In This Article
30-Second Summary
Headline Link: Barzani vows to keep Kirkuk
Background: Who are the Kurds and what do they want?
Historical Context: Kurdish history through the Baathist regime
Key Players: Barzani and Talabani
Reference Material: The geography of Kurdistan
Related Topics: Turkey, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Iraq, and Kurdish gangs in the U.S.
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Kurdish Leader Warns of Iraqi Civil War
by
findingDulcinea Staff
The president of Iraq’s Kurdish region, Massoud Barzani, warns of a “real civil war” if the Iraqi government fails to take action on Kurdish claims over the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
30-Second Summary
The Kurds are often referred to as the largest national group in the world without an independent nation.
Living in the northeastern region of Iraq that they call Kurdistan, the Kurds are one of the three most important ethnic groups in Iraq, along with the Sunnis and the Shiites.
The Kurds have proven an important ally to U.S. forces in Iraq. A 10,000-strong Kurdish force works alongside U.S. troops in Baghdad.
But the debate over their claim to the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk has complicated this relationship.
Kirkuk is considered by many Kurds to be the “heart of Kurdistan,” because it is both a historically Kurd-dominated city, and it stands as a symbol of Kurdish resistance to Saddam Hussein.
Under Saddam, the Kurds endured a Baathist program of forced “Arabization”—when southern Shia Arabs were paid to displace Kurds in oil-rich areas like Kirkuk—and brutal ethnic-cleansing policies that saw hundreds of thousands of Kurds murdered.
There are also political and economic rewards for whoever controls the city: Kirkuk sits on top of 15 to 20 percent of Iraq’s oil reserves, or a minimum of 112 billion barrels. The revenue from this oil would go a long way to facilitate Kurdish autonomy.
However, Turkey interprets the prospect of Kurdish possession of Kirkuk as one more step towards an independent Kurdistan.
Escalating tensions between the Turkish military and terrorist groups in Kurdistan have already seen Turkish troops deployed along the Iraqi border.
If this were to devolve into a military conflict, it could prove disastrous for the Iraq War and incite violence among Kurds in bordering nations.
Living in the northeastern region of Iraq that they call Kurdistan, the Kurds are one of the three most important ethnic groups in Iraq, along with the Sunnis and the Shiites.
The Kurds have proven an important ally to U.S. forces in Iraq. A 10,000-strong Kurdish force works alongside U.S. troops in Baghdad.
But the debate over their claim to the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk has complicated this relationship.
Kirkuk is considered by many Kurds to be the “heart of Kurdistan,” because it is both a historically Kurd-dominated city, and it stands as a symbol of Kurdish resistance to Saddam Hussein.
Under Saddam, the Kurds endured a Baathist program of forced “Arabization”—when southern Shia Arabs were paid to displace Kurds in oil-rich areas like Kirkuk—and brutal ethnic-cleansing policies that saw hundreds of thousands of Kurds murdered.
There are also political and economic rewards for whoever controls the city: Kirkuk sits on top of 15 to 20 percent of Iraq’s oil reserves, or a minimum of 112 billion barrels. The revenue from this oil would go a long way to facilitate Kurdish autonomy.
However, Turkey interprets the prospect of Kurdish possession of Kirkuk as one more step towards an independent Kurdistan.
Escalating tensions between the Turkish military and terrorist groups in Kurdistan have already seen Turkish troops deployed along the Iraqi border.
If this were to devolve into a military conflict, it could prove disastrous for the Iraq War and incite violence among Kurds in bordering nations.
Headline Link: Barzani vows to keep Kirkuk
Barzani told Alhurra television that “the Kurds will never relinquish or bargain over Kirkuk, but we accepted to regain Kirkuk through constitutional and legal methods. But if we despair of those constitutional and legal methods, then we will have the right to resort to other means … then there will be a real civil war.”
Source: The Guardian
Background: Who are the Kurds and what do they want?
Most of the 25 million Kurds that live in Kurdistan are Sunni Muslims united by a common ethnic heritage and language. There are also Kurds that follow other forms of Islam, as well as Christianity, Judaism and an ancient Kurdish faith.
Source: The Council on Foreign Relations
PBS Frontline producer Martin Smith asks Barham Saleh, prime minister of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), what it means to be a Kurd. Saleh replies, “What is a Kurd? What's an Englishman? What's a Frenchman? What makes you an American? A Kurd is somebody who speaks Kurdish, lives in Kurdish town—although in the Kurdish town region, [there are] Turkomen and Syrians and other nationalities. A Kurd is a national identity, culture, language, you name it.”
Source: PBS Frontline
The Kurds’ desire to integrate Kirkuk into Kurdistan has as much to do with economics as it does pride. Underneath the city and its surrounding area lie 15 to 20 percent of Iraq’s oil reserves, or a minimum of 112 billion barrels of oil. If the Kurds were to secede from Iraq, the revenue from this oil would be a necessary part of sustaining their independence. Symbolically, the city’s annexation would represent a triumph over the abuses suffered under Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime. Programs like forced “Arabizaiton”—when southern Shia Arabs were paid to displace hundreds of thousands of Kurds in oil-rich areas like Kirkuk—and brutal ethnic cleansing policies have contributed to Kirkuk’s identity as “the heart of Kurdistan.”
Source: The Middle East Media Research Institute
The thing that Kurds want most in relation to Iraq is the establishment of a federalist system that would give Kurdistan local political and economic autonomy. Kurdistan has been a U.S.-backed semi-autonomous region since 1991, and while polls indicate that most Iraqi Kurds actually prefer national independence, their political leaders have been more moderate in advocating federalism.
