Kurdish possibilities: the collapse of Ottoman Empire and the collapse of Iraq

Kurdistan is now in the turning point of its history. During the First World War, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Kurds could not use that historical opportunity to gain their rights. Now another country, Iraq, is breaking down and the Kurdish leaders use cleverly the situation for the benefit of the Kurds.

Many decisions which were made at the beginning of last century have turned out to be wrong. Nations have arranged better solutions with bitter wars or at other heavy cost. Do you remember countries like Soviet Union and Yugoslavia? They had their roots in times of the first world war. Also the present division of Kurdistan was made at the same time.

The problem of Kurds is their inability to make cooperation with each others. Because of this their enemies have been able to control Kurds with the policy of "divide and rule". This situation will continue as long time as the Kurds can not negotiate with each others about their common targets and the Kurdish benefits.

If the partition process of Iraq continues there will independent state Kurdistan. This is frightening scenario for Turkey which has twenty million Kurdish citizens. When they compare their own situation to the conditions of free Kurds, is there anything good they can say about their own country?

World is not the same any more as it was ninety years ago. Nations should learn from mistakes made by other nations. Kurds have suffered too much as there has been many wars. And also their enemies have suffered. Everyone would benefit about a political solution to this problem. Now it is time to use diplomacy instead of weapons. England and France, who won the First World War, must carry their responsibility in solving problems which are caused by their wrong decisions at that time.

A mediator is necessary in solving difficult armed conflicts and threats of them. There are international organizations capable of arranging peace negotiations. One of them is Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). It is active also outside Europe, for example in Afghanistan. Next year my country Finland will be the chairman of OSCE. Despite Finland is a small country with a population of five million people, it has lots of experience in peace negotiating activities and other diplomatic work under difficult conditions.