The
Grievance
Of
The Kurdish People
The story of Kurdish people Uprisings and the
Brutality of Islamic regime of Iran
Name: M. Sirani
Date of Submission:
14-04-2011
Introduction:
The history of
20th century is accompanied with some of the bloodiest wars in human history.
Some of these wars occurred directly between two states and some of them like
the first and second world wars included the whole world and the results have
been devastating for all human community in different aspects. In addition to
these wars, there are some other conflicts which might arise between different
factions, groups, ethnics and nations in the same country which are known as
civil wars. Singer & Small indentify four characteristics for a civil war. They
states:
“First, one of the primary actors in any conflict identified as a
civil war must be the national government in power at the time hostilities
begin. Secondly, the concept of war requires that both sides have the ability
to inflict death upon each other….Thirdly, significant military action must
take place. Only civil wars that resulted in at least 1,000 battle related deaths
per year are included in the data set. This figure includes civilian as well as
military deaths. Fourthly, the war must be internal to the country” (Collier
& Hoeffler, 1998).
Based on this
statement, it can be said that the life of Kurdish people has been accompanied
with different civil wars in different geographical and historical occasions.
Analyzing the situation of Kurdish people in general and particularly in Iran
can illustrate some issues including: what might be the main causes of a civil
war? Do poverty and the lack of good governance alone can cause a civil war? Can
a civil war make the country vulnerable for a foreign threat? And how can a
conflict be beneficial for a state as David Keen argues. He states: “that
for significant groups this violence represents not a problem but a solution” (Keen,
2000).
These are some
questions which this paper will attempt to analyze them through the story of
marginalized Kurdish people. This paper: First, it will explain historical
background of Kurdish people including their geographical locations,
deprivation as well as their uprisings. Second, it will identify the main cause
or causes of civil wars between Kurdish people and different states in general
and particularly in Iran. Third, it will illustrate how Iranian regime
used the event of war with Iraq as a legitimate tool in order to stabilize and
maintain its authority as well as security and crushed the Kurdish uprising and
other domestic opponents. Finally, it will be ended by conclusion part. Before
we begin the main discussion, it would be useful to have some information about
history of Kurdish people. This information can help us to understand how
deprivation has caused the uprising and consequently civil wars between Kurdish
people and different states.
- Historical Background of Kurdish people:
Kurds are a
large indigenous ethnic minority group who live in southwest Asia in an area
geographically is known as Kurdistan. There are different estimations about
Kurdish population but according to some data, Kurds are an estimate of 26
million Sunni Muslim people with their own language, culture and heritage which
are the largest minority group who still don’t have their own independent
country (Users, 2011). (See table 1).
 |
Table 1:
Total Kurdish Population in 1998 (Users, 2011).
According to
some historical fact, the firs division among Kurdish people occurred when in
16th century Safavid dynasty in Iran took the power. After many years
border disputes, eventually in 1639 for the first time the Kurdistan was
officially divided between two countries of Iran and Ottoman Empire. The end of
the First World War was accompanied with the collapse of Ottoman Empire and
consequently emergence of some new nation-states such as Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq,
Syria and Kuwait in 1920. This was a hope for self-determination and creation of
separate Kurdistan for Kurds as the Serves treaty promised them. But, the 1920
treaty of Sevres not only didn’t create a Kurdish state, instead for the second
time divided the Kurdistan among five other states including Turkey, Syria,
Iraq, Iran and Armenia (Kurdistanmedia, 2011). (See figure 1).
Figure 1:
The Map of Kurdistan (Google, 2011).
- The situation of Kurdish People
after 1920 Serves Treaty:
As mentioned
above, the Kurdistan was divided among different countries including: Turkey,
Syria, Iraq, Iran and small part in Armenia. In order to illustrate more our
discussion, it would be useful to investigate the life of Kurdish people in some
countries such as Turkey, Iraq and Iran. These examples have been chosen,
because the majority of Kurdish people live in these countries.
- Kurdish
People in Turkey:
After Sevres treaty,
from total population of Kurds, almost 8 million of them were located in
southeastern Turkey. In 1923, the nationalist Turkish leader Kemal Ata Turk
(after Lausanne Treaty) rejected the Sevres treaty and reached an agreement
with Iran and Iraq authorities on Kurds that these countries were not recognized
a separate Kurdistan.
