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Kurds' dream of independence 8.8.2007
August 8, 2007
Kurdistan region (Iraq), -- There are over 35*
million Kurds, making them the fourth-largest ethnic
group in the Middle East after the Arabs, Persians
and Turks.
Promised but never granted their own country after
World War I, they are spread across areas of Turkey,
Syria, Iraq and Iran.
Hoda Abdel Hamid reports from the Kurdistan region
of Iraq on the quest for their own country.
Turkey, home to more than half of all Kurds, denies
that Kurds have a separate ethnic identity and bans
any official use of the Kurdish language.
In Iran, the Kurds have no right to self-government
or administration and in Syria, around 300,000 Kurds
are denied Syrian citizenship.
Stateless, they are banned from using public
hospitals, getting food subsidies and cannot travel
outside the country.
'Villages burning'
Flash Video , Kurdish statelessness
Colonel Abdullah Kardez devoted his life to protect
his people, spending 27 years in the mountains
fighting the Iraqi army of Saddam Hussein.
"I felt it in my heart, I had to protect my people
and my nation. All the villages around us were
burning and we were dying," he said.
They were called the Peshmerga. The word means
"ready to die" for the millions of Kurds without a
nation - and in some countries, with limited rights.
Khaled Saleh, adviser to Massoud Barzani, the
president of Iraqi Kurdistan autonomous region,
said: "For those in Turkey, it's an issue because
the language was banned, The kind of political
struggle is very different.
"Here for example you have religious freedom,
whereas in Iran, you have to be under a system
whereby the political system is based on religious
identity."
Semi-permanent self-rule
Since 1991, the Kurds of Iraq achieved self-rule in
part of the country. Today's teenagers are the first
generation to grow up under Kurdish rule.
Still, they remain Iraqis, but the Kurdish dream
made a huge leap in 2003.
Overnight, the Kurds became key players in the
Baghdad government. Now they have to strike a fine
balance between their dream for independence and
preserving these new-found powers.
Iraq's first post-war president, Jalal Talabani, is
a Kurd. Portraits of him and Barzani are a best
seller.
But Mullah Mustafa Barzani, Iraq's Kurdistan
president Massoud Barzani's father, remains a
Kurdish hero.
Independence hero
"He did everything, he established the Kurdish
movement and without him we couldn't do anything,"
one streetseller said.
Mustafa Barzani led the Kurdish struggle for
independence from Iran in the 1940s, and fought with
the Iraqi government in the 1960s and 1970s. He was
president of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)
Ninety-eight per cent of Kurds in Iraq have voted
for independence, but the regional government is
aware that the road ahead is still long and goes
through Baghdad.
Saleh said: "There is a degree of political realism
by the Kurds in Iraq saying we have to be merging
with this political system so we can protect our
achievements.
"And also [to] have a share of power and wealth in
Baghdad because that's what is important for
protecting Kurdistan interests."
Kurds of Iraq are at the forefront of the struggle
for a nation of all Kurds. Music and dance have kept
the Kurdish traditions and identity alive.
But their dream of independence, very much alive,
has been put on the shelf for now.
aljazeera net
* Southern Kurdistan: Iraqi Kurdistan (Northern
Iraq), * Northern Kurdistan: Turkey Kurdistan (Southeastern
Turkey + Parts of Armenia), * Eastern Kurdistan:
Iranian Kurdistan (Northwestern Iran), * Western
Kurdistan: Syrian Kurdistan (Northern Syria)
**
The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate over 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
Turkey is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds, some
of whom openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
Kurds are not recognized as an official minority in
Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media.
The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish
alphabet has led to judicial persecution in 2000 and
2003
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan
but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag
is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it
is a criminal offence"
** Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Syria
making up 10% of the country's population i.e. about
two million.
Kurds in Syria often speak Kurdish in public,
unless all those present do not. Kurdish human
rights activists are mistreated and persecuted. No
political parties are allowed for any group, Kurdish
or otherwise. Suppression of ethnic identity of
Kurds in Syria include: various bans on the use of
the Kurdish language; refusal to register children
with Kurdish names; replacement of Kurdish place
names with new names in Arabic; prohibition of
businesses that do not have Arabic names; not
permitting Kurdish private schools; and the
prohibition of books and other materials written in
Kurdish.
**
Iranian Kurdistan (Kurdish: Kurdistana Îranê or
Kurdistana Rojhilat (Eastern Kurdistan) or Rojhilatê
Kurdistan (East of Kurdistan)) is an unofficial name
for the parts of Iran inhabited by Kurds and has
borders with Iraq and Turkey. It includes the
greater parts of West Azerbaijan province, Kurdistan
Province, Kermanshah Province, and Ilam Province.
Kurds form the majority of the population of this
region with an estimated population of 4 million.
The region is the eastern part of the greater
cultural-geographical area called Kurdistan.
In the new Iraqi Constitution, it is referred to as
Kurdistan region.[2] The regional government refers
to it as Kurdistan-
Iraq (or simply Kurdistan region) but avoids using
Iraqi Kurdistan.[3] The full name of the local
government is "Kurdistan
Regional Government" (abbrev: KRG), and in Kurdish,
Hikûmetî Herêmî Kurdistan.
The name Kurdistan literally means Land of the
Kurds. The term Kurd in turn is derived from the
Latin word Cordueni, i.e.
the inhabitants of the ancient Kingdom of Corduene,
which became a Roman province in 66 BC.
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