A stateless nation is a people who share a common identity, culture, language, or history but do not have a sovereign state of their own. Widely cited examples include the Kurds (a large ethnic group concentrated across parts of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria, for whom “Kurdistan” is a geographic region rather than an independent country), as well as Palestinians, Basques, Hmong, and Roma.
Encyclopaedia Britannica notes that Kurdistan is not an independent country: an autonomous Kurdistan envisioned in the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres was never ratified, and the later Treaty of Lausanne did not mention Kurdistan. Many other groups worldwide similarly maintain a distinct national culture without full sovereignty.