The Turkish
government treated the Kurds harshly and banned all Kurdish expressions
including: art, music, literature, the use of mother tongue and wearing traditional
Kurdish costumes in the cities. The government enforced the Kurds to migrate to
the cities and called them “Mountain Turks” in order to dismantle Kurdish
identity in Turkish society (cbpa, 2011).
These
undemocratic and unjustified acts of Turkish authority caused series of
uprisings among Kurds. Between 1920,s and 1930,s, the Turkish forces launched
series of attacks against Kurdish people and crushed the Kurdish revolts. The
Kurdish resistance in Turkey was slowed down until 1978 when Abdullah Ocalan
established the Kurdish Workers organization known as the PKK. One of the main
goals of the PKK was to create an independent Kurdistan. The 1980 military coup
in Turkey made the situation of Kurdish people even worse and consequently
intensified the tension between the PKK and Turkish authority. The PKK built
its military bases in the borderline with Iraq and from 1984 began its armed
struggle against Turkish forces. During these years, more than 30,000 people have
lost their lives (Washington post, 2011).
In 1999, Ocalan
was arrested in Nairobi and handed over to Turkish authority where he took the
life sentence imprisonment. Today, the PKK is known as a serious threat for
Turkish government and its activity also has caused some problems for Kurdish authority
in the north of Iraq. One of the main problems is that The PKK uses the
Turkey-Iraq border for its military operations, which is under the control of
Barzani, s forces.
The other
problem is that the PKK is not agree with self-government of Kurds within a
federal Iraq and believes that an independent Kurdistan should be homeland for
all Kurds. These issues are not so popular and acceptable among Kurdish leaders
in Iraq and have escalated the tension between the PKK and the Kurdistan
Democratic Party in Iraq too. Today, however, the situation of Kurds in Turkey
has made some progress in comparison with 30 years ago, but the struggle of Kurdish
people for their basic rights and needs is still continuing (Washington post,
2011).
- Kurdish
people in Iraq:
The situation of
Kurds in Iraq was not better than in Turkey and they experienced the same harsh
and cruel treatment. In 1922, British and Iraq authority detached the Mosul
(Oil-Rich Province) from Kurdistan to Iraq and in return, they promised the
recognition of a Kurdish government within Iraqi borders. But later, Iraqi
government ignored this declaration and when Kurds resisted, both British Royal
Army and Iraqi forces crushed the Kurdish rebellion harshly (cbpa, 2011).
The struggle of
Kurds in Iraq continued under the leadership of M. Barzani (The Kurdistan
Democratic Party) and J. Talabani (The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan). In 1970,
the Iraqi government granted the rights to Kurdish language and self rule, but
the deal was again broken because of oil revenue. This event gave an
opportunity to Iranian regime to support and use Kurds in Iraq against Iraqi
government. In retaliation, Iraqi government forcefully deported 130,000 (According
to some Kurdish media more than this number) Kurds to Iran in 1974 (Washington
post, 2011).
During the
1980-1988 war, because the Kurds in Iraq were supported by Iranian regime, the
Iraqi forces brutally burned, demolished the Kurdish villages and killed
thousands of Kurds mostly civilians. In 1988, the world witnessed one of the
most horrible and inhuman acts, when Iraqi army launched a poison-gas attack in
Kurdish town known as Halabja. Through this barbarian act, more than 5,000 (According
to some Kurdish media between 10,000 to 15,000 people) Kurds including men, women
and children were massacred. (See figure 2 below). Consequently, just 2 million
Kurds fled to Iran and many others left the country to some European countries.
Following the invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi forces in 1991, the United States
implemented a No Fly Zone north of the 36th parallel in the north
Iraq and created a safe area for the Kurds (Washington post, 2011).
Figure 2: Kurdish Mother
and Child Victims in Halabja (Heise, 2011).
Following the
invasion of the united State and its allies to Iraq, the J.Talabani and M.
Barzani became the first president and the president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan.
- Main Discussion: Kurdish People in
Iran:
- Before 1979:
Both the shah
and Islamic regimes have treated the Kurds in the same harsh and barbarian methods
to some extend. The situation of the Kurdish people in Iran should be analyzed
in two historical dimensions of before and after Islamic regime based on two
main reasons. First, some of the problems related to the Kurdish people have
some roots in the shah’s regime. Second, both of these regimes have their own
characteristics which consequently have had different impacts in the life of
Kurdish people in Iran.
