TIME FOR KURDISTAN

Since the West recognized the importance of oil, our policy and positions towards the Middle East have consistently been at odds with our publicly-proclaimed values. Our treatment of this region as a cultural backwoods without any redeeming value other than oil has led to decades of animostiy and violence.

There is no use in recapping here the West’s misadventures in the Middle East, but recent events have presented a unique opportunity to help us find a way out of the current quagmire, combat ISIS, and lay a new foundation for peace in the Middle East. The idea is simple, but the implementation will be tricky. The solution? Kurdistan.

Kurdistan is not a country. Rather it is the term for the regions of Iraq, Syria, and Turkey inhabited by the Kurds, an ethnic group with ties to this region as old as any we currently recognize. Kurdish archers harassed the Persian forces of king Xerxes as he led his army into Greece in 480 BCE, and the Kurd Saladin put an end the Crusades by capturing Jerusalem in 1187 CE.

More importantly, the Kurds represent a capable and reliable partner in today’s Middle East, a region in which America has few capable and reliable partners. Their quest for nationhood could be the catalyst for stability so long elusive in the region.

The first issue to be resolved is that of territory. The boundaries of a future Kurdish state would include parts of both Iraq and Syria. The United States has little desire to see Bashir al-Assad remain in power, and after years of fighting it is unlikely that he will ever be able to rule over a united Syria. The recent Kurdish victory at Kobani along the Turkish border establishes Kurdish military and political authority in regions of both Iraq and Syria, many of which overlap with the Islamic State, against whom the Kurds have been fighting for months. Since this territory is already under the control of neither Syria nor Iraq, it is the ideal place to establish a Kurdish state. Negotiations over land with the Iraqi government should begin immediately, and the US should offer the Kurds control over land within Syria that is currently controlled by the Islamic State if the Kurds lead the fight in eliminating ISIS. This also undermines what authority Assad still has, a positive tangental side-effect. Turkey should also be engaged in this conversation, with the goal of relocating Turkish Kurds into the new Kurdish state. Turkey’s borders should remain fixed, but that nation would reimburse Kurds for the value of their abandoned property in Turkey if they voluntarily choose to relocate. This would help ease some of the tensions that currently exist between Turkey and the Kurds, and help establish the boundaries of the future Kurdish state which would stretch from the Mediterranena coast of what is now Syria into the northern portion of Iraq with stable borders abutting both nations. Parts of Syria not occupied by ISIS would be exempt from Kurdistan. We do not want the Kurds wading into the Syrian civil war, we just want them to defeat ISIS.

The second issue, of course, is the reliability of the Kurds as an effective and stable partner. Given America’s failed history of engagement in the Middle East, this is indeed a huge question upon which the whole endeavor hinges. Fortunately, in the last year alone, the Kurds have proven to be both value-driven and effective. I cite as examples here both their military success against ISIS — most recently at Kobani — as well as their willingness last year to help the Yazidi religious minority as indications that they are capable of creating and defending an inclusive state so long as they are on good terms with their neighbors.

This brings me to the third issue, the attitudes of those neighbors. Syria, clearly, would not be pleased to lose territory to a Kurdish state, but Syria does not currently exist as a unified country with borders, and what would become Kurdistan would be territory taken from ISIS. The Iraqi government would need to be one of the key negotiating partners at the table to determine which parts of northern Iraq could become part of Kurdistan. Given that “Kurdistan” is already an semi-autonymous region of Iraq, this is an issue that can likely be resolved. Turkey has notoriously poor relations with its Kurdish citizens and the PKK, but the creation of Kurdistan and freedom for Turkish Kurds to emigrate while receiving financial recompense could alleviate those issues. Finally, if Kurdistan is to become a nation it needs to enter into a formal agreement with Israel never to engage in unprovoked hostilities with that nation. Kurdistan need not be allied with Israel, but non-aggression is essential.

IF Kurdish leaders can commit to these goals, then there is room for action immediately. This is an opportunity for America to apply the lessons we’ve learned from previous misadventures and reset the tone of our relationship with Middle Eastern countries. Pesh merga forces, with assistance from US air support, have proven capable ground fighters, and will only improve with increased training from the US. The Kurds will likely fight even harder if they have an actual state to defend. The United States should provide diplomatic support to help the Kurds draft a constitution that protects the rights of ethnic and religious minorities including all sects of Islam, Christians, the Yazidis, and Jews. Only willingness to accept the terms of such a constitution would earn the Kurds American support and backing in the fight against ISIS for the creation of their state. If the Kurds can truly commit to these ideals, they may win Israeli support for a new nation as well. What a powerful display this would be, not just American support for an overwhelmingly Muslim nation-state, but cooperation between Israel and Kurdistan against common threats to democracy.

The end goal, of course, is to create a stable nation that can, along with Israel, provide a pluralistic, inclusive, and democratic society in the Middle East. Iraq was supposed to be this country, but our invasion of that nation under suspicious pretenses and the bungled attempt at nation-building that followed made that impossible. The situation here is different. There is no Kurdistan for America to invade, but by tapping into the national dreams of Kurds, we can leverage their desire for statehood to help us purge the region of ISIS and create a genuine democracy as well. There is a mutally-beneficial, if somewhat radical, agreement to be had here. If only we were bold enough to act on it. The Kurds will continue to pursue their dream of statehood with or without the United States, but I think there is a chance for partnership here that we should not waste. America needs a real reset with the Middle East, and Kurdistan could be it.

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