The Kurdish Question: Andthe 2003 Iraqi War

The Kurdish Question: Andthe 2003 Iraqi War

Mohammed M. A. Ahmed,
Michael M. Gunter

Mazda Publishers

The 2003 Iraqi war has heightened Kurdish nationalism not only in Iraqi Kurdistan, but also in Turkey, Iran, and Syria. Having enjoyed 13 years of self-government in the safe haven zone, which was created and protected by the United States, the Iraqi Kurds have embarked on an ambitious campaign to consolidate their political and economic gains.
The Kurds first sought safeguards from both the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), led by the United States, and from the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC), and now the Interim Iraqi Government with a view to preventing the recurrence of past atrocities committed against them by successive Arab governments in Baghdad.The Kurdish campaign has faced stiff opposition from their neighbors to their demand for the creation of a federal, democratic, and secular system of government in Iraq. While the Arab opposition inside Iraq is fearful that the introduction of such a system might lead to the disintegration of the country, the neighboring countries claim that granting the Kurds greater freedom in Iraq will incite their own Kurdish populations to demand the same. This book presents a balanced analysis of the pros and cons regarding the Kurdish demands.

Contents

Preface / ix
Foreword / xi
Introduction / xiii
Maps / xvii

Chapter 1
Political Prospects of the Kurds in the Middle East / 1
David McDowall

Chapter 2
Are the Kurds a Source of Instability in the Middle East? / 17
Carole A. O’Leary

Chapter 3
The Political Fallout of Ethnic Cleansing in Iraqi Kurdistan / 30
Mohammed M. A. Ahmed

Chapter 4
Kurdish Prospects in Post-Saddam Iraq / 71
Michael M. Gunter

Chapter 5
Turkey and Kurdistan-Iraq Relations: The Consolidation of Iraqi
Kurdish Nationalism: 2003-2004 / 97
Robert Olson

Chapter 6
The Kurdish Issue in Turkey Following the 2003 Iraqi War / 123
Hamit Bozarslan

Chapter 7
Implications of Turkey's Constitutional
Reforms for the Kurds / 136
Gulistan Gurbey

Chapter 8
Turkey's Kurdish-Centered Iraqi Policy / 163
M. Hakan Yavuz

Chapter 9
The Impact of the Iraq War on the Future of the Kurds in Iran / 174
Nader Entessar

Chapter 10
Obstacles Hindering the Kurdish Question in Iran / 192
Farideh Koohi-Kamali

Chapter 11
Durable Solution for the Internally Displaced Iraqi Kurds:
Legal and Practical Considerations / 206
David Fisher

Chapter 12
The Kurdish Community in Lebanon and Their Future Prospects / 248
Lokman I. Meho and Farah W. Kawtharani

Index / 277

Contributors / 281

PREFACE

Mazda Publishers is delighted to present The Kurdish Question and the 2003 Iraqi War edited by Mohammed Ahmed and Michael Gunter as the fifth in our Kurdish Studies Series. We feel that recent developments in the Middle East reinforce our decision to start the Kurdish Series some five years ago. In the future it will be difficult to analyze the history and politics of the Middle East without consideration of the role that the Kurds have played and are playing in regional and, now, as the U.S. war against Iraq shows, global politics. I want to thank Mohafnmed Ahmed and Michael Gunter for bringing this timely and important book to fruition. The contributions address developments that affected the Kurds and Kurdish nationalism during the dozen years from the first Persian Gulf War in 1991 to the U.S. war against Iraq in March 2003. The editors were able to attract respected international scholars with expertise on the Kurds of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Lebanon.
The publisher thinks this book will be of value not just to scholars of the Kurds, Kurdish nationalism, politics, history and culture, but to all scholars of the Middle East, policy makers, students and people interested in the Middle East. The past 12 years have shown the significance of the Kurds and Kurdish nationalism as being one of the most important issues of the Middle East and Caspian Sea region. The U.S. war against Iraq and its potential consequences have already demonstrated that the Kurds, their nationalism, politics and decisions will be a force to be reckoned with not only regionally, but globally. The essays in this volume contextualize and explain this leap of the Kurds from being a minority and regional issue to that of an important factor in global politics.