Kurdish nation
struggles in Iran was coincided with the rise of nationalist thought in the
Middle East and began in the late 19th century in 1883 onwards. In
this period of time, Sheikh Obaidullah Nahri began his struggle for an
independent Kurdistan against both Ottoman Empire (Today Turkey) and Qajar rule
in Iran. Both armies of Turkey and Iran violently repressed the movement and
defeated the Sheikh Nahri, s proponents and eventually, creation of an
organized, comprehensive national Kurdish campaign became impossible
(Kurdistanmedia, 2011).
The end of the
First World War was coincided with some events like the emergence of new states
(as mentioned above), exploration of oil in Iran and a need for a powerful and
centralized state in Iran. In 1925, Reza Khan Pahlavi (the father of the Shah)
took the power and imposed modern nation-state building in Iran. This forceful
project was resisted by different local powers in whole country including in
Kurdistan. Ismail Agha Shakkak (A Kurdish Leader in Iran) raised widespread
resistance against the central government and at the same time some other
Kurdish groups challenged the new states of Turkey and Iraq (Kurdistanmedia,
2011).
This simultaneous
and widespread resistance in three countries was a historical opportunity which
Kurdish people could achieve self-determination. But some domestic and
international factors such as the lack of coordination and cooperation between
Kurdish groups, weak sense of nationalism and solidarity among Kurdish masses,
exploration of oil in Iran and Iraq, socialist revolution in Russia and power
struggle between the West and East derived from the cold war caused that all
these resistances in three countries eventually were defeated. In 1942, a group of Kurdish
intellectual founded a secret organization which was called the Revival of
Kurdish Population (Jameiyate Tajdide Hayate Kurd). After three years
secret activities in 1945, the revival of Kurdish Population formed the
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) under the leadership of Ghazi Mohammad (Kurdistanmedia,
2011).
- Republic
of Kurdistan in 1945: After the Second World War, for a while Iran
officially was under the control of Soviet Union army in the North and United
Kingdom in the south. This event coupled by some weaknesses of central
authority gave opportunity to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) backed
by USSR to establish the republic of Kurdistan (Republic of Mahabad) and
Mahabad (Name of a city in Kurdistan province) became officially the capital
and Ghazi Mohammad was elected as the first president of the republic of
Kurdistan. Such this event happened in the Azerbaijan province too. Eventually,
in 1946, under the pressure of western countries, the Soviet Union pulled out
its troops from Iran and these two movements in Kurdistan and Azerbaijan were
left alone without any support in confrontation with powerful Iranian army
backed by the western countries. Iranian army crushed these movements with
intense brutality. Most of the leaders as well as members of these movements
were hanged, imprisoned or fled the country. However the republic of Kurdistan
lasted only for eleven months, but this event was and still is one of the
historical and precious memories of all Kurdish people (Kurdistanmedia, 2011).
In order to
understand why Kurdish people revolt, it would be useful to have brief
information about the life of them in Iran before and after Islamic regime.
- The Main
Causes Of Kurdish Revolt and civil War:
Michael Rose
states that:
“It is important to emphasize two points.
First, natural resources are never the only source of a conflict. Any given conflict is brought about by a
complex set of events; often poverty, ethnic or religious grievances, and unstable
governments also play major roles. But even after these factors have been taken
into account, studies consistently find that natural resources heighten the
danger that a civil war will break out…. Second, natural resource dependence
never makes conflict inevitable. Resource wealth raises the danger of civil
war” (Rose, 2003).
In this statement, Rose emphasizes on two important issues which
are exactly compatible with both Iranian regimes before and after 1979
political turmoil. Rose not only identifies poverty, ethnic or religious
dissatisfactions and unstable government as the min causes of any conflict, he
also explores the connection between natural resource dependence and
governance. Furthermore, he claims that natural resources cannot cause a strong
and effective government, instead can create an inefficient government which
suffers from some characteristics such as corruption, state weakness and
reduced accountability (Rose, 2003).
Let us examine
the Rose’s statement in regard to Iranian regimes.
During the
shah’s regime, Iran was the world’s second oil producer after Saudi Arabia. The
high price of oil generated huge amount of wealth and opportunity for Iranian
regime. Due to this wealth, the shah spent billions of oil dollars just on
militarization. In addition, this huge amount of oil dollars intensified the
process of import (mostly) and export in Iran. This process generated new
commercial elite which most of them were loyal relative and family members of
the shah. This nepotism coincided with corruption in the whole system caused
that a new commercial elite dominated the markets for different goods from
military equipments to basic needs. In other aspects such as democratic institutions
and political pluralism, Iran was a closed country. In the whole country were
only three artificial political parties which were organized by the state and
were completely loyal to the shah.
