Kurdistan Observer

Kurds must sit and wonder, what put them in their current predicament? Surveying the history of the Kurds and Kurdistan, it appears that all possible avenues in respect to cohesive policy have been exhausted, except the most obvious one--- Cohesion.

Allow me to share an observation with my dear brothers and sisters. Culturally, the Kurds make selflessness their point of departure. Surveying early Kurdish poetry, brotherhood and love are case in points. In Kurdish, the masculine and feminine singulars are addressed as plurals, denoting an utmost level of respect and regard for ones elders. Such a construct does not exist in Arabic, for example. In fact, the only trace of such a linguistic construct in Arabic was borrowed from Kurdish: A language, influenced by a culture, perhaps developed by virtue of long cold winters and hot summers in the mountains of Kurdistan where interdependence is a necessity, which is thoroughly pervaded by love for ones brothers.

This selflessness permeated the political behavior of Kurds in history, Kurds who would subsequently be known at home and abroad for their triumphant deeds. Salaheddin Ayube fought for what he believed in, leaving Kurdistan for Palestine to liberate his greater community from the grips of invading forces. Salaheddin was most certainly a Kurd, and he identified as one. Many of the governorships of today’s Syria were held by Kurds, and the commanding officers of the Muslim Mujahideen were largely Kurdish. However, Salaheddin made selflessness his point of departure, and history has praised him for it. To this day, experts on Crusader history credit him with the insight of a superhuman. Indeed, Salaheddin was successful for not only the Muslims, but for the Kurds. In a time where nationalist fervor was as out of context as the telegraph is in this day in age, Salaheddin did something very important for the Kurds. He withheld our dignity. Today the people of Palestine are wondering where the next Salaheddin will come from. The same Syrian government who has ceremonially oppressed his ancestors has him as one of the only non- Ba’ath statues in all of the country. Even Mr. Hussein, in his typical fashion, labels himself the Salaheddin of today, noting that he too was born in Takrit. It appears Mr. Hussein missed the big picture.

After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, again we see selflessness come into play on the part of the Kurds of Northern Kurdistan. Mustafa Kemal, who later pioneered one of the most detrimental and racist ideologies, an ideology that is as detrimental to the human spirit as Nazism, asked the Kurds for help in consolidating power after the Treaty of Sevre was drafted. He called on the Kurds to act in the name of Islam and help maintain the republic, and the Kurds responded. Were it not for the help of the Kurds, Turkey may have very well been dismantled. The Treaty of Sevre all the while was offering a Kurdistan to the Kurds, once and for all. Fatal mistake--- times had indeed changed by then. Communication had come into play, and tyrants amassed power.

What is the moral of this story? While selflessness is an essential trait to our existence, there is only one other characteristic that holds precedent over it: Justice. There comes a time, dear brothers, where our dignity is in peril. It is a time that Mustafa Barzani knew well, and that our people in Southern Kurdistan and beyond should also realize. Our nationalism is not one of exclusion. Our nationalism is not one of separation. It cannot be, for history narrates that it is not. Our nationalism is one of protection. We have a language, we have customs, and we have a culture we are not willing to let go of. Since the beginning we have been mismanaged by groups claiming that they would give us justice and equality, when in reality it was all a lie. Their nationalism was and is about superiority, and exclusion, and it is not compatible with us. Look at how they have failed! In the brief period in Southern Kurdistan where we have been given our God given right, look at how we have flourished.

Who do they think we are? Iraqis? No… we are Kurds. Iraq does not exist, and Iraq never existed. Iraq is a creation, a mechanism by which we are to be oppressed, as Turkey is, and Iran is. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for Federalism. But who are we kidding… Federalism with the soldiers who have killed our brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, and our children in the scores? Federalism with soldiers who displace our people in Kirkuk and manufacture erroneous history, all for the sake of profit? Let us pretend for a second, and I emphasize the word pretend, that Federalism in Southern Kurdistan would work. Are we to ignore the fact that across the border they still call us Mountain Turks? Are we to pretend that Kurds only exist in Southern Kurdistan, and they don’t deserve the same freedom in "Iran", and "Turkey", and "Syria"?

So we have tried to work with our brothers in faith, and we realize today that this tactic will not work. Molla Mustafa and many others, correctly, stood up fought for the dignity of the Kurdish people. That too failed, why? Cohesion… We never had cohesion. Perhaps it took years and countless deaths for us to attain it, but it is now in reach. Look at what we have created in Southern Kurdistan! I have no political affiliation whatsoever, but what I can offer is observation. Mr. Talibani continues to send mixed signals to the Kurds worldwide, stating on Al-Jazeera that the Kurds are Iraqi first and Kurds second. I am certainly not Iraqi, and I receive nothing from a federated Northern Iraq in Sanandaj or Mahabad. It is the view of one Kurd that the games should cease, and the Kurds should maintain their dignity at all costs. With that necessary element of Cohesion, the two make a powerful bond. I believe Mr. Masoud Barzani has a vision now, and that he has reached the summit that I reside at. We must be free at all costs, because the costs of freedom will always be less than the cost of appeasement, lack of dignity, and lack of cohesion. Who do they think we are? We are Kurds… Let our only ideology be the memory of our martyrs, we can worry about the rest later.

Ali Ezzatyar

Political Science, UC Berkeley