Robert Olson
Kurdish Series Editor

Foreword

This book is the product of a conference triggered by the 2003 coalition war on Iraq. The initial negotiations between the United States and Turkey to open a second front through Turkey raised deep concerns among the Kurds. Turkey threatened the Kurds with a war if they tried to exploit the situation to advance their national aspirations, including consolidation of political gains made in the “safe haven” zone, since 1991. Turkey drew several red lines for the Kurds not to cross, claiming that any political gain by the Iraqi Kurds would incite its own 15-20 million Kurds to demand similar political gains.
Turkey had already mobilized thousands of its troops along the Iraqi border in preparation to enter Southern Kurdistan (Iraqi Kurdistan) to dismantle the Regional Kurdistan Government, which was established under the protection of the United States and Britain in 1992. The declared U.S. war objectives were to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction and to use Iraq as a launching pad to spread democracy in the Middle East.
Rumors abounded before the war that Iran and Syria, who strongly opposed the Israeli policy against the Palestinians, were in line to be attacked after Iraq. Turkey, Syria, and Iran, with large Kurdish populations, became concerned that the conflict might accord the Iraqi Kurds an opportunity to gain influence and / or establish their own state, which could set a precedent for similar Kurdish demands in their own countries. A series of meetings was held by the neighboring countries in Damascus, Tehran, and Ankara with a view to harmonizing their position on the Kurdish question. Turkey's moves against the Iraqi Kurds were in line with the stance of the other neighboring states on the Kurdish issue. Despite Turkey's refusal to offer the United States a second corridor, it continues to threaten the Iraqi Kurds with war if they dare to declare independence or call for an ethnically and geographically based federal system of government in Iraq.
Accordingly, the narratives of the conference were articulated in a manner to analyze the impact of the war and the ongoing political discourse among the neighboring states on the future of the Kurds in the Middle East. A bright light was shed on the Kurdish movement and the survivability of the Kurds as a distinct ethnic group of people in the Middle East during the 21 century. The vigorous reemergence of Kurdish nationalism since the 1980s was given special attention. A set of well documented substantive papers was delivered at the conference by noted political scientists and historians covering different aspects of the Kurdish question in Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran. Light was also shed on factors contributing to the plight of the Lebanese Kurdish community.
The quality and the importance of the topics covered at the conference motivated the Ahmed Foundation for Kurdish Studies to publish them in book form. This book presents up-to-date information about the Kurdish question. The diverse viewpoints presented by its different authors offer balanced analyses of the Kurdish people and will be of considerable interest to research fellows, scholars, and politicians who might be interested in Middle Eastern affairs. The editors do not necessarily agree with each individual author's statements and interpretations. Both editors are also very grateful to Shirley Ahmed for her editorial help in preparing the manuscript for publication.

Mohammed M. A. Ahmed
February 22, 2004

Introduction

The 2003 Iraqi War has proven to be a major landmark in the development of Kurdish nationalism, especially in Iraq, but also in Turkey, Iran, and Syria. Although the war has resulted in the potential for enormous opportunities for the Kurds, it also holds possibilities for great dangers. In Iraq, for example, the Kurds hope that the post-Saddam Hussein era will result in a democratic, federal Iraq which would largely solve the longstanding Kurdish demand for political, economic, social, and cultural rights. Under certain circumstances, even independent statehood is possible, although few dares even to broach the topic. On the other hand, the post-Saddam Hussein era in Iraq is laden with danger. If the United States withdraws prematurely from Iraq, a new oppressive Arab majority in that state might reimpose its will on the minority Kurds. Although the United States plans to transfer sovereignty back to Iraq on 30 June 2004, the jury will probably continue to remain out on these questions for some time into the future.
The 2003 Iraqi War has also heavily impacted the other regional states in which the Kurds live. Turkey, for example, fears the demonstration effect that any type of Iraqi Kurdish state would have on its own large and restive Kurdish minority. Only recently has the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)—renamed Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress (KADEK) in February 2002 and then Kurdistan Peoples Congress (KHK) in November 2003—called off its 20-year-long guerrilla war against Turkey and haltingly turned to a peaceful strategy.
In addition, Turkey must come to grips with the results ot its failure to support the U.S. war effort in Iraq. This failure led to a crisis in the 50-year-old U.S.-Turkish strategic alliance with tremendous success, the Iraqi Kurds stepped into the breach abandoned by Turkey as the U.S. ally on the Wars northern front What will be the continuing implications of this situation for Turkey and its Kurdish population? Furthermore, how will …

Mohammed M. A. Ahmed
Michael M. Gunter

The Kurdish Question
Andthe 2003 Iraqi War

Mazda

Mazda Publishers
The Kurdish Question
Andthe 2003 Iraqi War
Edited by
Mohammed M. A. Ahmed
Michael M. Gunter

Mazda Publishers 

Kurdish Studies Series
No. 5

Editorial Board
Robert Olson, General Editor
University of Kentucky

Shahrzad Mojab
University of Toronto

Amir Hassanpour
University of Toronto

Mazda Publishers, Inc.
Costa Mesa, California
2005

Funding for the publication of this volume was provided by
grants from the Iranica Institute, Irvine California and
Ahmed Foundation for Kurdish Studies, Sharon, Massachusetts.

Mazda Publishers, Inc.
Academic Publishers Since 1980
P.O. Box 2603
Costa Mesa, California 92628 U.S.A.
www.mazdapub.com

Copyright © 2005 by Mohammed M.A. Ahmed
All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted by any form or by any means without written permission
from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in
critical articles and reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The Kurdish Question and the 2003 Iraq War
edited by Mohammed M.A. Ahmed and Michael M. Gunter,
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN: 1-56859-176-4
(alk. paper)
1. Iraq War, 2003—Kurds—Middle East—Politics and government.
I. Ahmed, Mohammed M.A. II. Gunter, Michael M.
DS79.76.K87 2004
956'.00491597—dc22
2004048975

Dedicated to our wives
Shirley Ahmed
and
Judy Gunter