The Kurds and US Foreign Policy

The Kurds and US Foreign Policy

Marianna Charountaki

Routledge

This book provides a detailed survey and analysis of US-Kurdish relations and their interaction with domestic, regional and global politics. Using the Kurdish issue to explore the nature of the engagement between international powers and weaker non-state entities, the author analyses the existence of an interactive US relationship with the Kurds of Iraq.
Drawing on governmental archives and interviews with political figures both in Northern Iraq and the United States, the author places the case study within a broader International Relations context. The conceptual framework centres on the inter-relations between actors (both state and non-state) and structures of material and ideational kinds, while the detailed survey and analysis of US-Kurdish rela-tions, in their interaction with domestic, regional and global politics, forms the empirical core of the study. Stressing the intertwining of domestic and foreign policy as part of the same set of dynamics, the case study explains the emergence of the interactive and institutionalized US relationship with the Kurds of Iraq that has brought about the formation, within an Iraqi framework of an undeclared US official Kurdish policy in the post-Saddam era.
Filling a gap in the literature on US -Kurdish relations as well as the broader topic of International Relations, this book will be of great interest to those in the areas of International Relations, Middle Eastern and Kurdish Politics.

Marianna Charountaki completed her PhD in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter. Now an independent scholar, working in Athens, Greece, her research interests range from International Relations and foreign policy analysis to the international relations of the broader Middle East.

Contents

List of figures / ix
Acknowledgments / x
Acronyms / xi
Maps / xiii

1 Introduction / 1

1 Introduction / 1
2 Methodology / 2
3 Literature review on the Kurds, the Kurdish Issue and the relevant players / 4
4 Terminological definitions in the literature: a critique / 8
5 Review and critique of IR discourse / 12
6 Structure of the book / 18

2 The multifaceted nature of the Kurdish Issue / 28
1 Introduction / 28
2 Theoretical conceptualization of the Kurdish Issue / 30
3 Historical origins of the Kurdish Issue / 32
4 The rise of the Kurdish Issue: internal and external factors / 35
5 The Kurdish Issue: the link between the US and the Kurds / 42
6 Conclusion / 52

3 US foreign policy: structures, determinants and pressures / 70
1 Introduction / 20
2 Foreign policy analysis: theory and practice / 71
3 Factors determining the formulation of foreign policy in the US / 74
4 US foreign policy in the Middle East since 1945: the varied pursuit of the ‘national interest’ / 84
5 US foreign policy in the twenty-first century / 96
6 Conclusion / 102

4 US foreign policy towards the Kurds, 1945-90 / 126
1 Introduction / 126
2 US foreign policy towards the Kurds / 127
3 The Kurdish Issue in the Cold War / 130
4 The Kurdish factor in the US foreign policy change of the 1990s / 150

5 Conclusion / 152
5 US foreign policy toward the Kurds, 1991-2003 / 165
1 Introduction / 165
2 US foreign policy towards the Kurds from 1991    to 1998 / 166
3 US foreign policy towards the Kurds from 1998 to Gulf War III / 186
4 Conclusion / 202

6 US and the Kurds in the Post-Saddam era (2003-9) / 220
1 Introduction / 220
2 Developments since 2003 / 221
3 Conclusion / 236

7 Conceptual implications and general conclusions / 246
1 The US-Kurdish relationship and IR / 246
2 Conclusions / 254

Appendix / 264
Bibliography / 280
Index / 313

Figures

2.1 The vertical-horizontal model / 31
2.2 The pivot model / 32
7.1 A model of IR as ‘multidimensional interrelations’ / 252

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study is an extended version of my PhD thesis, submitted to the University of Exeter (Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies) in March 2009. My doctoral studies were financially supported by the State Scholarships Foundations (IKY) in Greece. The encouragement and support of Professor Alex Cudsi (of Panteion University in Athens) during the initial stages of the enterprise is gratefully acknowledged.
I would also like to thank most sincerely members of the academic staff at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter: my supervisor, Professor Gareth Stansfield, for his support in realizing my fieldwork mainly in Washington DC and in the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Kurdistan in the North of Iraq; also Professor Ewan Anderson for his interest and advice. The substantial contribution of Professor Gerd Nonneman through feedback and advice in the final stages of the completion of my thesis has been also crucial and is indeed greatly appreciated.

I would also like to express my appreciation to all my interviewees - especially to Mr Falah Mustafa Bakir (Head of Foreign Relations in the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq), and Mr Qubad Talabani (KRG representative in the United States) - without whose valuable input this book would have little meaning.

Apart from the interviews, as primary sources, I was supplied with research materials mainly from the libraries of the University of Exeter and Sussex University in the United Kingdom, as well as from the National Archives Department at George Washington University in the United States. I am also grateful to Mrs Lindy Ayubi for editorial suggestions.

Finally, I dedicate this book to all the ‘peshmerga’, including my family - i.e., to those who, in the true sense of the word, battle bravely through life, for survival, for freedom and for rights.

