The United Nations has withdrawn any participation for monitoring or otherwise supervising any Kurdish resolution for establishing their own state in what would formerly have been Iraq. The Kurdish claim has many facets of which there are two that are most mentioned. The first has been their treatment under Saddam Hussein and his Baathists as well as the Sunnis who supported him whose joint actions included attempted ethnic cleansing, nerve agent attacks on civilian targets, military attacks upon civilians and refusal of representation in the government. The second of these is the current government made up predominantly of Shiites who have refused all attempts by the Kurds to receive promised recognition, suppressed any requests for addressing needs of the Kurdish population and further has refused to provide the promised share of government revenue. Further, the current Shiite government is closely allied with Iran who have proven problematic for the Kurdish population of Iran as well as harassed the Kurds residing in Iraq. Since both other major sects who would likely rule Iraq in any future have proven to mistreat the Kurds, their only recourse is to act to take leave of their former rulers and form their own governance. It is a pity they do not have a Thomas Jefferson to draft a formal document dissolving all ties the Kurdish community has with Iraq. But thus far, the greatest blow has been the refusal of the United Nations to address the Kurdish situation or to even grant them some supervision for their referendum.
The Kurds of Iraq and Syria could together form land sufficient for a nation and would permit the Kurdish populations of the areas to unite against their common enemies and establish their own borders and then be able to defend that border against the Islamic State and all other forces as required, which the Kurdish militias have already undertaken. About the only things currently lacking from the formations of lands forming the nation of Kurdistan, are the recognitions by other nations of their sovereignty. The Kurdish People are choosing a correct path for the formation of their state with the referendum, especially if all residing within their territorial area, which would include the Yazidis, and the intent to allow them participation in the new nations, especially the Yazidis as they are related closely to the Kurdish People by language and culture. As for nations who should recognize the referendum and its outcome, we will hit that further into the article.
There are other reasons why a nation for the Kurdish People is necessary and proper. The British had promised the Kurdish their own nation after World War I for their assistance in fighting the Ottoman Empire, something the Turkish People have never forgiven. The British broke their promise folding to Arab pressure to place these lands and the oil under them with Arab control of one of the sons of the Arab King Faisal who aided the British as well. This resulted in Iraq and Jordan being ruled by his sons before revolutionary coup removed the King in Iraq while the Hashemites still rule in Jordan. Jordan was cut from the British Mandate thus taken from the Jewish Zionists who had no power to prevent such a move and Iraq was extended to include the Kurds who were unable to prevent their promised land being stolen. It appears the British had a weakness for seeing all things through the eyes of the Arabs and had little cause to promote their other promises as the Arabs opposed these other deals, the formation of the Jewish state of Israel and the formation of a Kurdish state of Kurdistan. The Kurds, like the Jews, are rejected by the Arabs despite the vast majority of Kurds being Muslims (the Christian Kurds are the Yazidis) as they are not Arab and have pretty much been a closed society with little intermarriage with the Arabs which so many other peoples did to their detriment. So, we have probably just touched on the reason the United Nations had backed away from overseeing anything to do with Kurdish independence, the Arabs plus Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and particularly Syria’s Bashir al-Assad, which probably places Russia and Vladimir Putin against any Kurdish independence.
Of course, President Erdoğan has designs on the Kurdish lands as he has stated he will fight the Islamic State but he has a price for his fighting them and that is to expand Turkey to include Aleppo, Syria and Mosul, Iraq. President Erdoğan is not satisfied with his current position nor the borders of Turkey and has designs on a Greater Turkey, which includes all of the Kurdish lands and beyond (see map below). President Erdoğan seeks to destroy, completely wipe out, or at least significantly diminish any Kurdish influence or presence in these lands upon which he has set his sights. He seeks this Greater Turkey as his first step towards the reestablished start of the Ottoman Empire with himself as the next Caliph. This is part of the reason much of the Turkish troop movements and air engagements have been against the Kurdish areas which he claims are his brave fighters taking on the Islamic State. President Erdoğan’s troops would likely fare better if they were fighting the Islamic State as the Kurds have proven to be a powerful enemy; but Erdoğan has his close ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and has sent troops to assist in the defense of Qatar, as he opposes Saudi Arabia, seeing them as the major challenge to his aspirations.
Greater Turkey
Finally, Erdoğan wishes to eliminate the Kurdish population much as his predecessor Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire Mehmed Talaat Pasha performed genocidal efforts against the Armenians from 1880 right up through 1915 into World War I. On 29 May 1915, the CUP Central Committee passed the Temporary Law of Deportation (“Tehcir Law”), which granted the Ottoman military authorization to deport anyone it believed to be a threat to national security. Using the Tehcir Law, mass property seizures of Armenian properties ensued and the Armenians were simply executed for resisting deportation and having been deemed a threat to the nation of the Ottoman Empire. We can see very similar claims coming from President Erdoğan against the Kurds both within and beyond his borders. President Erdoğan with his claims to a Greater Turkey has already annexed and confiscated in all manners the lands of the Kurds which is leading to his attempted genocidal removal of the Kurds. Erdoğan will find the Kurds far more difficult and troublesome to remove than the disarmed Armenians were to the Ottoman troops, an armed population always has greater rights which extend as far as they wish to defend them.
