Kurdistan needs research policy

Kurdistan is going through a transition period. It is post-dictatorship and post-genocide society. It has experienced rapid and violent change from rural way of living to urban settlements. In the 1980s people did not move voluntarily to towns. They were deported by Saddam’s soldiers. Since that many problems have followed each others.

KRG has difficult work to rebuild Kurdistan from ruins caused by Saddam’s dictatorship, several wars, international embargo and increasing tension with the Baghdad government. Problems are not yet over, one of biggest problems is the situation in the disputed areas.

When searching for a solution the first thing is to understand the problem in details.

In other countries universities are centers for research and education. Teachers follow the latest development in their field and distribute the information to their students. When students graduate they bring fresh information to their working places.

During the Ba’athist times universities in Iraq were opposite to this model. They educated staff for the government’s needs and followed Saddam’s rules. The little research what existed here was strictly under Saddam’s control.

Despite almost twenty years of autonomy KRG has not been able to create new research policy to replace the old model. All agree about the problems of the universities. There are reasons for them. International embargo isolated Iraqi universities and prevented the staff from getting fresh ideas. Another problem is huge brain drain. Many intellectuals escaped from Iraq during three decades and now their skills benefit Europe instead of their own country.
It is difficult to establish research policy from point zero but it is the only way to find long term solutions to the present problems. I give two examples: the situation of the youth and disagreements about the disputed areas.

In other countries there is youth research. Politicians make their decisions about education based on information.
Kurdish teenagers grow up in difficult conditions: their parents had experienced destruction of the villages. Their childhood was unsecure because of the civil war between the Kurdish parties. Present problems and lack of motivation for studies are reflections of this history.

KRG demands implementation of Article 140. It claims the Kurdish history of Kirkuk and other disputed areas. Yet there is no research about it done according international academic standards.

There is need for research about these two subjects and many other things. It is not question of employing some skillful researchers or establishing some projects. There is need for Kurdish research policy with a wide political agreement about its long perspective goals and priorities. It must have enough of funding. The work should start by establishing a committee where participants are both politicians and researchers.

This text has been published in Aso newspaper in Sulaymania the 8th February 2011.

Time to open Kurdology Institute in Turkey

Kurdish-info.net quotes to Sabah and tells about a discussion about opening a Kurdology Institute in Turkey. According to Kurdish-info.net the chairman of the Turkish History Institute Yusuf Halaçoğlu stated that out of the country's 80 universities, it is necessary to establish a Kurdology Institute and an Armenian Research Institute amongst them.

Yes, there is a need for a Kurdology Institute - one in each town of the Southeast. And also to open many new universities there. For example in Batman there is no university. As Batman is the centre of oil production in Turkey it would a perfect place for a technical university.

There is neither any university in Dogubayazit. The first Kurdology Institute should be opened in Dogubayazit as Ehmede-i Xani, the first Kurdolog, lived there.

Gulan 4th June 2007: The need for Kurdology

The text in Kurdish.

I have done my PhD thesis in sociology about the effects of the war for civil population in last decade in Southeast Turkey. I think this kind of research is also Kurdology through usually the term is understood to mean research about Kurdish culture and language.

Many weeks I wanted to write in Gulan about Kurdology. It develops now rapidly. There are new researchers who are interested about the Kurdish issue and students making their PhD thesis about the Kurds. And even more ones planning it. There is almost a flow of new books about the Kurds. The situation is really different than it was ten years ago. There are Kurdish universities in Hewler and Sulaymania making contacts to universities around the world. In European countries there is a new generation of Kurdish youth who want to make research their own ethnic group. And also Europeans - like me - have became interested in this issue.

Now most information about the Kurds is collected by intelligence services, not by universities. There is great need for good research about the Kurds, the Turks and their historical relationship. Turks need it as much as Kurds. Because now it seems that Turks are making important decisions based on totally wrong information. It is dangerous for them. They wow that they want to start a war against the Kurds without understanding what is there in the mountains waiting for them. Why I did not write earlier about Kurdology? Because every week something important happened in Ankara which I wanted to comment. Even this week I would have many things to say about the recent speeches of General Büyükanit. But it has to wait now.
This week I want to say that I believe that Kurdology has great future. Kurdologs, researchers in Kurdology are creating a new science. Like Kurdish activists are creating something new in their own field in culture, mass media, politics and what ever thing they work with. The future generations will base their systems in practises which are created now.

Academic research is often a little bit distant when it analyses an armed conflict. For me, even when I want to describe a situation deeply, it is difficult to take a distant attitude. When it is question of life and death and survival of a nation and its language it is more important to campaign for the right things than to describe their failure in an academically correct way.

In Turkey there is no academic research about the Kurds done from the Kurdish perspective. The issue is studied only from the Kemalist perspective. But there are many Kurdish organisations surveying the problems. I believe in the future when there will be peace their activities are a good basis for correct research about the Kurds.

Kurdish activities flourish from a situation which is changing all the time. Kurds are very creative. I feel that I am privileged when I can follow the development of the Kurdish national movement from a near distance. Of course I know that Kurds themselves just wish to live a normal life, it is not your choice to be part in such a horrible situation. I tell one example. Last week Gulan's internet page was attacked by a hacker who replaced Gulan's articles by picture of Kemal Atatürk. I am sure this was very frustrating for the staff of Gulan but I started to laugh when I saw the hacker's creature. I felt that I want to work even more harder for the Kurdish issue. Making research about traditional issues is not like this. I am sure in the future the experiences in Kurdology will benefit also research in other fields.