Source: The Council on Foreign Relations
In an interview with Al-Arabiya TV on April 18, 2007, Barzani warned Turkey not to interfere with Kirkuk. Barzani told the interviewer that he is “not afraid of [Turkey’s] military or diplomatic power, because they are interfering in matters that do not concern them, in the domestic affairs of another country ... If Turkey allows itself to interfere in the matter of Kirkuk, we will do the same.”
Source: The Middle East Media Research Institute
Historical Context: Kurdish history through the Baathist regime
The Kurds have lived under the external rule of others since being conquered by the Arabs in the seventh century. The conclusion of World War I saw them come close to political autonomy with the Treaty of Sevres, but after the treaty failed to gain acceptance from the Turkish government, a new agreement called the Treaty of Lausanne divided the Kurdish region among Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. It has remained divided ever since.
Source: The Middle East Media Research Institute
Saddam Hussein’s infamous use of poison gas on Iraqi Kurds in Halabja took place in 1988 during the final year of the Iran-Iraq War. These attacks, combined with efforts to assassinate Kurdish leaders and execute male Kurds, resulted in the deaths of 200,000 Kurdish people in that year alone. After the conclusion of the first Gulf War in 1991, the United States created a no-fly zone over Kurdistan, allowing the Kurds to set up a semi-autonomous region without fear of retribution from the Iraqi military. However, after holding a general election, the two major Kurdish political factions—the PUK and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)—began a long period of violent infighting. Reprinted from the "Columbia Encyclopedia."
Source: TheFreeDictionary.com
Key Players: Barzani and Talabani
Massoud Barzani
Massoud Barzani was born in 1946 in the ill-fated Kurdish Republic of Mahabad in Iran. Born into politics, Barzani’s late father, Mustafa Barzani, was the head of the republic’s army and a respected leader in the nationalist movement. In 1970 Massoud became a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leadership, assuming overall control of the party after his father’s death in 1979. Today Barzani is the president of the Iraqi region of Kurdistan. The BBC offers a profile of Barzani.
Source: The BBC
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) is one of Kurdistan’s two major political parties. Formed in 1946 inside the Soviet-occupied land in northern Iran, the party recently made headlines when its leader, Massoud Barzani, warned Turkey not to get involved with the controversy over Kirkuk. GlobalSecurity.org offers a profile of the party.
Source: GlobalSecurity.org
Jalal Talabani
The head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the President of Iraq, Jalal Talabani began his political career in the early 1950s as founder of the KDP’s Kurdistan Students Union. In 1975, Talabani’s differences with KDP leader Mustafa Barzani––father to current leader Massoud Barzani––led him to split with the party and start the PUK. Talabani is the first non-Arab to be the president of an Arab country. The BBC offers a concise profile of the Kurdish leader.
Source: The BBC
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) is the main opposition party to the KDP, and was formed in the late 1970s. GlobalSecurity.org offers a profile of the party.
Source: GlobalSecurity.org
The Kurdistan Regional Government is based in Kurdistan’s capital, Irbil, and didn’t take its current form until the unification agreement of January 21, 2006. Before that, Kurdistan was split into two distinct regions, each governed by one of the two major political parties. The official Web site of the Kurdistan Regional Government features news, press releases, and information on Kurdistan.
Source: The official Web site of the Kurdistan Regional Government
Reference Material: The geography of Kurdistan
Kurdistan extends from eastern Turkey and the northwestern part of Syria to northeastern Iraq and the northwest area of the Zagros Mountains in Iran. Globalsecurity.org offers 12 maps of the area cataloging topography, population density, and other aspects of the region.
Source: GlobalSecurity.org
Related Topics: Turkey, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Iraq, and Kurdish gangs in the U.S.
Turkey has not taken the emergence of a Kurdish state in northern Iraq lightly. Ankara has grown fearful of how the gains won by Iraqi Kurds will further agitate its own restive Kurdish minority. Increasingly bloody encounters with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)––a group condemned as a terrorist organization by the United States––have escalated the situation to the brink of an outright Turkish military offensive into northern Iraq. Such a violent turn of events could have devastating effects on the war in Iraq, possibly pitting Turkey against the U.S. military and its Kurdish allies. Reprinted from The National Interest.
Source: TheFreeLibrary.com
The Turkish military has recently moved 140,000 troops to its southern border with Iraq. Intended to stem any attacks by the PPK using northern Iraq as a base of operations, the troop buildup has the potential to further destabilize the war-weary country in two important ways. First, if Turkey attacks the north––referred to by many Kurds as Kurdistan––the 10,000 Kurdish soldiers operating in Baghdad as part of the coalition force might be tempted to abandon their posts in order to protect their homeland. Second, unless Turkish troops are committed to a sustained offensive in the region, after their withdrawal the remaining PKK fighters could regroup and continue their attacks in Turkey.
Source: Foreign Policy in Focus
The PKK has training bases all over northern Iraq where soldiers not only train for attacks in Turkey, but in Iran as well. The Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PEJAK) is an offshoot organization established by the PKK with the expressed purpose of carrying out attacks in Iran. PEJAK’s activities in Iran have inspired intense speculation into whether the group is being used by outside nations to undermine the Iranian government.
Source: The Boston Globe
Kurds in the United States
Nashville, Tennessee has been home to a thriving community of Kurdish immigrants since the 1970s, but a new street gang calling itself Kurdish Pride is threatening to disrupt this peaceful community. The gang has brought negative attention and shame to the some 8,000 Kurds who live in Nashville, as they see their reputation tarnished by the brazenly violent acts of the gang’s 20 to 30 members.
Source: The International Herald Tribune
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