Betrayal? The US Policy Towards Kurds
Kurdishaspect.com - By Peter Stitt
I write not to justify recent United States Policy, nor even to judge it. I write to explain it as the logical behaviour of a nation state with self interest at the core of its foreign policy. If any Kurds are “disappointed” with America’s complicity in recent Turkish air-strikes on Kurdish territory then I would say that those Kurds have been deluding themselves about the nature of the American relationship with the Kurdish nation.
Let’s be honest, did the Americans remove Saddam because of the moral “rightness” of such a move or was it through self interest? Their one-time friend had become a nuisance and then an embarrassment to Washington. Did the PUK and PDK reunite the Kurdish Parliament in Hewler because it was “right” or did they do so because they saw themselves benefiting from showing America a united front prior to any invasion of Iraq. Did they participate in helping with the invasion because it was the “right” thing to do morally or because it served their purposes? That is how political administrations operate, they are amoral.
In addition to the above, can I add that America has regarded Turkey as a NATO ally for many years and Turkey offers the US a picture of a stable middle-eastern state. What has Kurdistan offered America as an alternative? Two family run businesses that masquerade as governments who make a “marriage of convenience” in Hewler to prepare the way for their families benefiting from the imminent invasion of Iraq by Britain and America. To exacerbate the situation, one third of the greater Kurdish political scene (PKK) continues to wage war against Turkey’s soldiers and their off-shoot groups bomb civilians in Turkish tourist resorts. What is there in the pan-Kurdish nation for America to support?
Do not accuse America of betrayal, Kurdistan as a whole has not done enough to justify such support and America must act in America’s interests as all nations do. I have 100% faith in the Kurdish people, I love them and I trust them as family. I have no faith in Kurdish politicians, PUK or PDK, and especially PKK, the people who brought this crisis with Turkey to an unnecessary head recently and also brought it into the one area where “Kurdistan” is a freely spoken actuality. The Kurdish people deserve better leadership. Truly democratic elections are essential for one Parliament, no Bahdinan and no Suleimania, simply for one South Kurdistan, true unification, especially over such important matters as the Kurdish peshmerga.
Before I am accused of being somehow “anti-Kurdish” can I ask readers to discriminate between the political leadership and Kurdistan as a people and as an area of territory? I feel immense loyalty to the people of Kurdistan, to the notion of a Kurdish state, but I feel no loyalty to any of the political parties that have all contributed to the current situation due to their own self-interests.
I believe 100% in the nation of Kurdistan but I think it is unreasonable to blame America for the situation that exists between Turkey and PKK and what has happened in recent days. Let’s be politically realistic and accept that America and Turkey have a relationship build through NATO and the US was never going to jeopardise it in order to support the Barzani and Talabani family businesses, much less to protect PKK. This does not reduce America’s influence as generally a force for good in the world, it is simply an observation that the world’s superpower has recently found itself placed in an impossible situation, trapped between a friendly nation and a friendly embryonic nation, through the actions of the Turkish military and the PKK. By not sending forces north to counter the presence of PKK over the past few years, US foreign policy had already risked the America’s relationship with its Turkish ally. I always urged caution in my writings when Kurds started to get carried away with the notion of America as an ally to Kurdistan because America has its own agenda. Given that Barzani and Talabani and the clowns who have usurped Ocelan’s power in PKK have all got their own agendas that do not necessarily add up to the best thing for Kurdistan or the Kurdish people, I think it only reasonable that America has its own self-serving policies. I have always said that Kurdistan’s leaders would have to rely upon their own actions to win support in the wider international community and, frankly, they have failed miserably to progress in this respect, largely due to the widely reported corruption within all three main parties.
I know this article will prove greatly unpopular with some people but it is a lesson in political realities and to ignore such things in my idealistic quest for a Kurdish nation would be to let down the readers and ultimately the Kurdish people by misleading them. I will always speak the truth as I see it, no matter how unpopular I might become as a result. I owe it to the Kurdish people to write only what I believe to be true, no matter how hard it is to take, in order to counter the spin their own politicians try to fool them with. My level of popularity is unimportant, what matters is the future of the people of Kurdistan and that includes my Kirmanj brothers as well. I have publicly condemned the Turkish airstrikes but I also think we need to look at the leadership of the PUK, PDK and PKK in order to find those who are jointly to blame for the current situation. Change has never been so necessary in the political structure of the fledgling Kurdish state.
Biji Kurdistan u biji hami Kurd,
Reader comments
Comments containing threats, foul language or thinly disguised foul language will be deleted. Keep it civil, stay on topic and your posts will remain online. Terms of Use
___________________
 | ||||
MENU
January 13, 2008
NEWS
The most admired Independent Kurdish Newspaper from the heart of Kurdistan.
For Kurdish Women’s Issues
| ||||
| ||||
KURDISH MUSIC
RECOMMENDED SITES
| ||||