I Introduction

1 Introduction

The book investigates the role of the Kurds in US foreign policy from World War II until Gulf War III (March 2003) and its aftermath.1 The central research ques-tion to be explored is twofold; whether the Kurds have influenced US foreign policy, and if there is such a thing as a relationship between US foreign policy and the Kurds in the form of an interaction between a state and ‘non-state actor. In particular, I propose to examine the dynamics of the link between US foreign policy and the Kurds by delving into a number of events for evidence of the evolv¬ing nature of this link.

The ‘Kurdish Issue’ - which involves the several dispersed parts of a putative whole, along with claims for socio-political, civil and cultural rights according to international law-has recently begun, once again, to occupy international and aca-demic attention: it is a key factor that has widespread consequences for both regional and international developments. The role of the Kurdish Issue, as the link between the Kurds and regional and international politics, has not so far attracted the academic attention warranted by its de facto importance, but recent developments in Iraq, the continuing matter of the PKK (Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan-Kw&sten Workers Party) and the recent re-emergence of the Kurdish issue in Syria, have reminded the world of the importance of the Kurds in the Middle East since the 1920s.

There is little in the current literature that addresses the empirical and theoreti¬cal implications of this case study, the only exception being Lokman Meho’s sourcebook on The Kurdish Question in US Foreign Policy (2004),2 which accord-ing to its author, does not constitute any particular analysis of the subject but aims to provide the reader with the necessary material to investigate it further. This lack of scholarly attention, together with the still inadequate political approaches to the question, means that an in-depth study of the link between US foreign policy and the Kurds is still needed. Although Kurdish Studies have recently started to flourish, the current literature is characterized by the lack of an interdisciplinary political approach that would position the Kurds at the centre of any analysis. In addition, inadequate attention by the discipline of International Relations to the interaction between states and ‘newly’ emergent ‘non-state’ actors, adds a conceptual reason for addressing this particular case study. The main body of scholarly references to the Kurds and their issue (pinpointed mainly since the 1970s) has either been limited to a socio-political identification and anthropology of the Kurds, or else has referred to the issue within an analysis of aspects of Middle Eastern regional and domestic politics.

The aim of this book is to present an alternative outlook on the Kurdish Issue, with particular attention paid to the role of the Kurds as a ‘non-state’ actor in their regional and international relations, especially in the link with the US. I will explore the extent of their impact on regional and international politics, and, conversely, the extent to which their interaction with the United States over developments in the Middle East transformed them into a considerable player in their own right3

The investigation is both empirical and conceptual. Empirically, I use an inter-disciplinary approach in delving into the historical backgrounds, and patterns of behaviour and interaction of both the Kurds and the United States, in an attempt to explain these patterns in greater detail in relation to the regional and international context. Conceptually, Chapter Two defines and elaborates on how the Kurdish Issue could be perceived; Chapter Seven examines how this US-Kurdish interac¬tion might be explained within the discipline of IR (International Relations).
Although there are no book-length studies of the subject as I conceive it, my analysis engages with the most significant of other scholarly contributions that are concerned with issues relevant to the components of the thesis. The aim is not to construct a critique of existing literature for the sake of it, but to explore the extent to which insights from various strands of writing may enlighten my own inquiry. At the same time, and based on the pleas of the scientific and critical realists for methodological pluralism through holistic criteria,4 I try in Chapter Seven to answer the following questions:

Does the mainstream IR discourse deal adequately with the Kurds as a ‘non-state’ actor?
Does the Kurdish Issue and its linkage to US foreign policy constitute a theoretical challenge to IR or foreign policy analysis in particular?
The answers gained through this case study should therefore show whether it will be necessary to construct a new approach.

2 Methodology

Since the theme under examination requires knowledge of regional, international and Kurdish affairs as well as of the history of US foreign policy in the Middle East, several methodologies were employed. Apart from the literature reviewed in the following section, my empirical research included fieldwork undertaken in the North of Iraq and in Washington DC. Despite my attempts to approach officials and academics in Syria and Turkey, this proved not to be feasible because of the sensitivity of the subject for regional regimes. Thus, my methodology resulted from a combination of methods. Starting from the hypothesis of whether there was such a thing as a US-Kurdish relationship, I tried to identify which Kurds were connected with the United States, and whether the United States has so far ...

Marianna Charountaki

The Kurds and US Foreign Policy

Routledge

Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern Politics
The Kurds and US Foreign Policy
International relations in the Middle East since 1945
Marianna Charountaki

Routledge
Tayior & Francis Croup
London & New York

First published 2011 by Routledge
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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2011 Marianna Charountaki

The right of Marianna Charountaki to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988.

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Printed and bound by MPG Books Group, UK.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Charountaki, Marianna.
The Kurds and US foreign policy : international relations in the Middle East since 1945 / Marianna Charountaki.

p. cm. - (Routledge studies in Middle Eastern politics; 31)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. United States - Foreign relations - Kurdistan. 2. Kurdistan - Foreign relations - United States. 3. Kurds - Government policy - United States. I. Title. II. Title: Kurds and United States foreign policy.
E183.8.K87C43 2010
327.730566’7 - dc22

2010012767

ISBN: 978-0-415-58753-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-84261-4 (ebk)