ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I would like to acknowledge the advice and encouragement given to me by my supervisors, Professor John Flood and Professor Penny Green, Department of Postgraduate Legal Studies, School of Law, University of Westminster, London, in the preparation of this thesis, since February 1999. The following work is entirely my own. I alone am responsible for any errors in the content.
Chapter 1. Introduction
Kurdish people live in the republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan, in Syria and also in Khurasan in eastern Iran, and in cities like Istanbul, Ankara, Tabriz, Tehran, Baghdad and Damascus; the majority still live in the mountains and plateau regions where the states of Turkey, Iraq and Iran meet. The heart of these mountains is formed by the Zagros range running in ridges northwest to southeast either side of Iran's border with its western neighbours. Kurdistan remains an important region for agriculture and stockbreeding. The Saljuqs first used the term Kurdistan in the 12th century as a geographical term. The geographical extent of this definition almost certainly grew during succeeding centuries as Kurds moved outwards: to the north beyond the Arxes river, to the west as far as Sivas, Erzerum and Marash and on to the Mesopotamian plain around Kirkuk; and to the east beyond the city of Kirmanshah. The majority of such Kurds were tribal¹ moving among and beyond what non-Kurdish peasant settlements already existed. (Thomas 2000: 1-2)²
Kurdistan has recently become more significant because of its oil and water resources, largely since the 2ⁿd World War. With the increased demand for energy and more extensive irrigation, water is rapidly becoming more important than oil. Iraq has already exploited the waters that flow off the western slopes of the Zagros down the Lesser Zab and Diala rivers, with the Dukan and Derbandikhan dams respectively; and before the Kurdish uprising of 1991 it had begun work on a dam at Bakhma, high up the Greater Zab in the heart of Bahdinan. The Kurds, as a nation artificially divided between several states in the Middle East. However for more than 26 million people with 3000 years of history living in an yea of more than 500,000 square kilometres the term minority may seem inappropriate.3 The Kurds who established one of the oldest civilised communities in the world 612 B.C., long before the appearance of the Turks or the Arabs as a nation in the region, are still being denied the right to use their own language and to have an identity of their own. (White 2000: 2-3)4 The Kurds are the fourth most numerous people in the Middle East and make up probably the largest nation in the World without national sovereignty. Whatever the criteria or measures used to define it the Kurdish people is entitled to its national identity. They are still struggling to protect their national inheritance, which they have preserved for centuries. In fact struggle is second nature for the people of Kurdistan. It began with the harshness of nature and continued with the ruthlessness of invaders, the Assyrians, the Persians, the Romans, the Arabs, the Mongols and the Turks. (Khoshnaf 1999: 2)5
The homeland of the Kurdish people, Kurdistan, is divided in five different independent states. The vast majority of the Kurdish people still live in the rural areas of this large mountainous region concentrated mainly in Turkey, Iran and Iraq with a smaller number in Syria and former Soviet Union. The governments of Turkey, Iran and Iraq, who have had recurrent disputes in their relationships on a variety issues, seem to have always agreed on a single issue, cooperation against the Kurds and Kurdish identity. (Talabani 1971: 7-8)6 Again given the strategic location of Kurdistan, the continuing conflicts and the vital issue of national resources (oil, water and unexploited minerals) the Kurdish case retains a high priority for the neighbouring regimes. Time after time when the disagreements between them reach a certain level, Kurdistan becomes the battleground for their rivalries. History is constantly being repeated and the Kurds, without a country, have no allies and few prospects for the future. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, in which nationalism as an ideology has led to the recognition of national identity, the Kurdish nationalists have led strong claims for national identity. But they have been far less fortunate than other national communities in the region. Thus it is …
1 Here it is important to stress the extremely factionalized nature of Kurdish tribal politics. British officers in Iraqi Kurdistan consistently complained of endemic rivalries between powerful chiefs, none of whom would accept the over lordship of any single leader.
2 Andrew Thomas, “Kurds and Kurdistan” article on the Kurdish people, published by Kurdish media information centre, http://ccwf.cc. utexas.edu (15 January 2000)
3 At the end of WW1 and the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the 1920 Treaty of Sevres anticipated an independent Kurdish state. But France and Britain divided Ottoman Kurdistan between Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. This division was formalized by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. Sec history of Iraqi Kurdistan, published by Kurdistan regional government representation in the United Kingdom, http.7Avww. kurdistan. ws
4 Paul White “Who are the Kurds” article on the Kurds in world politics, published by the Kurdish education centre, Washington D. C, United States, (15 January 2000) http://www. co asci, ed. ac. uk/~siamakr/Kiirdish/KURDlCA/2000/A U G/zed. htnil
5 Dr. Mahmoud Khoshnaf “Kurds and Kurdistan” article on the origin of the Kurds, Kurdish Academic Network 27 October 1999 htrp.7/www.kurdishacademic.btintemet. co.uk/Kurdistaii/Kurdistan.htm
6 On origins of the Kurds, see Talabani J, (Kurdistan and the Kurdish National Movement), Beirut 1971 at pp: 7-8; Edmonds, C J, Kurds, Turks and Arabs, Oxford 1957; Zakhi Beg, M, A, Mulakhas Tarik al-Kurd WA Kurdistan “A short history of the Kurds and Kurdistan” Cairo 1939. See also Al - Feel, M R, al -Aktad ft Nadhar al-Ilm (Kurds from a scientific Viewpoint), Baghdad 1965, who argues somewhat improbably that the Kurds are of Arab origin. See also Kutschera, C, Le Movement National Kurds, Paris 1979 |