These parties
emerged with each others in 1977 and formed a new party which was known as
Rastakhiz party and Iran became officially a mono-party state (Kepel, 2004).
The combination
of all these elements created huge diversity and inequality in different terms
in the country not just between classes but also between the cities. Most of
the wealth, opportunities and possibilities in terms of job, health, education,
industrial and service sectors were concentrated and distributed in the capital
“Tehran” and just few major cities. Although, majority of the people in these
cities were not able to use these opportunities equally, but the situation for
people in the periphery cities and provinces including Kurdistan was worse.
These issues can be generalized for Islamic regime too. These are some of my
own personal experiences during my visits in Kurdistan before and after Islamic
regime. During these trips (twice that took almost six months) I had
opportunity to travel and live with people in different areas such as Sanandej,
Saqqez, Bokan, Mahabad, Marivan and Baneh (some Kurdish cities).
In some places
in these cities, people didn’t have proper sanitation and even tap water. In
some of them, there was only a health center or a small inappropriate hospital
which didn’t have proper instruments in term of quality and quantity to treat
the patients. For some serious sickness or different surgeries, the people
should travel to other big cities such as Uromieh, Tabriz or Tehran by their
own expenses which cost them fortune. In term of job and economic opportunity,
these areas were deprived too. As mentioned above, most of industrial and
service sectors were centralized within and around the big cities and small
number of factories and service sectors in these areas didn’t have enough
capacity to provide job opportunity for most of the people.
The situation of
people in countryside and villages was worse than in the cities. Some of these
villages didn’t have proper road and in the winter time their roads toward the
big cities was completely disconnected sometimes for couple months. They had
primary agricultural sector and their cultivation was completely depend on rain
without any irrigation system. In term of health and education the situation
was the same. Some of the villages didn’t have any school at all and the
children should walk every day in some area for couple kilometers in order to
attend the nearest school in other villages. Kurds were not allowed to learn
their mother tongue language in schools and the lack of higher education institutes
enforced them to move towards the big cities in other provinces.
In fact the
Kurdistan was one of the poorest neglected areas in Iran and Kurdish people had
only a few limited options. They should either accept the situation the way it
was without any objection or choose to enlist in the Kurdish rebel army against
current regime. However, during the shah’s regime opposition faced harsh and
severe punishments such as execution, long imprisonment, physical and mental
tortures, but the struggle of Kurdish people for their basic rights and needs
in Iran continued until 1979. Eventually, some issues such as poverty, unequal
opportunity, the lack of democratic institutions, not just in Kurdistan but
also in other provinces caused massive political unrest and consequently series
of chained demonstrations enforced the shah to leave the country.
- After
1979:
The year 1979 is
one of the darkest years in Iran’s history. This is the year of crisis and
transformation from monarchy to Islamic regime. On January 1979, the Shah left Iran and his
new chosen Prime Minister Shapour Bakhtiar couldn’t control the country
anymore. Finally, the monarchy in Iran after 2500 years collapsed and one month
later on February, Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran after 15 years in exile.
On April the same year, a national referendum held in Iran which was consisted
of only one question, Islamic republic: yes or no. The result was astonishing,
when 98% of people voted for Islamic republic. This landslide victory gave a
great opportunity to ayatollah Khomeini and his proponents to declare Iran as
an Islamic state, a state, which all its institutions should be based on
Islamic law and rules (Actnow, 2011).
Following the
1979 political transformation, the Kurdish people demanded their basic needs
and rights peacefully and their main slogan was Autonomy for Kurdistan and
Democracy for Iran. The negotiations between Kurdish representatives and
Islamic regime were result less and the proposal of Kurds was rejected by
Islamic regime. The ideological characteristic of Islamic regime (Shia Islam
versus Sunni Kurd) intensified the tension and on 19th Aug 1979,
Ayatollah Khomeini declared the “Holy war” against the Kurdish people.
Following this event, in the beginning Basij militia (later revolutionary
guard) with high tech weapons invaded the Kurdistan and repressed the Kurdish uprising
(Kurdistan, 2011). In retaliation against Islamic regime and in order to defend
the Kurdish people movement, some other Iranian opposition groups (including left
and right) mobilized some of their members to Kurdistan and the Kurdish area
became a platform for all Iranian opposition movement against Islamic regime. It
was one of bloodies civil war in Iranian history and for a while some of the
cities as well as the main roads in Kurdistan were under the control of rebels
from different political parties. Before we continue this section it would be
useful to explore an important issue.
