What’s in a name, place, or feeling of “home?” Some would say it is the shared familiarity, culture, language . . . a common threading of identity in a place or location where one could trace roots to and have a right to exist. Kurds are the fourth largest ethnic group in the Middle East, one would think numbers alone warrant a place for them; outlined, definitive, and sovereign. As seen in the map below, “The Kurdish Presence,” the hiking icons show the millions of Kurds inhabiting these nations:
- 2 million in Syria
- 5 million in Iraq
- 8 million in Iran
- 18 million in Turkey
These indigenous peoples of the Mesopotamian Plains have the largest presence in Turkey (15-20%), and as a result have been largely marginalized and met resistance from the Turkish government. This is where we will focus today’s question of human rights as it relates to statehood.
It is a war zone; snipers included. The Turkish government has levied what some in the international community would consider harsh and inhumane conditions on this portion of their population. According to the Amnesty International, Kurds have been subject to 24 hour curfews, denial of burial rights according to custom, “severe electricity, water and food shortages in curfew areas, . . . unable to safely leave their neighborhoods to access healthcare, and ambulances have been denied entry by security forces.” The infighting in South East Turkey has seen about 400,000 Kurds displaced. Additionally, the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) have been outlawed, making Kurdish concerns in a way nationally and legally banned. The US and the European partners have been seen by the Kurdish people as oblivious, willfully, toward the plight of these stateless people. But why don’t they have a home when in the 1900s Kurds initiated the consideration of a homeland, referred to as “Kurdistan?” It seemed likely when after WWI, upon the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, Western allies allocated a provision for a Kurdish state within 1920 Treaty of Sevres. Yet today, they are still stateless even though Kurds have been successful aiding the war against ISIS/ISIL (PKK, YPG, and PYD). Their efforts have not been rewarded despite their willingness to defend their presence, which has been helping the US-led coalition. Turkey is a globally recognized sovereign state who has shown interest in joining the EU for many years, but the human rights violations prominently continuing against the Kurds is at conflict with EU principles. This places the Kurds in a dire position of perpetual limbo; their plight is known, the sentiment is there, but they are still waiting for action that can result in a realistic location in the Middle East for them. They have had a continued historical and regional presence; the longer this statelessness continues, the higher the probability of conflict that leads to unnecessary deaths on both sides (though mostly Kurdish). With this many people displaced trying to survive in other nations, it seems like it is the right time to persuade Turkey, Iran and Iraq to cede a portion of their border-crossing for the creation of a Kurdish state (they have the largest distributions after all). Iran not being an ally will bring peculiar engagement, but if creating Jews a home was of major importance to the global community after WWII, so should be the effort for a sovereign Kurdistan. These predominantly muslim nations will have more to gain than to lose, if the West and Arab allies work together toward an incentive plan. Until then, the statelessness continues.
This gentleman is in a place, willing to fight for it, but when will this Kurd have a place to call home?