The Kurds who are widely considered to be the most enormous population without a state have today caught the attention of the world, in particular the west as well as the superpowers.
They are located in the Middle East and were distributed by the former British and French colonial powers in the aftermath of the world war one. Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkey are the four countries to whom Kurdistan were given to.
Fortunately, there exists an autonomous Kurdistan in Iraqi Kurdistan possessing its own government, parliament and president. Stephan Mansfield who is a New York Times bestselling author in his TEDx speech (The Kurds, the most famous unknown people in the world) mentioned the fact that Winston Churchill and his two other colleagues forgot this nation when they were demarcating the map in the Middle East after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Thereby, the Kurds throughout the entire twentieth century up until now have always thrived, fought, sacrificed in making a state for themselves or at least making the foundation of the state and fortunately they are close to it now.
The Peshmergas and YPG (Kurds) successfully pushed back ISIS
Jean Baptiste Tavernier (1605-1689) who was a 17th-century French gem merchant and traveler and traveled to most of the world , visited Kurdistan and has been to most of it. He in his book understood the Kurds to be: “naturally dreaming of freedom, and independence, a working and skilled nation, and they know how to coordinate their own business and choose what is right and wrong.” (Shkur Mustafa, Kurd & Kurdistan).
However, the bravery of this nation does not end here! Taimur lang (1336-1405) who was a Turco-Mongol conqueror and the founder of Timurid Empire, a man whom had no mercy and passion for anybody, and whom most of people were scared of noticed the presence and prominence of the Kurds in his book. Taimur lang(tamerlane), wrote in his book that while he was in Iran, he got to meet a few personnel whom he had never seen before for he was not able to figure out where were they from. He furthermore wrote that they approached and told him they were Kurds. Based on his terms, he surprised on the way those few guys looked at his eyes with no fear which is as he considers unique for people were even able to look at him straight in the eye. Tamerlane exposed that their daring and bravery have attracted me and asked them to come to my army which was an honor to be in such army, but the Kurds as He indicated refused to do so and accordingly delivered the message to this conquer that they want to manage their own affairs rather than to be reigned under others!
In 2014 and within the proximity of Islamic state in Iraq and Syria to the Kurdistan region (Iraqi Kurdistan), The Kurds demonstrated their role in battling ISIS. ISIS who since the winter of 2014 had control over a large population of two cities in Iraq were continually fought by Iraqi army but could not be defeated.
Conversely, within their approach to the Kurdistan region and in a matter of hours, Kurdish forces (peshmarga), with the cooperation of the US airstrikes, successfully pushed back ISIS which was an unprecedented achievement and caught the attention of the senior world press and global media outlets. Indeed, Most of the US presidential candidates referred to the Kurds with respect to their military strategies in fighting and eradicating ISIS.
Donald Trump, the elected president of the United States of America has often referred to this nation and based on his terms, his military strategy in eradicating ISIS in Iraq and Syria would be within the cooperation and coordination of the Kurdish forces. “ we should be arming the Kurds, they have proven to be the best fighters, they have to be the most loyal to us, and as far as I am concerned I did not know that national had a large population” (Donald Trump, 2015).
Finally, the unity of the Kurds concerning the liberation of kobane, a Kurdish populated city in Syrian Kurdistan is another incident to know the Kurds. This city was two years ago under the control of ISIS for over 130 days. John Kerry, the US. Secretary of state marked in his speech that liberating Kobane is a hard task and it required much time to roll ISIS back from the city. Noteworthy, Kurdish forces from all over Kurdistan got united, fought ISIS and kicked them out of the city which was an occurrence unexpected by the international coalition against ISIS and the world.
I am not nationalist, but as a Kurd, I regard writing it as such as much needed for we are the only nation whom we were disadvantaged of giving a state after the end of the world war one despite of all what we have achieved not only in defending ourselves but in defending the free world and fighting the most radical terrorist organization on behalf of the world.
About the Author : this article was written by Ramiar Jamal, a master student majoring in international politics studying in Italy. Ramiar is a Young Diplomats contributor.