As mentioned
above, in addition to Kurdistan, there were (Still are) other deprived
provinces in Iran for example Lorestan province, where I was born. The people
in this province also suffered (still suffer) from poverty, inequality and
deprivation and in fact Lorestan has been part of the Great Kurdistan in the
past, but why this people didn’t struggle like Kurdish people in large scale
for their basic needs and rights? Different scholars have tried to find a
logical explanation for this question. Barbara Walter is one of them and
according to her; two necessary conditions can cause a civil war. She argues:
“The first is a situation of individual hardship or severe
dissatisfaction with one’s current situation. The second is the absence of any
nonviolent means for change…a higher quality of life and greater access to
political participation have a significant negative effect on the likelihood of
renewed war” (Zartman, 2005).
This is a true
statement, but definitely not comprehensive enough to be generalized as the
only and main causes of a civil war. Of course some elements such as individual
hardship, severe dissatisfaction and the lack of democratic institutions or
weak state are some of the causes of civil wars, but the existence of just
these two elements alone can not generate civil war. The case of people in
Lorestan shows that in addition to these two conditions some other factors
should be involved. As noted above, the people in this province also suffer
from poverty, inequality and exclusion and to some degree are marginalized like
Kurds, and both provinces are under the control of the same state, but they
haven’t resisted the government as much as Kurds did and do. Undoubtedly, W. Zartman
is one of the prominent scholars who have analyzed these issues in appropriate
way. Zartman identifies three important factors of grievance, creed and greed
as the main causes of conflict and defines them as:
“Grievances
occur over a deprivation of basic needs of some sort, claims of rights based on
identity react to discrimination, and greed over resources relates to
opportunity…” (Zartman, 2005).
He argues that
poverty can be one of the main reasons, but poverty alone does not create conflict,
because there are many poor people who do not revolt. In term of claim for identity
or creed he states that:
“Ascriptive identity is a quality specific to groups and can derive
from race or ethnicity, but also from other fixed but less genetic attachments
such as religion or nationality. Like need, creed itself does not provide
conflict. It is only when two identities are in zero-sum relationship to each
other----or when one cannot be oneself except at the expense of other’s being
itself----or when need is restricted or targeted to an identity group that
conflict arises”.
(Zartman,
2005). Further, he continues that the lack of state authority and governance is
a contributor to the conflict, but this issue alone always cannot generate the
conflict too. Instead, he claims that the state weakness can create a vacuum of
power, which can be used by a political entrepreneur to mobilize the population
into violent conflict based on deprivation exist in the society (Zartman,
2005).
Zartman
statement answers our question why people in Lorestan do not revolt as much as
Kurds do in proper way. The main reasons between these two provinces lie in the
ascriptive identity matter and leadership agent. First, the people in Lorestan
do not identified themselves as a separate nation from Iranian and they believe
that they are Lor (an ethnic group) within Iranian multicultural society.
Second, most of people in Lorestan are Muslim Shia like most of the people in
Iran and this religious characteristic does not create any serious problem for
them because according to the constitutional law before and after 1979, the
Islam Shia was and is the official religion of the country.
Third, the
people in Lorestan have not had effective political entrepreneurs to use the
deprivation existed in this province and mobilize them in large scale against
the government.
Therefore, they
haven’t felt themselves as a discriminated group in Iranian society and do not
resist against the state as much as Kurds do. But the situation of Kurds is
completely difference. They identify themselves as the Kurds (although Kurdish
identity has been completely denied in Turkey for example) and are Sunni
Muslim. Therefore, they feel themselves as a discriminated nation among other
Turkish, Syrian and Iranian nations. These issues accompany with total
deprivation have made the Kurdish people a neglected and separated nation among
these states. The combination of all these issues has caused an endless
conflict between Kurdish people and other states of Turkey, Syria and Iran and
this struggle still is continuing.
- Iran-
Iraq War (1980-1988):
Undoubtedly, the
war between Iran and Iraq is one of the longest and bloodiest examples after
Vietnam War which occurred in the latest decades of 20th century. Some
factors such as border disputes (1975 Algiers treaty), religious (Sunni versus
Shia) and political differences, personal animosity between Saddam and
Ayatollah Khomeini (Khomeini was 15 years in exile in Iraq) were the main
causes of the war. Some other characteristics including the weaknesses in
different institutional frameworks in new regime (Islamic regime) and civil war
in Kurdistan intensified the tension and made the country vulnerable to war.
