New, West-friendly, key Muslim country emerging; Israel, U.S., EU must back its ascendance

By Charles J. Mouratides, CHI Executive Director
The first really new Eastern Mediterranean state in over 60 years will be a game changer when it is established as an independent nation. It will dramatically impact that part of the world because it will be mostly Muslim but non-Arab, West-friendly, and anti- Jihadist.

The rise of the state of Kurdistan’s from ashes – literally – has already begun. It is the only happening that can be described as “Spring” in the murderous civil wars that are raging in the Middle East.

Western diplomacy and guns torpedoed Kurdistan’s establishment early in the 20th century when Syria and Iraq were arbitrarily constituted so that Britain and France can have worthy colonies. Armenia, was left out, too, while Turkey, mother of genocide, was awarded as a new state (1923.)

But the Kurds, mountain people without a country, reach back to pre-historic times as inhabitants of the same land. Despite Western power promises and an agreed scenario in the Treaty of Sevres (1920) that home of the Kurds was eventually split among Turkey, Syria and Iraq. Before the decade was over, Iran took its portion of Kurdish people and land under the Shah.

For more than 2500 years, the Kurds have been struggling to secure themselves on their land. In the past two centuries, especially since 1920, every decade has witnessed armed Kurdish struggle for an independent country, against Arabs, Turks, Iraqis, Iranians and Syrians.

The British and other European imperial powers sealed Kurds’ national fate in the 20th century when they, President Wilson, and the founder of modern Turkey Kemal Ataturk, double-crossed the Kurds in the League of Nations.

At last, today, the law of unintended consequences in the latest Iraq and Syria wars has allowed the Kurds to raise their heads and take control of the land that is morally, historically, and legally theirs.

The Kurds today administer their autonomous, oil rich region under northern Iraq. A popularly elected government and an111-member elected parliament govern that part of Kurdistan and its 5 million people.

A parallel situation is developing for 1.5 million Kurds in adjacent north Syria, from which President Assad’s government withdrew its army during the endless civil war. The official Kurdish establishment of an autonomous region in northern Syria, too, is a foregone conclusion. Even an unexpected, overwhelming victory by Assad would not block that conclusion.

Thus, a Kurdish unified or federated state is emerging before our eyes out of lands occupied by Syria and Iraq. At least parts of southeastern Turkey (15 to 20 million Kurds) and northwestern Iran (7 million) may eventually seek to join the Kurdish state. True, the Kurds have their own internal divisions, but the dream for an independent nation can be a strong motivating force for unity.

Assisting in this drive for unity is the Kurds’ strong ethnic identity and culture. Even though they were nomadic, roaming tribes for centuries, Kurds today prefer democratic political institutions. Women in many Kurdish societies attend schools, and serve in the army and the police.

Although mostly Sunni Muslims (except in Iran where 60% are Shia) the Kurds’ distinct language, customs, and Indo-European linage distinguish them from their neighbors. A millennial-old armed resistance to Arabization keeps them apart, too. Brutal government programs that prohibit use of Kurdish language, costumes, education and culture – not to mention massacred villages — have failed in forcing assimilation of Kurds into the culture of any of the four states under which they live. In Turkey and Iran, Kurds are continuously in armed resistance against their oppressors.

Despite the existence of internal conflicts between religious and secular Kurds, tribal relations with Jewish minorities had been good over the centuries. In the 20th relations with Israel remained low key but friendly. In the past 10 years, reports surfaced that Israeli commandos helped train the Kurds even as Turkey and Iran were threatening invasions into northern Iraq.

It’s a matter of time before the Kurds progress from the formation of the first two autonomous regions to the establishment of an independent state. Russia has supported Kurdish initiatives in the past and has already demonstrated its interest in forging good relations.

The West now has a unique opportunity to redress previous wrongs and enter a new chapter by cultivating diplomatic, cultural, economic and military ties. Kurdish societies face substantial challenges in creating the foundations for a modern state. The most obvious are in education and sciences. The West can help reform and upgrade educational institutions, and train Kurdish security and defense forces. Most importantly, the West should not attempt to block, directly or by proxy, the rise of the Kurds.

Kurdistan, which straddles the borders of at least four key states, and is in the heart of an important energy region, promises to be a key, friendly player in the troubled Middle East.