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May 13, 2008
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We should not blame the U.N. for what it is doing in Kirkuk
Kurdishaspect.com - By Habib Atarodi
I recently read an article written by my dear friend Dr. Karadaghi about the United Nations involvement in Kirkuk affairs. I confess that I always enjoy very much reading what he writes about the Kurds and the plight of our people in the Middle East . And I agree with him so much that most of the times, while reading his articles, I say: “Man you took the word out of my mouth.” This time, however, I felt that I should send him a personal email and to express my frustrations with regard to the whole Kurdish situation. With great sadness and with pain in my heart, I pointed out to him the facts that I will mention below. In his response, he encouraged me to turn my email into an article and send it to the web sites to be put online. The problem is that, unlike my good friend Dr. Karadaghi, I do not have a PhD degree in English Literature and I am not much of a writer. I was hoping that my email would trigger a response from him and that he would write another article on the subject himself, which I still hope that he will do. Anyway, here is what I wrote to him, plus a few other points:
The U.N. is an exclusive club of the nations who, sometime in the past, have shown to the rest of the world their willingness to pay any price necessary for their own freedom and independence. The members of this club are now defending their own interests and, in most cases, their own dominations over the rest of the stateless nations. Why should they care about the rights of the oppressed people like us, the Kurds? The U.N. does not belong to us, and we do not belong to the U.N. It will be naive for us to expect anything better and more positive form the U.N. Instead of criticizing the U.N. and blaming other people for our misfortunes, it might be a better idea that we look at ourselves in the mirror and see what is wrong with us; and why it is that one million people in East Timor have a country of their own, but 40+ million Kurds do not.
I blame the Kurdish leadership more than anybody else for the situation not only in Kirkuk or Southern Kurdistan, but also in the entire Kurdish territories in the Middle East . I believe today’s Kurdish leadership are more concerned with their own positions, their own titles (like the “President of Iraq”) and their own comfortable lives than they are with the nation-building and the future of the Kurdish people. Instead of fighting tooth and nail for our freedom, they have subjected our destiny to the veto powers of other countries in the Middle East . Five years ago, the Kurds in Southern Kurdistan held a referendum in which 98 percent of the people said that they no longer wanted to be a part of Iraq and that they wanted to have a country of their own. But, what did result from that referendum? Absolutely nothing! Turkey is against the creation of an independent Kurdish state; therefore, we should not have one, our leaders told us. What a shame, I say in response!
The Kurds so far have had three historic opportunities to realize their dreams and to free themselves form subjugation, and in all three cases they have dropped the ball. Ninety years ago when the Ottoman Empire was falling apart and the entire world was in turmoil, we had an opportunity to create an independent state for ourselves and we did not. During and after the Second World War when the world was again in turmoil and the Colonial Powers were in decline and new countries were coming into existence, we had an opportunity to create an independent state for ourselves and we did not. Then again, after the American invasion of Iraq and the fall of Saddam in 2003, a period when the entire Middle East was in chaos and the relationship between the U.S. and Turkey was in its lowest point, we had an opportunity to declare independence at least in one part of our homeland, and for the third time we failed to do so.
I am also very disappointed with us, the Kurdish people. It is true that throughout history we have suffered enormously at the hands of our enemies (the Turks, the Arabs and the Persians – to say nothing of the World Powers who have supported them in their quest for destroying our people). However, during the last 30 years, how many times have we seen on American or European televisions young Kurdish boys and girls standing up, on a continuous bases, to the occupiers of our lands, fighting their armies on the street and throwing stones at their solders, in the same way that the Palestinian young boys and girls have done so against Israel? It should be of no surprise to us that the whole world is in support of freedom and independence for 5 million Palestinians, but they do not give a damn about 40+ million Kurds. Using Dr. Karadaghi’s words, “[T]he reason for our subjugation is us. If you don't care about yourself, why should others care about you?”
We should have learned by now that freedom is not a gift that will ever be granted to us by our enemies. Freedom is not a father’s day gift or a mother’s day gift that we expect to receive someday from someone. Freedom is something that we have to fight for. Freedom is a precious commodity for which we have to pay a heavy price -- a price much greater than what we have paid so far. I remember that when I was a young man, I read it in somewhere that in a meeting with the French Officials in Paris to discuss the end of France’s occupation of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh reminded the French Officials that in order to free their country from occupation, for each soldier that France was ready to sacrifice in Vietnam, the Vietnamese were ready to sacrifice ten people of their own. And they eventually did just that in their fight both against France and later on against the United States . That is how other nations have acquired their freedom and independence. Unless and until we as a nation learn this lesson and we are ready to pay the necessary price that gaining freedom requires we will never be able to achieve freedom and independence. Period!
I am not advocating violence or terrorism. Kurds are an ancient and noble people. We are not like our enemies; and that is probably why we are in the situation that we are now. The PKK example and whether or not they have actually engaged in terrorist activities against non-combatant Turks not withstanding, we the Kurds in principle do not believe in violence, especially violence against innocent civilians. We have proven this since the days of Saladin (1137-1193). We are against war and senseless killings. I recognize the fact as well that we do not have the means and the international support necessary to fight conventional wars against armies of the four countries that have occupied our homeland. It is also true that when it comes to democracy, rule of law and respect for humane rights, Iran is not India under the British rule, Turkey is the United States and Bashar Al Assad of Syria is not exactly John F. Kennedy. And for that reason, a non-violent Kurdish political campaign in Turkey , Iran and Syria might not work in the same way that this kind of campaign has worked in the Western democracies. As a matter of fact, I am absolutely certain that had Mahatma Gandhi were a Kurd living in Iran, or had Martin Luther King, Jr. were a Kurd living in Turkey, they would have been assassinated by the Iranian and the Turkish governments in the very first year of their political activities. We have already seen in several occasions how Iran has sent its assassins to Vienna and other European capitals to gun down the Kurdish political leaders on the streets, at the restaurants, and even behind negotiating tables.
But, none of these facts and considerations, none of the negative strikes against us, would mean that we should give up our dreams; that we should remain stateless; that we should accept to live under occupation and as second-class citizens for ever. We now live in the age of the CNN. There are numerous 24-hour television news channels in the world which are constantly in competition with each other for viewers. They are starving for news and events to put on their screens. If we as a nation and collectively rise up, start a popular movement, pour into the streets, start marching day after day and tell to the occupiers of our homeland that “Enough is enough and we are not taking it anymore,” sooner or later both our own Kurdish leadership and the world community, especially the world media, will take notice. Imagine one day 2 million Kurds marching on the streets of the Kurdish cities in northern Iraq , on the Kurdish cities of Iran and Turkey , demanding freedom and independence, and the Iranian or the Turkish governments, in front of the whole world media, unleash their dogs on them. If that happens, I promise, very soon the conscience of the civilized world will be shaken and a lot of minds will be changed with regards to our just cause. But, until that day, we really should not criticize the U.N. or anyone else for our misfortunes.
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