OCT 11 WHO ARE THE KURDS?

OCT 11  WHO ARE THE KURDS?

It's another confusing week for international diplomacy in the year 2019. Conflicting Trump Tweets may or may not have resulted in conflict in the Middle East. This time, it's a Turkish invasion of Northern Syria. Specifically, President Erdogan is delivering on a campaign promise to establish a 20-mile wide "safe zone" along the Syrian side of Turkey's southern border. This breaks an American promise to Kurds. Most folks are hazy when it comes to this group, so let's review the basics.

Behind the Arabs, Persians and the Turks, Kurds are the fourth largest ethnic group in the Middle East. That's 35 million people. The Kurds trace the lineage back to the Ancient Medes. Kurdish Kings fought against the Roman Empire and Genghis Khan. Converts to Islam, their kingdom thrived high in the Caucasus Mountains. It all came to an abrupt end in 1501 when the Ottoman Empire invaded. The Kurds have been fighting the Turks ever since.

Correction! There was a short span when the Kurdish Kingdom rose again. Mahmud Barzanji was the monarch for two years. Why so brief? After the first World War, the sprawling Ottoman Empire was carved into a dozen new nations. Syria and Iraq made the cut, but Kurdistan did not. The Treaty of Sevres instead broke up Kurdistan and placed it into the above two nations and Turkey as well. It was a slap in the face to the Kurds...a people with a unique language and an ancient history.

In the next hundred years, the Kurds became a marginalized minority in all three nations. Conditions were the worst under Turkish President Kemal Ataturk. He re-named them "Mountain Turks" and mocked their inferior culture. A similar fate was also seen by the peoples just north of Kurdistan. Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan also lost their chances at nationhood after World War One. Instead all three became neglected Soviet Republics.

While the three other Caucasus countries gained freedom in 1991, Turkey still keeps its Kurdish population under wraps. They thwart any attempts of nationhood. Things changed in the 2000's. Civil wars in both Iraq and Syria resulted in an armed autonomous Kurdish state. Until recently, the Kurdish army served a pivotal role in liberating ISIS held areas, doing the dirty work along side US forces. The Kurds were hoping for some recognition afterward...maybe an independent nation? Nope. Abandonment again. Welcome to the confusing world of US diplomacy in 2019.