akbar Mohamad Khashfeh and Mohamad Saeed Fawaz. (Photo by Ali Hashisho/Reuters)

A Syrian boy plays with the head of a sacrificed sheep at a DIP camp for Interally Displaced Persons near the town of Aqrabat in Syria's northern Idlib province on August 12, 2019. Known as the “big” festival, Eid Al-Adha is celebrated each year by Muslims sacrificing various animals according to religious traditions, including cows, camels, goats and sheep. The festival marks the end of the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and commemorates Prophet Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son to show obedience to God. (Photo by Aaref Watad/AFP Photo)

In this picture taken Thursday, April 14, 2016, a Syrian man carries a carpet as walk through a devastated part of the town of Palmyra as families load their belongings onto a bus in the central Homs province, Syria. Thousands of residents of this ancient town who fled Islamic State rule are returning briefly to check on their homes and salvage what they can – some carpets, blankets, a fridge or a few family mementos. There is no water or electricity in the town, and it will be at least few months before anyone can return to stay. (Photo by Hassan Ammar/AP Photo)