Kurdish Conflict:

Gov 271: Theory and Practice of Diplomacy

History of the Kurds

The Kurds are an Iranian People (or Iranic), meaning they derive from the land ruled by the Persian Empire and speak a language from the Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Kurdish. Most Kurds live in contiguous areas of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Armenia and Syria called Kurdistan, or Land of the Kurds.

The majority of the Kurdish population are Sunni Muslims, but they have their own unique culture and religion.

History of the Kurds

Prior to World War I, traditional Kurdish life was very nomadic and based in herding. The fall of the Ottoman Empire after the war created new states such as Turkey, but no Kurdistan. The new borders forced Kurds to settle down and create a Kurdish nationalism. In 1920, the Ottomans signed the Treaty of Sevres which created Iraq, Syria and Kuwait with the promise of a Kurdish state. Kemal Ataturk overthrows the Turkish monarchy and rejects the Treaty in 1923. Turkey, Iraq and Iran agreed to refuse recognition of an independent Kurdish state.

Kurdish Struggle in Turkey

The 1920s and 1930s were marked by a repression of the Kurds by the new Turkish Government. Attempts were made to rid the Kurds of their Kurdish identity by prohibiting them to speak their language, wear traditional garb, or identify by anything other than Mountain Turks.

In 1978, the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) was established by Abdullah Ocalan in order to fight for Kurdish independence in Turkey.
In 1984 PKK recruits thousands in order to fight against Turkish forces. The struggle continues for years and costs about 30,000 Kurdish lives.

Kurdish Struggle in Iraq

The Kurds have faced similar oppression in Iraq since the early 1900s. Conflict arises in the 1970s and Iraq forces about 130,000 Kurds into Iran in 1974. Kurdish support of Iran within Iraq during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war resulted in brutal retaliation by the Hussein regime. Kurdish villages were razed and chemical weapons employed. Poison-gas attacks killed about 5,000 Kurds in the Iraqi town of Halabja. Torture devices smeared with blood and rooms holding the corpses of strangled women and children, victims of Saddams executioners, were found also.

1991 Uprising

At the same time the Shiiah rebels rose up against the Baath Party in the South, the Kurds in the North also rose up for their independence. The head of the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP), Masoud Barzani, and the head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Jalal Talabani, came to an agreement before the end of the Iran-Iraq war and joined forces. They were known as the peshmerga guerillas. The first couple weeks of the uprising were successful. Local governments were overthrown and the Baath Party lost control in many areas. By the end of the month the rebellions were crushed by Saddams forces.

Aftermath

Saddam moved his forces to the North after attacking the Shiite rebellion in the South. The cities the Kurds were living in, such as Kirkuk, were unable to defend due to the geography of the region. Heavy artillery was utilized on hospitals. As the Kurds backed away into the mountains, Iraqi helicopters threw flour on them a cruel reminder of the powdery chemical weapons that killed Kurds by the thousands during Saddams Anfal campaign.

Mass graves have been discovered since these attacks with the bodies of those killed by Saddams mass executions of the Kurds.
As the Kurds fled to Turkey and Iran children died from typhoid, dehydration and dysentery. Others died in land mines. At one point in 1991, nearly 2,000 Kurds were dying every day. The Kurdish exodus was reported the largest ever witnessed by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees at the time.

Negotiations of Autonomy

After many years of massacre occurring in Iraq to rid Iraq of the Kurds the United Nations mediator was brought in to solve the current conflict. This led to the Iraqi government passing the Autonomy Law of 1970. Through this law Kurds were given basic rights and control of their affairs. The law was never actually implemented. Though the law was established in 1970, by 1975 Saddam Hussein began bombing Kurdish villages.

Kurd Refugees
After

many Kurds fled to no fly Zones created by Operation Provide Comfort the first free elections were held in 1992. Unfortunately, the government elected was not effective. provide Comfort took place from April 5 th 1991 to December 31, 1996 in Southeastern Turkey and Northern Iraq Kurdistan is under the control of the Kurdistan regional government.

Operation

Iraqi

Constitution of The Federal Republic of Iraq

Article 2: The Federal Republic of Iraq consists of two regions: i) The Arabic Region that includes the middle and southern regions of Iraq along with the Province of Ninevah in the north excepting the districts and sub-districts that have a Kurdish majority as mentioned in the item below. ii) The Kurdish Region that includes the Provinces of Kirkuk, Sulaimaniyah and Erbil within their administrative boundaries before 1970 and the Province of Duhok and the districts of Aqra, Sheihkan, Sinjar and the sub-district of Zimar in the Province of Ninevah and the districts of Khaniqin and Mandali in the Province of Diyala and the district of Badra in the Province of Al-Wasit.

Constitution of The Federal Republic of Iraq Cont

Article 6: The Federal Republic of Iraq shall have a flag, an emblem, and a national anthem that shall reflect the union between the Kurds and the Arabs and that shall be regulated by law. Article 8: Arabic is the official language of the federal state and the Arab region. Kurdish shall be the official language of the Kurdistan Region.

Constitution of the Federal Republic of Kurdistan

Articles one, two, three, four and sixteen declare the federal republican nature of the government, The fundamental rights of the provinces to cultural and administrative autonomy and the basic rights of citizens. Article One. The free state of Kurdistan shall be a federative republic, and shall be known as the Federal Republic of Kurdistan.

Article Two. All self-declared Kurds everywhere and in any state shall have the right to claim citizenship of the Federal Republic of Kurdistan.
Article Three. The Federal Republic of Kurdistan shall consist of autonomous federated provinces, each encompassing an historic province or a segment of Kurdish society with its distinct culture and recognized geographical parameters.

Constitution of the Federal Republic of Kurdistan

Article Four. The constituent provinces of the Federal Republic of Kurdistan shall have the right in perpetuity to One. Autonomy in electing their local government and provincial officials. Two. Appoint judges to the provincial court system. Three. Appoint the local police body.

Four. Conduct their own cultural and educational affairs, free from Federal intervention, excepting an undertaking deemed by the Federal Parliament to adversely affect the Nation's heritage and integrity or compromise the basic rights of the citizens.
Five. Use a local dialect or language as the province's operating language alongside the language of the Federal Government Six. Engage in inter-provincial commerce unfettered by Federal intervention or regulation, excepting federally established health and safety standards. Seven. The provinces shall make no law that contradicts or supersedes the Federal Constitution.

Constitution of the Federal Republic of Kurdistan Cont

Article Sixteen. This or any other subsequent constitutions of the Federal Republic of Kurdistan shad contain in perpetuity articles of basic rights of the citizens. These shad be unchangeable by any future legislation, government edicts or public referenda. The basic rights of citizens shad include One. Freedom of expression in any and all forms to include, but not limited to art, literature, press and the mass media. Two. Freedom to worship or not worship, subscribe or not subscribe to any religion or political idea. Three. Freedom of habitation for all citizens to live at their own choice and volition anywhere within the confine of the Republic or to emigrate from it with full rights to their legal assets. Four. Right to speedy court trial; protection from arrest and confinement without clear, public and legal charge at the time of the arrest and protection against cruel and inhumane punishments. Five. Right to private property and privacy. Six. Right to free and basic health care, education, shelter and sustenance.

Seven. Right to equality before the law and equal access to privileges embodied in the Constitution.