The combination of all these issues provided a good opportunity for Saddam and
eventually on September 22, 1980, Iraqi air force attacked Iran’s air bases in
different cities and officially the war between two countries began
(Globalsecurity, 2011).
The war lasted
for almost eight years and caused cultural, social, economic and political
damages for both countries. During all these years more than one million people
from both sides were killed, wounded and millions of civilians were forced to
leave their hometown which some of them fled the countries. During these eight
years war, twice one in June 1982 and another in April 1984, Baghdad proposed
peace negotiations and withdrawal of all its forces from Iran but both peace
proposals were rejected by Islamic regime (Globalsecurity, 2011).
As explained
above, the event of the war was coincided with some political unrest and
instability in Iran and in fact one of the main reasons that Islamic regime
rejected the peace proposals was its domestic political instability. Before the
war, the struggle of opposition against Islamic regime in Kurdistan prevailed
and the number of individuals who joined different opposition groups in
Kurdistan increased almost daily. It can be said if the war didn’t begin; the
Islamic regime would not retain its sovereignty at least in Kurdistan. The
event of war facilitated the best possibility for Islamic regime and changed
the course of history in the country.
In the name of
fight with foreign threat, Islamic regime mobilized all its forces including,
Basij, Revolutionary Guard, Army with high tech weapons and invaded the west
area including the Kurdistan. Through this invasion, most of the Kurdish
villages and cities were completely demolished by air strikes and artillery
shells fired by Islamic regime army and according to some data over fifty
thousands people mostly civilians were killed or forcefully displaced (Kurdistan,
2011).
As Keen states
the event of the war was a top-down violence which did not cause any problem,
but it offered a god excuse for Islamic regime to solve some of its domestic
problems with cruelty (Keen, 2000).
The oppression
of Islamic regime was not limited in Kurdistan and war areas, it included the
rest of the country and massive arrests began. During these periods, tens of
thousands political opponents arrested (including myself), most of them were
executed and some who were lucky fled the country. This was a moment that
societal security in different terms was sacrificed for state security as Ole
Wæver states (Wæver, 1998).
- The
Massacre of Political Prisoners in1988:
Eventually in 20
Aug 1988, Islamic regime under the international and internal pressures
accepted 598 resolution imposed by United Nation Security Council and
cease-fire between two countries was implemented (Globalsecurity, 2011). The
war officially was finished, but other unfinished business for Islamic regime still
was remained and that was the existence of thousands political prisoners, whom
could be a serious threat for Islamic regime after peace agreement. In July
1988, Ayatollah Khomeini declared a Fatwa and consequently the horrible crime
against humanity and genocide in Iran happened. In the summer of 1998,
thousands of political prisoners faced short, superficial and unfair trials
(according to some witnesses just two or three minutes) (Robertson, 2010). During
these trials, the prisoners were asked some questions such as: do you still
support opposition? Do you believe in Islam? Are you ready to sacrifice
yourself for Islamic regime or not? During this bloody summer, thousands innocent
political prisoners (4000 to 7000) were executed (Irantribunal, 2011).
Conclusion:
In conclusion I
have to imply that poverty and weak government alone cannot generate a civil
war. The history of Kurdish people in general and the comparison between two
provinces of Kurdistan and Lorestan in Iran confirm the idea that in addition
to poverty and the lack of good governance, other elements such as identity and
political entrepreneurship play an important role in forming a conflict. In
addition, the case of war in Iran shows how a civil war can make the country
vulnerable to an external conflict and how a state can intentionally prolong the
external conflict in order to solve its domestic issues with full brutality and
cruelty.
Here, I have to
emphasize that the struggle of Kurdish people for their basic rights and needs is
still continuing even in Iraq, where the Kurds have achieved their own
semiautonomous territory. Recently, some hundreds Kurds protested in
Sulaimaniyah (city in Kurdistan Iraq) and demanded for political reforms from
their regional government. During this demonstration two people were killed and
47 injured (msnbc, 2011). Generally I have to admit that the story of the
Kurdish people is a huge challenge for international community and will remain
as a major source of tension and destabilization in this region, if we cannot
find a fundamental solution for that.
M. Sirani 11.03.2011 Norway
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