The Kurds they're a world's largest
ethnic group without a country. They're
spread across one of the most volatile
regions in the world. And you've
definitely heard of them. Kurdish
militias across Iraq and Syria have
gained some popularity in the United
States, but there still isn't much
support for an independent Kurdish state.
Why is that the case? Well it's
complicated
hey guys I'm Sunna this is AJ plus and
this Sunday I want to talk about why
making a Kurdish state happen is gonna
be tough so the Kurds have been getting
a lot of international attention in the
last few years because of their role in
the conflicts in Iraq and Syria Kurdish
militias have been battling Isis Syrian
rebels the Iraqi and Syrian government's
to stake claim to land and to also
protect Kurdish communities and October
2017 Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan took part
in a referendum in which 93% of those
who voted chose independence but the
Iraqi government called a referendum
illegal and non-binding and while the
referendum was considered a big moment
in Kurdish political history what
happened in Iraqi Kurdistan didn't
necessarily represent the direction of
all Kurdish people and Annisa coogee a
lecturer at UC Berkeley breaks down why
that's the case
there is no single Kurdish independence
movement after the world war 1 Kurdistan
was divided into 4 nation-states Iran
Iraq Turkey and Syria so with that let's
roll back a bit and look at how the
Kurds have ended up where they are today
the Kurds are the fourth largest ethnic
group in the region and make up sizeable
minority populations across Iran Iraq
Syria and Turkey despite having big
numbers they didn't get their own state
after the fall of the Ottoman Empire
when the United Kingdom and France were
busy carving up the region the infamous
sykes-picot agreement split the Ottoman
Empire into nation-states
but it didn't really care about how
ethical a diverse the region actually
was the Kurds left out of sykes-picot
had negotiated their own state under the
Treaty of 7 but that didn't work out the
treaty was supposed to split modern-day
turkey into different zones including
one for the Kurds but it wasn't ratified
thanks to one Turkish nationalists led
by Kemal Ataturk Turkey's first
president Riek
captured all of modern Turkey from the
Europeans fast forward to the 1930s 40s
and 50s when we start seeing countries
across the region and gain independence
from European colonialism a huge part of
pushing back against European
colonialism was the cultivation of
various nationalisms pan-arabism for
instance turkeys camel ism or Iranian
nationalism all of this meant that
Kurdish sovereignty was either not a
priority for pan Erebus leaders in Iraq
and Syria or was a threat for Kamala's
Turkey and for Iran that meant that over
the 20th century the Kurds across these
four countries saw a lot of
marginalization there was displacement
political repression loss of rights and
massacres and it's not as though the
Kurds didn't resist their oppression
time and time again they did now the
brunt of the state violence faced by
Kurds was in Turkey in Iraq in Turkey
the government forcibly displaced over a
million Kurds after several Kurdish
revolts in the 1920s and 30s Kurdish
language and culture was banned and
violence against a Kurdish population
including torture and destruction of
villages was widespread Kurds in Iraq
saw the height of state repression in
the late 80s and early 90s under the
leadership of Saddam Hussein the Iraqi
government / saw several massacres of
Kurdish civilians during the iran-iraq
war the government accused Kurdish
fighters along the Iranian border of
assisting the Iranians and led what was
called the unfiled campaign it lasted
two years and claimed thousands of
Kurdish lives by the end of the 1980s
Iraq in the 90s saw the first Gulf War
Kurdish civil war and hundreds of
thousands of Iraqi deaths as a result of
the international sanctions then we get
to the early 2000s where there was the
American invasion of Iraq so that brings
us now to today a push for Kurdish
independence and the resistance to it
Iraqi Kurdish journalist Abdullah hueso
told me how it's important to think of
Kurdistan as more than just a political
aspirations so the idea of having a
Kurdish state is not only political
dream it's actually part of the culture
of Kurds it's part of their identity
they have been raised with thinking that
Kurds deserve a statement so who's
standing in the way let's start with
Turkey and Iran Iran and Turkey are very
much against the establishment of a
Kurdish state
even outside of the borders because they
feel that if there is a Kurdish
political entity anywhere in the Middle
East this would threaten the so-called
national unity of these two countries
turkey considers groups like the PKK aka
the Kurdistan Workers Party to beat
terrorist groups and threats to national
security Turkey also fears an
independent Kurdish state in Iraq would
be used as a base for the PKK to launch
attacks on the Turkish military and
civilian populations Turkish
nationalists see Kurdish aspirations
inside its borders and outside as a
threat to while Turkish state identity
remember I mentioned how back in the
1930s Kurds were barred in Turkey from
speaking their own language and
practicing your own culture well it was
only in 2012 that they were allowed to
teach their own language and culture in
private schools
then there's Iran Iran also has no
interest in seeing an independent
Kurdish state given its own Kurdish
population in the country's Northwest as
well as its relationship with Iraq
currently Iran has very close relations
with the Iraqi government seeing it as a
buffer between itself and hostile
regional neighbors a Kurdish state that
would be seen as friendly to the United
States and Israel isn't exactly the most
tantalizing thought for the Iranians
then we've got Iraq and Syria both
embroiled in conflict following the
Krenim the Iraqi government responded by
launching an offensive to take the city
of Kirkuk which had been under Kurush
control since 2014 who waste by the way
says that Kirkuk is central to Kurdish
statehood
a vital part of any kurdish project for
statehood not only because of its wealth
and its oil which is actually very
important for for any any kurdish state
especially economically but also
historically worse thing without per
cube a quarter state would be very poor
even culturally then there syria workers
have seen some reforms in recent years
and workers forces have been integral in
the battle against Isis in 2011 as
protests were spreading across Syria the
government granted around 300,000
undocumented Kurds citizenship
citizenship that was stripped back in
1962 but serious Kurds are seeking a
federal system in the country similar to
Iraqi Kurdistan's autonomous
as for the Americans while they've
supported the Kurds throughout the
decades they don't actually support a
Kurdish state according to the official
line a Kurdish state in Iraq where the
movement is the strongest who would mean
further destabilization of a vital US
ally but its closest ally in the region
Israel has actually been vocally
supportive of an independent Kurdish
state Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
sees Kurdistan as a potential ally for
Israel in a region where it feels
surrounded by well not that many allies
so what is the likelihood of there being
a Kurdish state anytime soon or at all
well according to ways not too likely
Kurds have realized without have seeking
support from their regional and
international powers it's almost
impossible to build a state especially
that Kurdistan is a small region and
it's landlocked surrounded by hostile
countries so for that it's very
difficult to build a state without
building a strong diplomatic approaches
it's also worth noting that not all
Kurdish populations follow the Iraqi
Kurdish movement for independence per se
when you look at other parts of
Kurdistan for instance the Turkish part
the Syrian part in both parts - Kurdish
nationalist movement is not asking for
independence actually they are seeking a
solution within the existing borders so
they are trying to democratize the state
so that no curse would have a favorable
environment and as the QG also says that
lack of political cohesion is because of
weak leadership it has a lot to do with
the fragmentation of the Kurdish society
along tribal regional and linguistic
lines and again the inability of the
Kurdish leadership to bring all the
segments together to create one voice
which would carry the curse - initially
the Kurds have a long history of not
only marginalization but of resisting
that marginalization but given how the
Kurdistan region is surrounded by
hostile countries lacks political
cohesion and even agreement on the
nation's future it's not very likely
that the world's largest nation without
a state will be getting one anytime soon
so we barely scratched the surface when
it comes to the Kurdish independence
movement encouraged politics in general
let us know in the comments what other
communities that are searching for
homeland you want to know about and
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