On 8 June, as part of the Washington Kurdish Institute’s Najmaldin Karim Webinar Series, a panel of distinguished speakers – Ms. Zainab Morad Sohrab and Ms. Nilüfer Koç of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK), Prof. Henry Barkey, Mr. Hiwa Osman, and Amb. Peter Galbraith – gathered to discuss the regional and global consequences and policy ramifications of the Turkish state’s war on the Kurds, the emerging Kurdish dynamic in the Middle East, and possible policy approaches for Washington. This timely event took place as the Turkish military pressed ahead with a large-scale campaign in South Kurdistan (northern Iraq) to expand existing zones of occupation in the region.
Our speakers drew attention to Turkey’s role as a destabilizing force in the Middle East, contrasting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s various wars of choice in Kurdistan and elsewhere with the positive role played by the Kurds in defeating the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization and other similar jihadist groups and establishing autonomous areas characterized by peaceful coexistence of Kurdistan’s various religious and ethnic groups. Speakers discussed the important role of the US in the region and how the approach of the Biden Administration to both Erdogan and the Kurds may differ from that of its predecessor, and addressed the Turkish state’s strategies of invasion, occupation, and forced demographic change of occupied zones and export of jihadist proxy fighters to support various Turkish military campaigns.
Our speakers agreed that, following the changes in the region over the last few decades, the Kurds play a prominent role in the Middle East, and the two stable Kurdish autonomous regions, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Rojava/North and East Syria, are both important in US foreign policy. Meanwhile, the Turkish state, which takes a hostile position against the Kurds, seeks to challenge existing borders by invading and occupying parts of both of these regions and displacing the regions’ inhabitants. With US President Biden scheduled to meet Erdogan on 14 June on the sidelines of the upcoming NATO summit in Brussels and Turkish military aggression and occupation continuing in both South Kurdistan and Rojava, the Washington Kurdish Institute calls for President Biden to respect the sacrifices of his Kurdish allies and support their efforts to live in peace in their homeland by:
- Reiterating the support of the US for both the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq (KRG) and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES)
- Assisting the Kurdish forces who sacrificed thousands of lives in support of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS
- Calling for an immediate end to Turkish military aggression against South Kurdistan and North and East Syria and an immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Turkish occupation forces and jihadist proxy fighters from these territories
- Calling for freedom for all political prisoners in Turkey, including Kurdish leaders and activists
Washington Kurdish Institute June 13, 2021