Our Idea for a Proposed Kurdistan
That brings us to the best reason for many nations, of which we will drop a few names, to monitor and validate the Kurdish referendum. Should they vote, an all but foregone conclusion, for independence, they should immediately recognize their nation of Kurdistan and grant this nation lands which include all the Kurdish lands in Iraq, Syria and Iran, as well as Turkey, should Turkey be so foolish as to declare the land for Turkey and ensue their referendum with an invasion, something which is very conceivable. The first two nations who should jump at the opportunity to recognize a proposed Kurdistan and even recognize at the least the lands in northern Iraq as well as the Kurdish areas in northeastern Syria are the United States and Israel, but for separate reasons.
The United States upon the declaration of the nation of Kurdistan should open relations so as to be able to arm the Kurdish Army, formerly the Peshmerga Kurdish Militias, for two-fold reasons. The first is so they can continue their efforts against the Islamic State, much of which is defensive in nature, and second that they will be capable of resisting any attacks by the Iraqi government and especially from the Turkish government. The United States might even go so far as to threaten Turkey’s President Erdoğan that any encroachment or attacks on independent Kurdish lands could result in the United States supporting a referendum amongst the Kurdish communities of south eastern Turkey to secede from Turkey and join the lands of Kurdistan and be ruled by the Kurdish government. This would be a large step towards disassembling the grievous error which was the Sykes-Picot Agreement (map at link) which divided the Ottoman Empire with complete disregard for tribal allegiances and borders thus splitting tribal lands between nations and placing rival tribes within the same borders leading to disruptions and inability for normal governance. This led to strong man dictatorial regimes which were unstable and a source of perpetual grief. The United States would be doing themselves and the world a favor by taking the first and a great and large step towards dissolving the arbitrary lines of the Sykes-Picot Agreement and allowing for normative lines and relations to be developed. This would be a step towards solving much of the strife found within the Arab and Muslim world which were part of the Ottoman Empire.
Israel should recognize the Kurdish nations, Kurdistan, simply because they would make natural allies. We realize that Kurdistan is Sunni Muslim but also recognize that they are not Arab and the Arabs have always given the Kurds the back of their hand against their cheeks, and that was when they were feeling sympathetic. They have attempted genocide on the other days, both Sunnis and Shiites. The Kurds and Israel have had secretive agreements over the years and it would simply be natural for the two to form an alliance of mutual support. Israel probably would not be expecting to sign any mutual defense treaty, at least not formally, but they could make for good trade partners and a way for Israel to reach into the Islamic world having a sympathetic inlet. There are just too many similarities as both were stolen from by the British, the Kurds somewhat more as they lost their entire promised nations. Israel recognizes such unfairness and the support for righting such wrongs, just as the United States does, well, more often than not. Lastly, Israel can always use one more friend from amongst the nations of the world.
The United Nations should recognize the rights of the Kurdish People for self-rule. But as that would be the right and proper thing for the United Nations to do, it is unlikely that is what they would do. It is a given that with the Arab world against the establishment of Kurdistan that it would come down to how the Nonaligned Nations (NAM) voted, as normally they back the Arabs; but this is a nation shaking off the wrongs of colonial injustice, something the NAM nations usually support such as South Sudan. But Kurdistan would not be in Africa or Asia but rather in the Middle East; so they may simply figure it is none of their business or interest and thus split making the vote likely to be negative. Further, in the Security Council it can be depended upon Russia in support of Iran and Syria and thus also Iraq to use their veto if needed and China for similar reasons as well, so recognition of a Kurdish nation by the Security Council would most definitely delay any hope they would have for joining the United Nations, that is assuming they would desire such a badge of shame. Let’s face it, belonging to the United Nations has not exactly been a bed of roses for Israel as she has gotten only disrespect and dishonored by the institutions of the United Nations. Only the WHO has recognized Israeli achievements and their work with underdeveloped nations and any nation suffering a crisis. So, the United Nations and Kurdistan would be a big ‘if’ at best. Still, we here continue to support the Kurdish People and pray they get their state and it includes all the Kurdish People and Turkey allows their Kurds who desire to relocate without any impositions such as special taxations, fees, demands they surrender their property, denial of funds from financial institutions, military force to retain them or other unnecessary impositions. Allowing them to safely depart is far more preferable than your other idea, genocidal wiping the Kurds wherever you can find them to build your nightmare Caliphate on their dead bodies as that is an abomination.
Beyond the Cusp
Beyond the Cusp 