The territory historically inhabited by the Kurdish people includes po

Yes both are grammatically correct but putting the sentence into the past tense is an assumption and changes the meaning of the quote.
There is no hard evidence that the quote is referring to the past so keep it in the present.
GMAT test makers commonly set up traps based on assumptions.

I do not see any solid reason to eliminate C. Both A and C are grammatically correct and make sense. One may argue that the original meaning of the sentence should not be changed, but there is NO OFFICIAL guide that confirms this idea. In fact there are instances of correct answers in the OG that do not have the same meaning as the original sentence.

In my opinion, you would not expect such a question in GMAT.

How can you tell if historically means past or present?

What is wrong with C???

What is wrong with C???

And how do we know if it's past or present to be used??

Is this q wrong. Why no one is providing any explanation for this? Whats the issue with "c" here?

Yes this could be one reasoning to eliminate option C but the statement is a fact hence requires present tense. The territory still includes the portions of .......

But that fact could be a fact of the past.

Both A & C are correct.

How can they both be correct?

Can an expert explain the difference between A and C?

"historically" is a trap; it should modify words, or phrases next to it only.
I believe that this question from Kaplan wants to remind test takers that normally, a sentence will talk about a fact in a present tense.
Also, A is correct b/c of "portions"

When it seems that the underlined portion is right on target, sometimes it is. But it pays to scan the answer choices to make sure we haven't overlooked anything.

Scan and Group the Answer Choices:
Only choice (A) uses includes, indicating a singular subject and present tense. Choice (B) uses include, a word that would make sense if the subject were plural. Choices (C) and (D) turn the sentence into a past-tense construction. Choice (E) uses the -ing form of the verb.
Eliminate Wrong Answer Choices:
Choice (E) is by far the easiest to eliminate because including turns this perfectly legitimate sentence into an unsightly fragment.
The subject is territory, which is singular, and thus choice (B) can be eliminated.
While the word historically might tempt us to use the past tense, there is no reason for us to think that this territory no longer includes portions of the countries mentioned. Thus we can eliminate choices (C) and (D). Furthermore, without the word portions, the meaning of the sentence is changed to suggest that the whole of all these countries is included in the territory historically inhabited by the Turkish people.
Therefore, Answer Choice (A) is correct.

GMATNinja

Your view on Option A vs Option C. I marked C since the sentence is in past tense with the word "inhabited" and so maintained the tense

I staright away selected A as i thought Includes is the main verb here in the sentence.

Can included also be the main verb?

Posted from my mobile device

Can some expert please explain this question?
Why did you discard option C?

Greetings,
Kevin

Hello kevsaf95,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, Option C is incorrect because of its use of the simple past tense verb "included"; the intended meaning is that the territory currently includes portions of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, so the simple present tense is needed.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team