Untitled Essay, Research Paper

Geography/History The Kurds: A State Without a State Introduction Of all the cultural groups in the universe, the Kurds are one of the largest that has no province to name their ain. Harmonizing to historian William Westermann, & # 8220 ; The Kurds can show a better claim to race pureness & # 8230 ; than any people which now inhabits Europe. & # 8221 ; ( Bonner, p. 63, 1992 ) Over the past hundred old ages, the desire for an independent Kurdish province has created struggles chiefly with the Turkish and Iraqi populations in the countries where most of the Kurds live. This struggle has of import geographical deductions as good. The history of the Kurdish state, the causes for these struggles, and an analysis of the state of affairs will be discussed in this paper. History of the Kurds The Kurds are a Sunni Muslim people populating chiefly in Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. The 25 million Kurds have a distinguishable civilization that is non at all like their Turkish, Iranian, and Arabic neighbours ( Hitchens, p. 36, 1992 ) . It is this cultural difference between the groups that automatically creates the possible for struggle. Of the 25 million Kurds, about 10 million live in Turkey, four million in Iraq, five million in Iran, and a million in Syria, with the remainder scattered throughout the remainder of the universe ( Bonner, p. 46, 1992 ) . The Kurds besides have had a long history of struggle with these other cultural groups in the Middle East, which we will now look at. The history of Kurds in the country really began during ancient times. However, the desire for a Kurdish fatherland did non get down until the early 1900? s, around the clip of World War I. In his Fourteen Points, President Woodrow Wilson promised the Kurds a autonomous province ( Hitchens, p. 54, 1992 ) . The formation of a Kurdish province was supposed to hold been accomplished through the Treaty of Sevres in 1920 which said that the Kurds could hold an independent province if they wanted one ( Bonner, p. 46, 1992 ) . With the formation of Turkey in 1923, Kemal Ataturk, the new Turkish President, threw out the pact and denied the Kurds their ain province. This was the beginning of the Turkish-Kurdish struggle. At about this same clip, the Kurds attempted to set up a semi-independent province, and really succeeded in organizing the Kingdom of Kurdistan, which lasted from 1922-1924 ; subsequently, in 1946, some of the Kurds established the Mahabad Republic, which lasted for merely one twelvemonth ( Prince, p. 17, 1993 ) . In 1924, Turkey even passed a jurisprudence censoring the usage of the Kurdish linguistic communication in public topographic points. Another group of people to see is the Kurds life in Iraq. Major struggle between the Kurds and Iraqis did non truly get down until 1961, when a war broke out that lasted until 1970. Around this clip, Saddam Hussein came to power in Iraq. In 1975, Hussein adopted a policy of eliminating the Kurds from his state. Over the following 15 old ages, the Iraqi ground forces bombed Kurdish small towns, and poisoned the Kurds with nitrile and mustard gas ( Hitchens, p. 46, 1992 ) . It is estimated that during the 1980? s, Iraqis destroyed some 5000 Kurdish small towns ( Prince, p. 22, 1993 ) . From this point, we move into the recent history and current province of these struggles between the Kurds and the Turks, and the Kurds against the Iraqis. Causes for Conflict The grounds for these struggles have great relevancy to geographics. The countries of geographics associating to these specific struggles are a historical claim to territory on the portion of the Kurds, cultural geographics, economic geographics, and political geographics. These four countries of geographics can outdo explicate the grounds for these Kurdish struggles. First, the Kurds have a valid historical claim to district. They have lived in the country for over 2000 old ages. For this ground, they desire the constitution of a Kurdish fatherland. Iraqis and Turks, while life in the country for a long period of clip, can non do a historical claim to that same country. The struggle arises, nevertheless, because the country happens to lie within the boundary lines of Iraq and Turkey. Even though the Kurds claim is valid, the Turks and Iraqis have chosen to disregard it and hold tried to pass over out the Kurds. Second, and likely most of import, is that this struggle involves cultural geographics. The Kurds are ethnically and culturally different from both the Turks and the Iraqis. They speak a different linguistic communication, and while all three groups are Muslim, they all pattern different signifiers. The Kurds have used this cultural difference as a ground to set up a fatherland. However, the Turks and Iraqis look at the contrast in ethnicity in a much different sense. The authorities of Turkey viewed any spiritual or cultural individuality that was non their ain to be a menace to the province ( & # 8221 ; Time to Talk Turkey & # 8221 ; , p. 9, 1995 ) . Saddam Hussein believed that the Kurds were & # 8220 ; in the manner & # 8221 ; in Iraq and he perceived them as a menace to & # 8220 ; the glorification of the Arabs & # 8221 ; ( Hitchens, p. 46, 1992 ) . For this ground, he carried out his mass race murder of the Kurds in his state. A 3rd factor in these struggles is economic geographics. The countries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Syria that the Kurds live in is called Kurdistan, shown on the map & # 8220 ; Confrontation in Kurdistan & # 8221 ; ( Hitchens, 1992, p.37, map ) . Kurdistan is a strategically of import country for both Turkey and Iraq because it contains of import oil and H2O resources which they can non afford to lose ( Hitchens, p. 49, 1992 ) . Besides, there has been no important economic activity in the part, due to the trade trade stoppage against Iraq that has been in topographic point since 1991 ( Prince, p. 22, 1993 ) . Still, an independent Kurdish province would be economically 5

