Jacques Neriah
- Kurdistan stretches across an area
of Southwest Asia that includes Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria. The
Kurdish population in the region is estimated at 26 to 34 million, with
another one or two million living in the diaspora. Today the Kurds are
the largest national grouping without a state of their own. Current
political developments in the Middle East have set the stage for the
Kurds realizing their right of self-determination.
- For nearly two decades, Iraq
has been the focal point of Kurdish efforts, yet now Syria is a new
candidate for Kurdish political activity. After largely sitting on the
sidelines of the Syrian revolution, political groups from Syria's
Kurdish minority in the northeastern region appear to have moved
decisively to claim control of Kurdish-populated towns along the
Syrian-Turkish border.
- The Free Kurdish Army was
formed from the Democratic Union Party (PYD), a group with historical
links to the Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK, which is regarded by both
Turkey and the U.S. as a terrorist organization fighting the Turkish
government for Kurdish autonomy. Turkish leaders have issued threats
against the Syrian Kurds, should their area become a safe haven for the
PKK.
- Kurdistan is a potential land
bridge for many of the conflicts erupting in this part of the region. It
provides a ground route for Iraqi Kurdistan to supply the Syrian Kurds
as they seek greater autonomy from Damascus. But its use will depend on
which power dominates the tri-border area between Iraq, Syria, and
Turkey, for this area could equally provide Iran with a corridor for
moving supplies to its Syrian surrogates and even to Hizbullah in
Lebanon.
- Given this geo-strategic
situation, there have been rising military tensions between the Kurdish
Regional Government (KRG) of Northern Iraq and the Iraqi central
government in Baghdad. For example, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki, who is backed by Iran, decided to deploy Iraqi Army units in
the area connecting Iraqi Kurdistan to the Kurdish areas of Syria,
thereby giving Baghdad the ability to choke off KRG supplies to the
Syrian Kurdish revolt. KRG President Massoud Barzani protested against
al-Maliki's move and held this strategic area with his Kurdish Peshmerga
units instead.
- Israel will need to treat the changing Kurdish situation carefully, distinguishing between the situations of Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. The establishment of a viable, independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq could be a geopolitically positive development for Israel. Historical justice would dictate that, with 22 Arab states in the Middle East, the 35 million Kurds deserve at least one sovereign state of their own.