Kurds: What Is the Relation Between USA & Kurds and Turkey’s Position

May 2022

Tang Zhiciao

The Middle East has always been a global hotspot, with the ongoing Israeli Palestinian conflict and complex ethnic conflicts between Arabs and Jews. But since the outbreak of the Arab Spring, the internal turmoil in Syria has attracted more attention from the world, presenting a long-standing hotspot in the Middle East. The Kurdish people, a nation that spans across four countries but has always been dependent on others and has repeatedly failed to fight for independence, hold the flag in their hearts, hold the gun in their hands, and go global without hesitation. In order to establish their own country, the Kurdish people have repeatedly resisted and are willing to become pawns for the United States to balance the Middle East. Although they have been abandoned multiple times, they have stubbornly turned themselves into living beings with their tenacious perseverance and strong strength. However, the stronger Kurds are, the more worried is Türkiye, which has been fighting with them, is. Kurds have always been a hindrance to Türkiye’s rejuvenation, and they will try to pull it out quickly. The road to statehood is still long, but it is not hopeless.

1. The arduous search of the stateless ethnic group: Kurds

Kurds are one of the oldest ethnic groups in the Middle East. They are the fourth dominant ethnic group in the Middle East, second only to Arabs, Turks and Persians. They are also the only ethnic group in the Middle East that has no independent regime. They have a history of more than 4000 years.

Since ancient times, the Kurdish ethnic group has mainly resided in the Kurdistan region, with a total area of approximately 390000 square kilometers. The region spans the current four countries of Türkiye, Iraq, Syria and Iran, and the total number of Ku people in the four countries is about 28 million.

In addition, about 2 million Kurds have settled or been displaced in nearly 20 countries in Europe, the Caucasus, North America, and other regions. The establishment of an independent Kurdish state is a historic pursuit of the Kurdish people, which began during the Ottoman Empire’s rule. Its ideology and movements have grown from small to large, evolving from ideological operation to armed struggle.

In 1880, Ubedulla, the Kurdish national hero, led the tribal armed men and launched large-scale uprisings in eastern, southeastern Türkiye and northwestern Iran, vowing to “fight to the end” for the establishment of an independent country. The uprising was jointly suppressed by the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Khaganate, but the seeds of independence were sown in the hearts of generations of Kurds.

The Ottoman Empire was defeated in World War I and was forced to sign the Treaty of Sevres with the Allied Powers in 1919, which stipulated that Kurds could establish autonomous regions or independent states in areas east of the Euphrates River, south of Armenia, and north of Syria and Iraq where Kurds held a majority. However, the treaty was never implemented.

This is the only international document involving Kurdish autonomy or independence, which has been borrowed by Kurdish political forces in the four countries and has become the main legal basis for their pursuit of establishing an independent Kurdish state.

At the beginning of the end of World War II, the Kurdistan independence movement became one of the levers of power for the United States and the Soviet Union in the Middle East. In December 1945, with the support of the Soviet Union, the Kurdistan Democratic Party was established in Mahabad, Iran, divided into two committees: Iran and Iraq.

The party announced the establishment of the “Mahabad Republic” with the goal of overthrowing feudal dynasties in Iran and Iraq and ultimately establishing a unified “Kurdistan Republic”.

In 1946, the Pahlavi dynasty mobilized heavy troops to suppress the “Mahabad Republic”, and a large number of key members of the Iranian Kurdish Democratic Party were killed or captured, entering a period of dormancy. The leader, Barzani, fled to the Soviet Union.

In 1958, the Faisal dynasty in Iraq was overthrown and the Republic of Iraq was established. President Kassem invited Barzani to return to his home country to help the government govern the Kurdish region in order to ease relations between Arabs and Kurds, and the two sides cooperated in a friendly manner.

The situation changed again in 1975, when the Iraqi Ba’ath Party regime launched a comprehensive crackdown on the armed forces of the Kurdish People’s Party. Old Barzani led his remaining forces to flee Iran, and the leadership of the Kurdish People’s Party was taken over by his second son Masoud Barzani.

In the same year, Talabani, who fled from Iraq to Syria, formed the Kurdistan Patriotic Union in Damascus, and since then, the Iraqi Kurdish independence movement has formed two major political forces. The Gulf War broke out in 1991, and the two major political parties launched the Iraqi Kurdish uprising, establishing a stable autonomous region in northern Iraq.

Inspired and influenced by the Kurdish independence movement in northern Iraq, Abdullah Ocalan founded the Kurdish Workers’ Party of Türkiye in 1978 to carry out the armed struggle for independence and statehood.

The Ku Labor Party, which “comes and goes freely” in Syria and Iraq, regards the Gandil Mountains in northern Iraq as a strategic rear, and establishes branches or bases in Türkiye, Syria, Iraq and Iran.

Later, Ocalan was captured by Türkiye, and Kurdish Labor Party set up a three person leading group, supporting Bayik as the leader. In May 2007, Bayık proposed to build the “widest united front”, and the Kurdish PKK  decided to unite with Kurdish political forces in Syria, Iraq, and Iran to fight for independence.

The PKK adopted a “curved salvation” approach, sending political and military cadres to the Kurdish ethnic group in northern Syria to help them establish a “Northern Syrian Federation”, form an autonomous government, establish the capital in Qamishli, and establish the Syrian Democratic Army. Due to the need to combat ISIS, the Northern Syrian Federation has received support from the United States.

In Türkiye, the head office of the Ku Labor Party is rooted in the territory of the “Northern Syrian Federation”, where Bayik remotely commands the liberation struggle of Kurds in southeast Türkiye.

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