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The kurds: natural born immigrants

By Cristela tello ruiz

In The Wizard of Oz, When Dorothy asked Glinda The Good Witch to please help her get back to Kansas, she told her to click the heels of her sparkly red shoes as she said Theres no place like home over and over. Dorothy woke up in Kansas only to found out that Glinda was, indeed, right and there is no place like home. It is somehow understood that when someone talks about home theyre not just talking about a house but also a certain city and a certain countryin Dorothys case, home was more than her familys farm, home was Kansas and the United States. What happens then when a whole population has no country to call their own? Can they still have a home or are they permanent tourists? Well, no one knows how this feels better than the Kurdish people.

he Kurdish people, or simply the Kurds, are a human group native to the Middle East and whose roots go all the way back to ancient times. They are believed to combine elements and aspects of other tribes and ethnic groups but are always referred to as an ethnic minority. They live in tribes, usually in the countryside, and are mainly dedicated to agriculture. Their language is called Kurdish and, even though some Kurds are Jewish or Christians, most of them are Muslims. The Kurds dont have a homeland; they inhabit the Middle East and its adjacent lands being Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran the ones with greater Kurdish population. Armenia and Azerbaijan also register a significant number of Kurdish people, although a lot smaller. So, where they always a homeless nation or where they expelled of it by a cruel and dictatorial enemy leader like it happened with the Jews and their original land? Well, just like with the Jews, the Kurds did have a land but it was always being affected with wars and it was eventually conquered and divided between the Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire. They did, however, had a territory called The Province of Kurdistan that was located in the Ottoman Empire but after its collapse as a consequence of World War I, the allies contrived to create several countries within its former boundaries. Kurdistan and Armenia were supposed to be two

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of those countries but the pressure of Ottoman revolutionaries forced the Allies to renegotiate the borders of the newly created Republic of Turkey leaving the Kurds without a sovereign region. Other Kurdish areas were assigned to the recently founded Iraq and Syria. So, they became a homeless nation. So, the Kurds dont have a recognized territory to call their own but why dont they? The Jews didnt have a recognized land either, but after World War II the State of Israel was created and the Jews were no longer a homeless nation. So, why cant the Kurds have the same land? Why was it decided that a piece of Palestine was going to now belong to the Jews but a piece of other nations cant now belong to the Kurds? As it has been stated previously, when the Ottoman Empire was divided Kurdistan was supposed to be one of the new sovereign nations and, actually, after World War I, the Kurds did have their own country for about three weeks. The Treaty of Serves in 1920, which was a peace treaty between the Ottoman Empire and The Allies, scheduled a referendum to decide the fate of Kurdistan but there was never a general agreement among the Kurds regarding the boundaries of their nation so it was dismissed. The Kurds have never had it easy and they still dont. In Turkey, they constitute around 20% of the countrys entire population and yet theyre not even recognized as proper ethnic group or minority. In fact, Turkey is one of the most hostile environments for Kurds, to the point where they are prohibited (by the law!) to wear traditional costumes, speak their language or name their kids with traditional Kurdish names. The Turks discriminate the Kurds and have no problem on taking it to violent extremes and millions of people, both Turks and Kurds, have died in this supremacy battle between sibling nations.

Iraq has the second largest Kurd population and it has not been that much different from Turkey. In the 80s, the Kurds helped Iran in the war against Iraq as a rebellious act but this was severely punished by Saddam Hussein who attacked Kurd villages.

Iraq has the second largest Kurd population and it has not been that much different from Turkey. In the 80s, the Kurds helped Iran in the war against Iraq as a rebellious act but this was severely punished by Saddam Hussein who attacked Kurd villages. The rebellious acts of the Kurds against the Iraqi government continued and so did the attacks against them. Eventually the United States intervened, although it had nothing to do directly with the Kurds, and ended up creating a safe zone for the Kurds in northern Iraq. The longed dream of their own territory has already been forgotten. Not because they want to but because its clear by now that its not going to

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happen, however, the little Northern Iraq territory has become sort of a Kurdish paradise where they are free to be who they are and follow their traditions without breaking any laws. As a matter of fact, its working so well that some Kurds that are located in some of the other countries are moving over there so that they can too live the Kurdish dream but, countries like Turkey fear that this semi state may make their own Kurdish people ask for a similar solution so the hostility towards them has only gotten worse. A lot of non-Kurdish people support the creation of a Kurdish state but for now the closest theyll get is the Kurdish community in northern Iraq. In simple words, the Kurds are eternal immigrants. Unlike Dorothy, they cant just click their heels to get back home because they have no home and will probably never have one. It is, however, absolutely necessary to create laws to protect them because even if they dont have a territory to call their own they do have a culture and an identity that should be preserved even if the increasing diaspora is making it hard.

As a matter of fact, its working so well that some Kurds that are located in some of the other countries are moving over there so that they can too live the Kurdish dream but, countries like Turkey fear that this semi tate may make their own Kurdish people ask for a similar solution so the hostility towards them has only gotten worse.