When identity binds and borders divide
Since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the relative peace of Iraqi Kurdistan has been a notable, if often overlooked, exception to the violent insurgency, sectarian feuding, and pervasive lawlessness that has racked Iraq. Yet this achievement has also made the area of one of America’s most significant long-term security concerns in the region, as Kurdistan’s success as a semi-autonomous nation has increased regional agitation for the creation of a separate nation for the Kurdish people.
The Kurds, a mostly Sunni Muslim people who share a unique language and whose mountainous territory spans Iraq, Turkey, Iran, and Syria, have a long history of oppression, suffering, and fierce armed struggle in these countries. Past Syrian governments have tried to strip Kurds of their Syrian citizenship. Kurds in Iran have faced similar oppression, often regarded with suspicion and hatred as Sunni Muslims in a Shiite state. In Turkey, Kurdish separatist fighters and government efforts to eradicate Kurdish language and culture have claimed untold lives. Saddam Hussein’s genocidal war against the Kurds in Iraq, capped by the infamous 1988 gas attacks that killed thousands of civilians, ranks among the worst atrocities of the twentieth century. This tragic legacy makes the question of Kurdish independence a contentious one. Nonetheless, a sovereign Kurdistan seems extraordinarily unlikely. Since all four host nations are extremely resistant to losing territory, the Kurds would be best off publicly committing themselves to their respective countries, advocating for the protection of minority rights, and perhaps pursuing limited local autonomy.
Kurdish Turks, Iraqi Kurds
In Turkey, Kurdish political activism is already engaged; much hangs in the balance of highly contentious upcoming March elections. Recent polls show that many of Turkey’s Kurds are moving towards the Kurdish nationalist Democratic Society Party (DTP). In recent years, growing numbers of Kurds had aligned themselves with the Islam-based, pro-European Union governing party, Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). In the past few months, however, Turkey’s Kurds have responded to the DTP’s pro-Kurdish rhetoric, while the AKP has foundered due to corruption. Dr. Michael Gunter, author of The Kurds Ascending, believes that the mainstream AKP offers the best chance of integrating the Kurds into the Turkish state, as eventual accession into the European Union would raise human rights standards. The DTP’s likely victory at the local polls, Gunter told the HPR, will delay reconciliation between the Kurds and the Turkish authorities.
In Iraq, the Kurds’ relationship with Baghdad is not one of integration. Iraqi Kurdistan, which enjoyed limited autonomy even under Saddam Hussein in the 1990s, became increasingly assertive and independent during the chaos of post-invasion Iraq. Fighting continues between Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen for control over oil-rich Kirkuk, with the Kurds pressing for Kirkuk to be administered by a Kurdish province. Many commentators speculate that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, after successfully crushing the Shiite militias and consolidating his political power, will turn his attention to bringing Kurdistan more under Baghdad’s control. Kurdish Prime Minister Massoud Barzani has asked the Obama Administration to resolve the conflict over Kirkuk before withdrawing troops from Iraq.
Small Steps Forward
The controversy over Kirkuk is indicative of why Kurdistan is unlikely to ever become a reality. Convincing government leaders to surrender territory in a region where conflict so often revolves around land and oil is essentially impossible. “How do you get nation-states to give up their interests in favor of justice for minority groups? When it comes to giving up territory, it doesn’t work,” Laura Adams, Harvard professor of sociology, told the HPR. Even if the Kurds were able to secure sovereign land, that territory would be land-locked and in constant danger of invasion. In addition, current political instability in Iraq and Turkey makes the chances of establishing an actual Kurdistan slim at best. “Realistically, given the concerns of various countries (Turkey and Iran in particular) there is little possibility that an independent new nation state named Kurdistan will emerge in the near future,” commented Christopher Houston, author of Kurdistan, Crafting of National Selves, in an interview with the HPR. Given these realities, the best case scenario moving forward would pair increased respect for Kurdish rights from Iran, Syria, Iraq, and Turkey with a halt to Kurdish activities that destabilize those respective regimes. In a region fraught with conflict, however, these may be audacious hopes.