Self-dtermination: a right or an invitation to chaos
Self- Determination; |
By
Dr. Michael Sakbani
The Kurdish a referendum in Iraq and the Catalan referendum in Spain have raised the issue of
self-determination in the context of the modern state. Many in the West are well-disposed towards the Kurds. The observed equality of men and women in
their military ranks, and the advocacy by the Kurdish nationalist of a secular civil
state, are remarkable and noteworthy in a region where women have a few human
rights and where Islamists of all types want to go back 10 centuries backward.
Like many, the author has a prima- facia sympathy for the Kurds `aspirations. However, nationalism and religion have done a lot of harm to the world and Kurdish nationalism is not exempt from that.
Like many, the author has a prima- facia sympathy for the Kurds `aspirations. However, nationalism and religion have done a lot of harm to the world and Kurdish nationalism is not exempt from that.
On the ground, Kurdish nationalist separatists unleashed in Turkey, a
merciless war whose victims were ordinary civilians, Kurds, and Turks. These were
innocent bystanders and low- level security officials whose misfortune was to
work for the government. These PKK terrorists acted in the name of nationalism
and a convoluted Marxist ideology in a claim of blood-soaked self-determination.
Their followers in Syria, the Protection Forces, known as the PYD, unleashed a campaign
of ethnic cleansing against their Arab neighbors in areas where the Kurds are a minority
and killed or put in jail Kurds who opposed them. In Iraq, Mr. Barazani and
the nationalists' separatists around him, took advantage of Iraq`s chaos to cut
off his region from Iraq and to expand into areas where Kurds are not a majority
and tried in the process to change the demography of the disputed areas, all in
the name of nationalist self-determination. The Kurdish region at the time of the referendum was 30% larger than the three provinces of Iraqi Kurdistan. Mr. Barazani ruled in a tribal fashion, adjourned the Parliament, depressed his elected term, and put all the oil revenues in accounts he controls. This was a self-serving ploy all in the name of nationalism.
It is instructive to look at some facts. According to sources published in Wikipedia, October 2017, the Kurds in
Iraq constitutes 16.0 % of its population, including some 550,000 immigrants in other countries. In Syria, they constitute 7.5 % of the population. In Iran, Kurds
are 10% and in Turkey 17.5 % of the respective population. Turkish Kurds include 750,000 emigrants in Germany
and a couple of hundred thousands in other countries.
The Kurds in all these countries live everywhere, and there is wide-spread intermarriage with other inhabitants. Separating these people is a very vexing problem. If one gives the Kurds independence in the majority Kurdish regions, what will one do with those in the major population centers where they are minorities? If they were to vote, even if they say no, but the overall result is yes, they become sudden foreigners in their places of residence. If they were not given the right to vote, then how does one accept the separatist Kurds to speak for them? We are not talking about minor numbers, but something in the order of a fifth to a third of the total Kurds.
The Kurds in all these countries live everywhere, and there is wide-spread intermarriage with other inhabitants. Separating these people is a very vexing problem. If one gives the Kurds independence in the majority Kurdish regions, what will one do with those in the major population centers where they are minorities? If they were to vote, even if they say no, but the overall result is yes, they become sudden foreigners in their places of residence. If they were not given the right to vote, then how does one accept the separatist Kurds to speak for them? We are not talking about minor numbers, but something in the order of a fifth to a third of the total Kurds.
The Right of Self Determination
To be sure, the UN Charter grants the right of self-determination to people according to certain conditions. The Charter is clear that this applies to people under occupation or persecuted
or threatened in life and possessions. Looking at the Kurds' situation, none of the
UN Charter provisions for self-determination apply.
In Iraq, all the Presidents since 2003 have been Kurds. The Kurds occupied the finance ministry and foreign affairs for 8 years and the chief of staff of the armed forces for 4
years plus other cabinet positions. The Peshmerga have been paid by the Iraqi government, and the region is promised in the constitution 17% of the gov. Budget-revenues even though only 80% of the Kurds live inside it. Where is the prosecution or diminished rights in this?
