A few years ago, 2010/2011, a democratic and peaceful Middle East and North Africa seemed to be in sight. The people in the region had had enough with authoritarian regimes and went to the streets to show that peoples urge for peace, freedom and dignity would always prevail over dictators and oppressive regimes’ stranglehold over the people. The revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt were seen as a sign of hope and peace from all over the world. The gained self-confidence spread rapidly to people in the whole region.
Now three years later, we sadly see a region in chaos where extremists have gained power and the democratic and peaceful forces are caught in-between extremist organizations on one side and authoritarian regimes on the other. One of the groups in the region that have long suffered from a polarized region is the Kurds.
The Kurdish region in Iran is said to be one of the world’s most closed areas, second only to North Korea. The Kurdish people’s situation in Iran has during the whole 19th century been marked by armed conflicts between Kurdish groups fighting for self-determination and the Iranian regime. To this day, violence and the violation of human rights are part of everyday life for those who in any way are committed to the Kurdish cause in Iran. On a regular basis, people are reported dead as a result of the armed conflict in the region. The Iranian regime has also drawn up death lists of politically active Kurds who are prosecuted as either a threat to national security or “enemies of god”. These lists often contain names of young people who are not given a fair trial. We young Socialists and Social Democrats condemn all executions of young political activists that occur in Iran and demand abolishment of all death lists.
Around 2 million Kurds live in Syria today. Approximately 200 000 of them lived stateless for decades. It is a consequence of when 100 000 Kurds were deprived of their citizenship in the 1960s. To further add to the plight of the Kurdish people in Syria, with or without citizenship, the Syrian regime issued decree 49 in 2008. The decree restricted the sale and ownership of property to Kurds, forcing them to flee in search of a decent life. During the last years the situation has come to change since the revolution against Bashar al-Assad’s oppressing and authoritarian regime started. The Kurds are being attacked both by the regime and by some parts of the rest of the opposition. IUSY supports the Kurds struggle for peace, equality and diversity, and in line with this supports the proclamation of a Kurdish autonomy that would make it possible for them to enjoy democracy and their fundamental human rights.
Furthermore, in Turkey, the Kurdish people – along with a number of other minorities – are affected by the Turkish state policy of assimilation that has been taking place since the founding of the Turkish state. The policies have struck hard against all minorities. Until 2000 it was, for instance, forbidden to publish newspapers and produce radio programs in minority languages, depriving minorities of some of their most basic human rights. The Turkish state has also conducted military operations against Kurdish cities such as Lice, where acts of extreme violence have forced out Kurds from their homes and often resulted in massacres. The Turkish constitution must be democratized to stop the discrimination of citizens in the country who are of different ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds and to grant them equal rights. Also the Kurds will for self-determination must be respected.
However, there are “success stories” of Kurdistan. In the southern part of Kurdistan (northern part of Iraq), a young and fledgling democracy, with free elections, is taking root. The Kurdish region is relatively peaceful in an Iraq and a Middle East otherwise affected by violence and conflicts. But we have to actively monitor the development in the region, show our interest by giving praise when it is due as well as demands. We should nevertheless not forget that the Kurds in Iraq have also been hit hard by oppression. The circumstances surrounding Saddam Hussein’s plan to eliminate Kurds during the war between Iran and Iraq in the 1980s is a particularly frightening example.
Due to the recent events in the Middle East, not at least in Iraq, a serious discussion among the Kurdish population on an independent and free Kurdish state in Northern Iraq has come to take place. The future of a people must be in the hands of those people, no one else. The self-determination principle is essential and must always be respected when it concerns a people living under oppression and all other options have failed. We therefore see positive on formation of an independent Kurdistan that embraces diversity, democracy and equality for all people in the geographical area.
By Felipe Jelres (IUSY President) & Evin Incir (IUSY Secretary General)
Published on BAS NEWS