Checkpoint: The Case For Kurdistan
Frans Sellies
The nation and the nation-state are two distinct entities. A state is defined by its borders, arbitrary lines on a map drawn up by politicians decades, even centuries, ago. A nation is so much more than the space between the lines. The definition of the word is a group of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, often with a connection to the land that goes on to become their nation-state. A common example would be the Native American nations dotted across the United States. Even while struggling to maintain some level of sovereignty in the face of state and federal government encroachment, their territories have no defined borders with the rest of the US. No walls, no checkpoints, no guards and no visa process.
For many, the pursuit of a sovereign state is the pinnacle of nationhood. Few know that struggle quite as intimately as the Kurds. The Kurdish people are an ethnic group native to the mountains of Western Asia, and today remain one of the largest stateless nations in the world. In 1920, under the Treaty of Sevres, the victors of WWI promised the Kurds a state as they divided up the former Ottoman Empire. The idea of Kurdistan was abandoned three years later under the Treaty of Lausanne, leaving the Kurds as a minority group spread across four countries.
Today, the Kurdish population is around 45.6 million, mainly concentrated in an area encompassing South-Eastern Turkey, North-Eastern Syria, Northern Iraq and Western Iran. As a minority group in each of these countries, the Kurds have suffered oppression and discrimination for decades in all aside from Iran. Although there have been small-scale insurgencies by Kurdish groups on Iranian soil, the strong ethno-linguistical and cultural ties between Kurds, Persians and others as Iranian peoples have served to placate desires for independence.
In the 1970s and 80s, the Turkish Government was cracking down on all aspects of Kurdish life. The Kurdish language was officially prohibited in public and private life. Many who spoke, published, or sang in Kurdish were arrested and imprisoned. Kurdish dress, folklore, and names were also banned by the Turkish state.
This environment of cultural erasure led to the formation of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. Based on a fusion of revolutionary socialism and Kurdish nationalism, they sought to establish linguistic, cultural, and political rights for Turkey's ethnic Kurdish minority. Since the armed conflict began between Turkey and the PKK in 1984, more than 40,000 people have been killed, the majority of whom were Kurdish civilians killed by Turkish security forces.
Kurdish Populations
Iraqi Kurds have faced even greater death tolls than their fellows in Turkey. The 1980’s saw a sustained campaign of ethnic cleansing against them by the Iraqi Government, during which roughly 182,000 Kurdish civilians perished and chemical weapons were used by the Iraqi military. One of the main reasons for the genocide was the oil fields in Kurdish-majority areas, which the Government wanted to ensure control over.
In 1991, after the UN Security Council passed resolution 688 condemning Iraq’s actions, Kurdish guerrilla fighters captured the cities of Erbil and Sulaimaniyah in the North of the country, and held elections the following year to establish the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The KRG still runs the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, however conflict with the Iraqi Government persists. In a 2017 referendum 92% of the region's inhabitants backed independence. The move was met with military action from Iraq, determined not to lose the region’s oil fields and airports.
Like Turkey, Syria has also attempted to suppress the Kurds’ cultural identity through outlawing their language and denying them citizenship rights. The Syrian Civil War provided an opportunity for the oppressed Kurds, who emerged as one of the most successful groups combating ISIS insurgents in the region. The Kurds were able to seize and maintain control over most of Northern Syria, where they began the ‘Rojava Revolution’.
Implementing democratic confederalism, the Kurds in Rojava began building a new political system, with an emphasis on gender equality, secularism, environmentalism, community-based policing and decision making and the end goal of maintaining their autonomy after the conclusion of the war. After President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of US troops from Syria, Turkish armed Forces and the Free Syrian Army began pushing into Kurdish-held territory, prompting many to flee further North-East from a potential genocide.
The suffering of the Kurdish people over the years only serves to highlight their strength as a people, and as a nation. The question is; can a nation-state prevent more suffering for them? The answer is impossible to know for sure, however given the history of oppression inflicted on the Kurds by Turkey, Iraq and Syria, an independent and sovereign Kurdistan might be the only option left.
Democratic referendums held in Kurdish-majority areas in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria would allow the Kurdish people to decide whether to join together as a nation-state. With the backing of Western powers such as the US and EU, Kurdish representatives could negotiate with their four former countries to agree on borders, as well as travel and trade. There are already armed and trained Kurdish fighting forces ready for defense, and the KRG and Rojava revolutionaries have enough experience of governance to ensure a smooth transition.
Why should the US support such an endeavour? For one thing, America wants an ally in the Middle East. For decades this has been Israel, but the Israeli Government’s war crimes will soon make that relationship problematic, especially with Netanyahu’s plans for annexation in the West Bank and polls showing Trump set to lose the next presidential election. Joe Biden and the Democratic party may not want to antagonize Israel, but they won’t provide the same unquestioning support as the Trump Administration. And as younger progressives shift the Dems further to the left, calls to hold the Israelis accountable will become harder to ignore.
The Kurds have proven themselves a stalwart ally, not just through their combat prowess in the fight against ISIS but also in their embrace of the progressive values America claims to champion. Their communities are egalitarian, embracing every ethnic and religious group who come in peace.
Women hold key positions in governance and the armed forces. Even while fighting a multi-sided war, they have found time to focus on sustainable agriculture and educational opportunities for the region’s young people. If the US is looking for an ally, they could do a lot worse.
Unfortunately, without the support of the US and other powerful countries this dream may never come to pass. Iraq has already quashed a democratic independence referendum, and Turkey is unlikely to willingly give up its South-Eastern territories for a new Kurdish State. Whoever wins the Syrian Civil War is also likely to try and stamp out the Rojava Revolution to cement their own power.
Unless the US throws its weight behind the case for Kurdistan, the Kurds will be condemned to live as oppressed minorities in foreign countries, their defeat of ISIS forgotten and ignored.