Gulan: The second change for Kurds

The text in Kurdish.

At the time of the Sèvres Treaty Kurds did not have enough national unity to protect their rights. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire was a historical opportunity which the Kurdish aghas failed to use. The perspectives of most local leaders did not go beyond the land which was their personal property.

Nationalism arrived to the Kurdish mountains some centuries later than to Europe but finally it arrived there. And it seems that now there is the second change for Kurds to get control over their land, natural resources and cultural heritage. One artificial land, which was created at the beginning of last century, is now in danger to collapse. This land is Iraq.

A soft partition of Iraq is already going on, claimed Michael O'Hanlon and Edward Joseph in a panel discussion at the School of Advanced International Studies in Washington on Thursday, the fifth July. They both are researchers and Mr Joseph is also Iraq war veteran. Iraq would be split up into Kurdistan, "Shi'astan" and "Sunnistan". O'Hanlon and Joseph said partition should only be considered as a final option if nothing else works. US army will not stay for ever in Iraq. Demands to withdraw American troops from there grow at the same rate than the amount of dead American soldiers increases.

Kurds missed their change during the first world war but now they are well prepared for the second change. But times are different. It is not only the Kurds who have changed, also the world is now different that ninety years ago. Nationalism and national states do not have the same meaning than during those days. In the global world nationalism is one value among other ones like democracy and civil society. When I have followed the Kurdish movement in Turkey and in Europe I have seen how creatively Kurds and Kurdish associations take modern information and process it. Now they get new information at the same time than other nations.

And it is not only the state called "Iraq" which seems to be near its end. There are signs that also the period of Kemalist rule will not last for ever. A power struggle is going on in Turkey between AK Party and the army. I think the Kemalist rule will be replaced sooner or later by democracy or by Islamist rule. Will this be the change for people in North Kurdistan to get their rights?

I hope that Iraq will not be split into three parts. It would happen by a civil war. But look at Bagdad: what the present situation is if not civil war? Even less I hope a partition process in Turkey. It would be terrible bloodshed. The change must happen in peace negotiations.

The situations are very different in Turkey and in Iraq. In Turkey the Kurdish question is the country's biggest problem. Because it has not been solved there has occurred lots of other problems. In Iraq the main problems are caused by other reasons but since 1991 Kurds have been clever to use the chaotic situation for their own benefit.

It is up to the Kurds how they use this second change. There are also other ways than to build a national state. But one thing is sure. What ever Kurds do the result will be better than during the days of the Lausanne Treaty.