iable and would no longer have an embargo placed against it. A final cause of the conflict is political geography. The Turks and Iraqis do not wish to lose their control over Kurdistan, and have resorted to various measures such as the attacks previously described. The Kurds, on the other hand, have political problems of their own. There is a sharp difference of opinion between the two main Kurdish political parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) (Hitchens, p. 36, 1992). The parties are at odds about how to resolve the conflicts in which their people are involved. Until this internal conflict among the Kurds is solved, it will be difficult for them to deal with the Turks and Iraqis. Recent History and the Current Situation In 1991, after the defeat of his country in the Persian Gulf War, Saddam Hussein had the Iraqi army attack the Kurds again. As a result, the United States and its allies launched Operation Provide Comfort in April 1991 that created a safe haven for the Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan. Eventually, the Kurds were able to secure a small measure of autonomy in Kurdistan and on May 19, 1992, the Kurds held their first free elections in Iraq (Prince, p. 17, 1992). The Kurds had sovereignty in part of Kurdistan, called Free Kurdistan, but not to the point of being recognized as an independent state. Seeing how the Kurds in Iraq were able to hold elections, the Turks got scared and banned the People?s Labor Party, a legal Kurdish party in Turkey, from the Turkish Parliament (Marcus, p. 9, 1994). In Turkey, a civil war between the Kurds and Turks has been going on for the last ten years; approximately 15,000 people have been killed so far (”Time to Talk Turkey, p. 9, 1995). The Turks launched an invasion they called Operation Steel against the Kurds in March 1995, sending 35,000 troops against them, but the plan backfired, as only 158 Kurdish rebels were killed in the first week (Possant, Doxey, & Borrus, p. 57, 1995). To sum up the Turks attitude toward the Kurds, Tansu Ciller, the Turkish prime minister, said, “Turkey has no Kurdish problem, only a terrorist problem” (Marcus, p. 9, 1994). As far as the United States is concerned, Kurdistan probably should not exist. During Operation Provide Comfort, the U.S. helped out the Kurds in Iraq, but did nothing to help the Kurds in Turkey. The reason for this is that Turkey is a NATO ally, while Iraq is one of the U.S.?s worst enemies (Marcus, p. 9, 1994) By helping out the Kurds, the U.S. would be siding with enemies of the Turks, which could create problems that the U.S. government would rather not deal with. This type of situation does not exist in Iraq, however, since the U.S. is not on friendly terms with Hussein?s regime. There are two main views on how to deal with the conflicts. The KDP, led by Masoud Baranzi, seeks limited political autonomy within Iraq (Hitchens, p. 36, 1992). Interestingly, many Kurds would accept being a state of Iraq, holding some autonomy, provided that Hussein was removed from power, a democracy was installed, and the Kurds were treated as equals (Bonner, p. 65, 1992). This means that some of the Kurds do not believe it is absolutely necessary that they have their own state, only that they are recognized as equals by the Iraqi government. On the other hand, Jalal Talabania?s PUK says that the Kurds should hold out for more political concessions from Iraq (Hitchens, p. 36, 1992). It is possible that they would try to use guerrilla warfare tactics to frighten the Iraqi army into meeting its demands. Analysis: Looking Ahead to the Future Looking at the current state of the conflict, the end does not seem to be near. On one hand, the Kurds have been struggling to gain their independence for a number of years, and even though they have been locked in a ten year guerrilla war with the Turks, have come too far to stop fighting and accept the harsh treatment they have received from the Turks and Iraqis. Even though Turkey has lost a large number of troops dealing with the perceived Kurdish “menace”, they do have the support of the U.S., and that in itself seems to be a good enough reason to keep the war going. As for the situation in Iraq, the situation is a bit more complicated. The plan of KDP seems like a plausible solution. However, the plan is not likely to succeed until Hussein dies or is forced out of power. The Iraqis also do not seem very willing to give up their territory to the Kurds. The plan of the PUK has a small chance to work, assuming that guerrilla tactics would scare the Iraqi government. By simply holding out, the Kurds would gain nothing, because the Iraqis are not threatened by the Kurds per se. However, by attacking the Iraqis, the Kurds run the risk of a counterattack which they probably could not effectively deal with. Basically, that would make the situation for the Kurds even worse than before. Conclusion Without the support of a large powerful nation such as the U.S., the Kurds will probably never establish an independent Kurdish state. The Kurds do not have enough military power to fight off the Turks and Iraqis without help. The Iraqis and Turks would not be willing to give up their economically important territory to people which they perceive a “threat” to their way of life and will most likely continue to fight the Kurds. The Kurds have no choice but to continue fighting until either they or the Turks and Iraqis are defeated, as both groups are unwilling to allow them to remain in their countries. The future definitely looks bleak for the Kurds.