Kurd World

We don’t often think about Kurds. They don’t all practice a single religion, but they are bound together in a common language, history and culture, defining themselves more by their ethnicity than anything else. “The Kurdish people, or Kurds (Kurdish:Kurd, کورد), are an Iranic people native to Southwest Asia, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Iraq. They speak the Kurdish language, which is a member of the Iranian branch of Indo-European languages. The Kurds number about 38 million, the majority living in Southwest Asia, with significant Kurdish diaspora communities in the cities of western Turkey, in Armenia, Georgia, Israel, Azerbaijan, Russia, Lebanon and, in recent decades, some European countries and the United States.” Wikipedia

What is interesting is that they seem to live in some of the most hotly contested flashpoints in the world, particularly in Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey, with their major territorial enclaves in these nations sharing a common border (or at least regional proximity). This would suggest that they are slowly leaning towards merging into a single Kurdish entity, and indeed until most recently, this seemed to be almost inevitable. Separatist movements through this Kurdish region have until recently been a major driving force, particularly in Turkey where armed insurrection has been rampant in the eastern part of this nation.

With the Kurds in northern Iraq virtually autonomous from the Shiite-led government in Baghdad – even though they are technically part of Iraq – a new prosperity has hit this region. Demographic shifts in the Turkish Kurdish population make westernmost Istanbul the Turkish city with the largest Kurdish population these days. The notion of Kurdish independence from Turkey, while still attracting a few purest stragglers, has yielded to a more moderate cry for greater political rights while remaining part of Turkey. Landlocked Kurds enjoy trips to the ocean and the big city too much, apparently, to give it up.

The Kurds in Syria and Iran are not so lucky, each torn by local strife or repression. But the settling down in Turkey is sending a most interesting message to the world about creeping moderation decimating traditional hostility, something that the Palestinian/Israeli conflict requires even if those two blocks will probably separate into a two state solution… eventually. Turkey and Kurdish leaders have been effectively at war for three decades. The volatility of that eastern Turkish region has resulted in attacks, counter-attacks, death, destruction and capture of rebel leaders. An estimated 40,000 people have died in this struggle.

But Turkey has been back-channeling to the Kurds across the border in Iraq, pledging support and trade. These Iraqi Kurds seem to have communicated a new era to their Turkish Kurdish brethren, resulting in a stunning new announcement by the most senior Turkish separatist leader, held captive in a Turkish prison. The BBC (March 22^nd) put it simply: “[J]ailed Kurdish rebel leader, Abdullah Ocalan [pictured above], announced a ceasefire. Even though attempts at a truce have failed in the past, both sides now want change, commentators say.” Skepticism is still rampant, even though knowledgeable sources say Ocalan has the power to enforce this ceasefire with his people except amongst the most radical separatists.

What is more remarkable is that Turkish Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan accepted the offer. Ocalan’s PKK group is regarded as a terrorist organization by both the United States and the European Union, many in Turkey see any deal with them as negotiating with the devil, and there is a long path from a ceasefire to a demilitarization of the Kurdish sector and movement to a sustainable political solution. But a major step has been taken.

Is this ceasefire genuine? Most believe it is, but there are extremists who are likely to ignore the truce. Many non-Kurdish Turks don’t believe that true peace and full voluntary integration of Kurds into mainstream Turkey is possible, but among a vast majority of the Kurdish population, the notion of separatism is no long the priority. If there is a political path that can be accommodated, perhaps this can and will be the beginning. And if this tiny ray of hope can flash across a nation marred by decades of rebellious violence, perhaps the other nations in the regions with equally contentious factionalizing issues can find peace as well. Time will tell.

           

I’m Peter Dekom, and negotiated peace balancing everyone’s interests fairly can work even in the most hostile environments.