Resolving the Kurdish Question

Turkey has officially launched an airstrike campaign against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) as of last week. The attack coincided with the announcement of the US and Turkey’s deal to push back ISIS from a strip of territory located across the Turkish-Syrian border. At least 260 PKK militants have been killed and 400 wounded since the beginning of the raids.

However in the fight against ISIS, this was a counterproductive move, as the Kurdish paramilitary has been an effective fighter against ISIS, contributing upwards of 40,000 troops since 2014.

The reality is that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s president, is not interested in fighting ISIS. In fact, ISIS is currently threatening Assad’s regime in Syria, which is good news for his long-time rival Erdoğan. Turkey is more interested in defeating the PKK, which has fought an armed war against Turkey for self-determination since 1984.

The recent air strike in northern Iraq is more likely an indicator of the war against Kurdistan, which has been fought by its bordering countries, Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Iraq. Most notably, Saddam Hussein conducted biological genocide on the Kurds in the late 1980s, killing at least 50,000 civilians. Kurdish expression has even been restricted in all four of its neighboring countries.

The Kurds are often dubbed as the largest ethnic group without a state, compromising of close to 40 million people. They have been persecuted for decades and have, in a way, become the new Israelis of the Middle East. However, a Kurdistan may be coming soon, as the Kurds are moving closer and closer to autonomy. In June, the pro-Kurdish political party HDP entered Turkish parliament for the first time, gathering 13 percent of the vote; this was a milestone victory for the Kurds. The Iraqi Kurds have even been enjoying international protection in an autonomous region since 1991, with the United States’ establishment of a no-fly zone over the territory after the Persian Gulf War.

One of the core purposes of the United Nations is to “develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace.”

The Kurds have a right to self-determination following this basic charter of the United Nations but it is unsure whether the United Nations would support a Kurdish state. The Kurds are an ally of the United States and Israel and would therefore be rejected by the Arab League and the Non-Aligned Movement.

The Kurds have proven to be the most effective fighters against ISIS in the Middle East, indicating their “will to fight” which was not found in the Iraqi military in Ramadi. The defeat of ISIS by the Kurds would be an enormous victory for them and their legitimacy as a state. With the support of the United States, the Kurds have a strong chance of defeating ISIS, but President Obama has been hesitant to arm Kurdish troops. The Kurdish paramilitary is even listed on the United States and NATO’s list of terrorist organizations, for vague and unwise reasons.

The United States listed the PKK as a terrorist organization in 1997 as a result of pressure from Turkey. Many have called for the removal of the PKK from its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations in order to open the door to discussions with the Democratic Union Party, the PKK’s affiliate in Syria, as well as facilitate the peace process in Turkey by rewarding the PKK for ceasing hostilities with Turkey. This would set the stage for negotiations aimed at answering Turkey’s Kurdish Question. Indeed, the PKK has been involved in questionable and deplorable acts of warfare, such as the suicide bombing that killed two Turkish soldiers and wounded 31 others on August 2^nd, but this attack does not represent the general spirit of Kurdish politics s

Another obstacle to the Kurdish state is that which comes from Iraq, as the Kurds now sit on the oil-rich lands of Kirkuk after the peshmerga, the military forces of autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, pushed ISIS out of the area. However, as ISIS advances and the Iraqi government continues to crumble, Kurdish independence is becoming more and more likely. The same applies to the threat currently facing Assad’s government in Syria.

In Iran, President Rouhani made a visit to Sanandaj, the capital city of Iranian Kurdistan, to promise the Kurds the right to study in their own language at state universities, better infrastructure, and other improvements in the neglected region of Iranian Kurdistan, However, Kurdish commentators, who note the long history of untrustworthiness and empty promises by the Persian regime, believe the trip to Sanandaj to be no more than an attempt to downplay the increasingly momentous Kurd’s role in the fight against ISIS and to instill Kurdish faith in the Islamic Republic.

There is no doubt that Kurdistan will continue to be a source of contention for its neighboring countries in the Middle East. However, a Kurdish state in the Middle East would be of great benefit to both the United States and Israel as it is a counterbalance to Islamic extremism and Iran.  Positive Iraqi Kurdistan-Israel relations date back to Israel’s creation. Yet Western states are hesitant to antagonize Turkey by assisting Kurdish militants, who are willing to fight the Kurds to death.

It is upon the U.S to make everything possible to support a Kurdish state, as the Iraqi state is collapsing as a result of Shiite sectarianism and Iran’s involvement, and as the Syrian state unravels while the power of ISIS increases day by day.