In Syria, Husni al Zaiem the third Syrian President was Kurdish, so was one prime minister and several ministers. One-third of the Kurds in Turkey are in the major Turkish cities. Istanbul has an estimated 2.0 million Kurds. And the Turkish Parliament has more than 20 % deputies of Kurdish descent.
If the right of self-determination is granted without conditions, then
we have to give the Basques and the Catalans their right to separate from Spain.
The same goes for the Flamandes and the Walloons in Belgium. The same for the Lombards, Venetians and Tyroleans in North Italy and the Corsican's in France. The same must apply in India for the Tamils and those in North East India and to Kashmir. The same holds for all the Russian-speaking people outside Russia. In Africa, we have to break up most of the African state and redraw the maps on tribal lines.
In Syria and Iraq, Kurdish nationalism has been driven by a state of ill-being in these countries shared by all the citizens. The repressive states in Syria and Iraq have broken the implicit social contract. They failed to deliver human and political rights to their citizens and cordoned off their participation in public affairs. They also achieved no economic or social developments and suppressed the private sector. The surfacing of the Islamists since the 1970s has also permeated the public place and hued it with a backward, violent atmosphere, making escape and separation viable modes of survival. Kurdish nationalism was such a mode of escape for the Kurdish part of the population, while packing up and leaving was the escape for the other parts of the population. So, the rise of nationalist Kurdish sentiment was a reaction to state claustrophobia.
It would be, in this author's opinion, better for the Kurds to be a part of their surrounding societies if they are given a measure of autonomy within federate states that respect and equally treat all their citizens. Kurdistan is rather poor in resources and land-locked. The political sociology proved during Barazani`s years to be tribal and rather corrupt. Without cooperation from its regional neighbors, it would not prosper. Therefore, Kurds are certainly better off economically and socially and perhaps politically living in pluralistic decentralized states.
In Iraq, all the Presidents since 2003 have been Kurds. The Kurds occupied the finance ministry and foreign affairs for 8 years and the chief of staff of the armed forces for 4
years plus other cabinet positions. The Peshmerga have been paid by the Iraqi government, and the region is promised in the constitution 17% of the gov. Budget-revenues even though only 80% of the Kurds live inside it. Where is the prosecution or diminished rights in this?
In Syria, Husni al Zaiem the third Syrian President was Kurdish, so was one prime minister and several ministers. One-third of the Kurds in Turkey are in the major Turkish cities. Istanbul has an estimated 2.0 million Kurds. And the Turkish Parliament has more than 20 % deputies of Kurdish descent.
If the right of self-determination is granted without conditions, then
we have to give the Basques and the Catalans their right to separate from Spain.
The same goes for the Flamandes and the Walloons in Belgium. The same for the Lombards, Venetians and Tyroleans in North Italy and the Corsican's in France. The same must apply in India for the Tamils and those in North East India and to Kashmir. The same holds for all the Russian-speaking people outside Russia. In Africa, we have to break up most of the African state and redraw the maps on tribal lines.
In Syria and Iraq, Kurdish nationalism has been driven by a state of ill-being in these countries shared by all the citizens. The repressive states in Syria and Iraq have broken the implicit social contract. They failed to deliver human and political rights to their citizens and cordoned off their participation in public affairs. They also achieved no economic or social developments and suppressed the private sector. The surfacing of the Islamists since the 1970s has also permeated the public place and hued it with a backward, violent atmosphere, making escape and separation viable modes of survival. Kurdish nationalism was such a mode of escape for the Kurdish part of the population, while packing up and leaving was the escape for the other parts of the population. So, the rise of nationalist Kurdish sentiment was a reaction to state claustrophobia.
It would be, in this author's opinion, better for the Kurds to be a part of their surrounding societies if they are given a measure of autonomy within federate states that respect and equally treat all their citizens. Kurdistan is rather poor in resources and land-locked. The political sociology proved during Barazani`s years to be tribal and rather corrupt. Without cooperation from its regional neighbors, it would not prosper. Therefore, Kurds are certainly better off economically and socially and perhaps politically living in pluralistic decentralized states.
| , | ||||
posted by Dr. Michael Sakbani | 2:24 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home