West European Studies

The earth is home to approximately twenty-five million Kurds, with most inhabiting the mountainous area extending into Armenia, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey (Kurdistan). A few Kurds can be found in Israel, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Russia. Ethnically, Kurds are closely related to the Baluch, Bakhtari and the Persians. Kurds are today the worlds largest ethnic group with no state of its own. In fact, theirs is the fourth largest ethnic group in the Middle East, coming after Arabs, Persians, and Turks. Although roughly a half of all Kurds live in Turkey, the country does not recognize them as a minority community and their participation in the countrys politics remains minimal (Gunter 107). Iraqi Kurds make up about a fifth of the countrys population. They are mostly found in the northern parts of the war-torn country. Iraqi Kurds have been most vibrant in the countrys politics and their decades-long clamour for autonomy has attracted global attention and the deadly wrath of a series of Baghdad governments. Over the decades, Iraqi Kurds have been the target of a long period of political and economic repression which has led to thousands of deaths and underdevelopment of the Kurd region in Iraq.

History of the ethnicity
The history of Kurds is believed to date back some two millennia (Katzman  Prados 1). Traditionally, Kurds were a nomadic community which inhabited the Mesopotamian plains and highlands where they herded goats and sheep. The predominantly Sunni Muslim group migrated freely and seasonally with rainfall patterns, keeping a largely traditional culture. Their nomadic lifestyle was interrupted permanently when the collapse and disintegration of the Ottoman Empire led to the creation of new nation-states. Over the roughly 600 years that the Ottoman Empire existed, it had unified and strengthened the Islamic Middle East to oppose the possibility of domination by France and Britain which had strategic interests in the Middle East. The Ottoman Empire was established in the early 14th century. Its decline was long and slow, culminating in the collapse of the empire in 1917, deep into the First World War. The Caliphate was abolished in 1926, marking the demise of the last Islamic empire in the Middle East. With the new borders in place, the Kurds could not migrate as freely as they used to and some were forced to abandon their nomadic lifestyle for sedentary farming.

Although they still do not have their own nation-state, Iraqi Kurds are an important part of the Iraqi population. It is estimated that there are five million Kurds living in Iraq. Most of the Kurds live in northern Iraq, while thousands of others have settled in cities including Baghdad (Who are the Kurds). Iraqi Kurds, even though separated by the national boundaries from others in the Kurdistan region, share an identity with other Kurds in Iran, Armenia, Turkey and Syria. The ethnicity is unique in that it traverses national boundaries to mark a people that have kept their culture despite deliberate attempts at splitting the community.

Officially, Kurdish people speak the Kurdish language. However, Kurdish does not refer to any one language but several Iranian languages used in parts if Iran, Iraq, Syria, Armenia and Turkey where Kurds live. Unlike Arabic, English or most other known languages, the Kurdish language is a collection of languages. The pre-dominance of other languages in the Middle East drives most Kurds to become bilingual or multilingual. Alongside Kurdish, most speak one or more major language including Arabic, Turkish, Persian and Aramaic among Jewish Kurds.

Another feature unique to the Kurds is their determination to fight for autonomy against Arabic governments which have zealously surpressed Kurds clamour for autonomy. The Iraqi Kurds have fought for autonomy since the first quarter of the 20th century, waging ambitious armed campaigns against Europeans colonial masters, as well as brutal Baghdad governments. Iraqi Kurds have suffered huge losses of lives and property in the course of long battle for autonomy. Turkish Kurds struggle against oppression slowed down following the capture in Kenya and life imprisonment of Abdullah Ocalan, the head of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Iraqi Kurds are unlike Kurds in Iran, Syria, or Armenia who have been subdued by the dominant ethnic groups and governments, making no serious attempts at calling for autonomy or self-governance. Their participation in their countries politics has therefore remained minimal.

History of the Conflict
Iraqi Kurds have agitated for self-autonomy since before Iraq gained independence in 1932 (Global Security OLeary). Separated, and therefore weakened, by the national boundaries imposed by the former colonial masters, Kurds in countries including Armenia, Turkey, Syria and Iran did not take a confrontational stance against their respective governments as the Iraqi Kurds did. The Kurds kept up the pressure for autonomy until 1958 when the modern-day Iraqi state was formed. Realizing that the government was still unwilling to negotiate with the Kurds for autonomy, the Kurds piled even more military pressure on the central government.

The Baath Party took power forcefully in 1968, marking a serious setback for the Kurds fight for autonomy. As if to confirm the Kurds fears, the Baath administration turned out to be the most ruthless and repressive administration the Kurds would ever fight. In the years following 1968, the Kurds were the target of ruthless armed campaigns which were characterized by arbitrary imprisonments, forced resettlements, economic repression, arson attacks, and worst of all, chemical attacks on Kurdish villages, leading to the death of thousands of Kurds in 1988. It was not until mid-1991 that the Allied forces declared a no-fly zone decree over the Kurdish region that the Kurds took control of the better part of northern Iraq. Predictably, most Iraqi Kurds welcomed the fall of one, and hopefully the last, of their greatest enemies, Saddam Hussein in 2003. Under Saddams watch, the countrys security forces and the infamous Ali Chemical Ali Majid caused the deaths and disappearances of thousands of Kurds.

Effects of the conflict in Iraq
One of the most devastating effects of the conflict in Iraq was the deaths of thousands and thousands of Iraqis. While most of those killed during the conflicts were Kurds, Kurdish guerilla fighters also killed many people in retaliation. Justifying the ruthless killing of thousands of people, most of them women and children, is unacceptable in any society and the Iraqi conflict was found to bear all the hallmarks of genocide (Human Rights Watch). The 1988 chemical attacks on Kurdish settlements marked a first, as never before had a state turned its chemical weapons on its own people. Apart from the deaths, the conflict drove a wide wedge between the majority Arab population and the Kurds. The conflict created a situation where Kurds still view Arabs as their greatest enemy, and vice versa. This makes the possibility of the nation of Iraq difficult, if not impossible. Fears have already been expressed of the high likelihood of Kurds vs. Arabs civil war in Iraq and it is not difficult to foresee the gravity of destruction such a war would occasion on the war-ravaged country (Butters).

In their attempt to dispossess the Kurds of the oil resources found in the Iraqi Kurdish region, the central government set the wheels of underdevelopment rolling over northern Iraq. Iraq is a country endowed with massive oil-wealth which could be sufficient to lift her economy to the level of Iran and the other oil-exporting Gulf states. Exploited well and in a peaceful atmosphere, revenues from oil exports could be used to meet the needs of the Arabs, and non-Arab Iraqis alike. However, the Iraqi administrations showed more interest in the oil resources in the Kurd region of Iraq yet there was much more all over the country. The result of giving more attention to the oil resources in the Kurdish region was the forceful resettlement of the Kurds and the importation of Arabs from other parts of Iraq to the Kurdish region. As expected, the Kurds hit back. The effect of this chain of actions and reactions was severe economic backwardness or underdevelopment in the affected region.

Conclusion
A long series of despotic regimes in Iraq has rendered the Iraqi Kurds one of the most long-suffering and oppressed peoples in the recorded history. While Kurdish people from the rest of the Kurdistan region have been largely subdued by their governments that they have not claimed for autonomy, the Iraqi Kurds have been relentless in their battle for autonomy. It will be very difficult for the Kurds in Turkey, Iran, Syria and Armenia to ever attain autonomy. Iraqi Kurds however have proved capable of fighting for, and attaining self-governance.