The Kurds

by
Mike Norman
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Kurds (Kurdish: کورد‎, Kurd) are an Iranian ethnic group native to a mountainous region of Western Asia known as Kurdistan, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northern Syria.[27][28] There are also exclaves of Kurds in central Anatolia and Khorasan. Additionally, there are significant Kurdish diaspora communities in the cities of western Turkey, in particular Istanbul, while a Kurdish diaspora has developed in Western Europe, primarily in Germany. Numerically, the Kurds are estimated to number between 30 and 45 million.[2][29]

Kurds speak the Kurdish languages and the Zaza–Gorani languages, which belong to the Western Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family.[30][31][32] A majority of Kurds belong to the Shafi‘i school of Sunni Islam, but significant numbers practise Shia Islam and Alevism, while some are adherents of Yarsanism, Yazidism, Zoroastrianism and Christianity.

After World War One and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, the victorious Western allies made provision for a Kurdish state in the 1920 Treaty of Sevres. However, that promise was nullified three years later, when the Treaty of Lausanne set the boundaries of modern Turkey and made no such provision, leaving Kurds with minority status in their respective countries.[33] This fact has led to numerous genocides and rebellions, along with the current ongoing armed guerrilla conflicts in Turkey, Iran, and Syria / Rojava. Kurds have an autonomous region in Iraq named Kurdistan Region, while Kurdish nationalist movements continue to pursue greater cultural rights, autonomy, and independence throughout Greater Kurdistan. 

The Kurdish people are genetically Iranian rather than Arab. They are stateless. The area that they occupy is non-contigous, being scattered in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Promised a state long ago, they have never given up on that ideal. The difficulty with this now is that it would have to be carved out of existing states, which are not wont to agree to this re-partitioning. The result has been political agitation and even guerrilla war that those on the receiving characterize as "terrorism."

Turkey has been at target of the Kurdish patriots – "freedom fighters" in Western parlance – for some time as they press for a state being carved out that would include present Turkish lands. This has involved what the Turks regard as terrorism, for good reason. As a result, Turkey has been fighting the Kurdish activists in Turkey and cross-border.

There is no simple solution to this situation created generations ago when states were formed and boundaries drawn at the time of the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. The result has been tribal rivalry that often degenerates into conflict.

This is similar to the Palestinian issue with Israel, but it is different since it is longer standing. The Palestinian issue was only created with the establishment of the state of Israel post-WWII as a Jewish homeland. But the issues are similar in that boundaries were drawn that ignored existing tribal cultures. A similar situation exists in Afghanistan and this spills over into Pakistan.

The Western countries, chiefly Britain and France, colonized the Middle East after the fall of the Ottomans. US has been in the Middle East since the end of WWII as a matter of national security, petroleum being a vital military and domestic resource. Needless to say, this greatly complicates the situation.

The US is also the sponsor of Israel. The US preference would be for Israel to control the Middle East, which is otherwise backward with respect to Western standards. The US invests billons in Israel every year. Israel is a key ally of the US, and it also wields great political influence in the US. Israel backs the Kurds if only in the principle, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

While the Kurds have been American allies, they have little to contribute to the relationship. The US has no national security or geopolitical interest in a Kurdistan, and the only value of the Kurds to the US is providing bases on lands they control when it is convenient, as it is in Syria.

Now that the situation in Syria is approaching a settlement that will likely be brokered by Russia, Turkey has drawn the line against allowing the Kurds to develop bases from which they can threaten Turkey their quest for autonomy. Turkey appears willing to go head to head with the US on this. While Turkey regards this as a matter of national security, the US does not. The question is whether there are other objectives that the elite regard as vital enough to risk a conflict with Turkey over, or even a serious falling out.

Turkey is a NATO member and it has the largest military next to the US. Having been stiffed for EU membership, Turkey is at odds with many Western powers including the US. Turkey is already close to leaving NATO and allying with the Eurasian bloc that includes Russia, China and Iran., which would completely rearrange the geopolitics of the region.

This presents a highly complex situation that is being dealt with simplistically and propagandistically in the US mainstream media, which is pushing the neoconservative agenda that the establishments of the GOP and Democratic Party have bought into. President Trump is resisting this — so far. Polls show that the American people are tired of endless war and they have no appetite for another military adventure in the Middle East when the US government has allegedly "run out of money" and needs to pare back domestic programs.

One can choose one's side but one should be informed in doing so. This is not about "betraying the Kurds" but rather pushing a not-so-hidden agenda that is highly questionable in it assumptions and unclear goals.