Activists in Office: Kurdish Politics and Protest in Turkey - Nicole F. Watts. Iraq and the Kurds: The High-Stakes Hydrocarbons Gambit. Middle East Report N°120 19 Apr 2012 The full report is also available in Kurdish. A simmering conflict over territories and resources in northern Iraq is slowly coming to a boil. In early April 2012, the Kurdistan regional government (KRG) suspended its supply of oil for export through the national Iraqi pipeline, claiming Baghdad had not fully repaid operating costs to producing companies. The federal government responded by threatening to deduct what the oil would have generated in sales from the KRG’s annual budget allocation, potentially halving it. Each side has its narrative, based on history, accumulated grievances and strong sense of entitlement.
The two unwilling partners in an Iraqi enterprise born of colonial machinations – Arabs and Kurds – have spent 90 years in unhappy cohabitation. Ever since arriving in Baghdad on the coattails of the U.S. invasion in 2003, the Kurds understandably have used their new position and the centre’s weakness to develop their own region. 1. 2. Syrian Kurdish Cards. Upheaval in Syria has given Kurdish groups new opportunities to advance their nationalist agendas while serving as proxies for neighboring states. In Turkey, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK has taken advantage of the rift between the regime of Bashar al-Asad and the Turkish government by turning to the former to help it launch its armed operations. In Iraq, after some delay, Kurdish elites have entered Syrian opposition politics as well, highlighting the ironies and internal tensions of their own position.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is keen to persuade Turkey, its key regional patron, that it can contain the PKK elements based in Iraqi territory and moderate Syrian Kurdish demands, while also assuring its Kurdish brethren that it will support their claims. Whether or not the Asad regime falls, these cross-border power plays reinforce the increasing regionalization of the Kurdish problem and its destabilizing potential. Proxies and Patronage Networks Endnotes. The Kurdish Question in Perspective. Are the Kurds Still Kingmakers in Iraq? Since 2003 the Kurds have been considered kingmakers in Iraq, playing a key role in keeping the country together while negotiating Kurdish nationalist demands in Baghdad. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has taken advantage of the weak central government, an ambiguous Iraqi constitution, and high-level positions to establish its place in a federal Iraqi state.
Yet, relative Kurdish leverage in Iraq has weakened over time as Arab groups have become increasingly organized and represented across the country. In response to the declining influence that became apparent in the March 2010 parliamentary election results, the KRG has reaffirmed its commitment to “one Kurdish voice in Baghdad.” This strategy might temporarily unify the fragmented Kurdish parties and consolidate Kurdish nationalist interests, but it limits opportunities for sustainable coalition-building and creates new challenges for opposition groups inside the northern region. عربي. The Kurds and the State Evolving National Identity in Iraq, Turkey, and Iran by Denise Natali :: Syracuse University Press Syracuse New York. Denise Natali Cloth $29.95s | 0-8156-3084-0 | 2005 A timely book that analyzes the formation of Kurdish national identity from the late Imperial period to the present. The Kurds and the State has been selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2006.
Reviews "A sophisticated analysis of state-building policies and their consequences on national-identity formation. Specifically, it shows how the development of Kurdayeti—‘Kurdish national identity’ or ‘Kurdish nationalism’—has been more complex and subtle than merely opposition and struggle between the Kurds and the states in which they live. . . . Natali also amasses an impressive array of political, economic, social, and cultural facts, which she integrates into various interpretative explanations for what has occurred. . . . An important, sophisticated work that goes far beyond many lesser studies and will be read with benefit by all scholars and others interested in the Kurdish problem. View other books in this series. The Kurdish Nationalist Movement. Middle East Policy Council | REVIEW ESSAY: Kurdish Scholarship Comes of Age. Michael M. Gunter Fall 2008, Volume XV, Number 3 Until recently, most books about the Kurds have simply stressed how they have beenexploited victims and historic losers.
Recently, however, Kurdish fortunes have begun toascend. These positive developments for the Kurds are reflected in the maturity and sophistication of Kurdish studies. David Romano’s The Kurdish Nationalist Movement: Opportunity, Mobilization and Identity (Cambridge University Press, 2006) is also a refined theoretical attempt to explain why such ethnic minorities as the Kurds are mobilizing to demand recognition andrights from the states within which they reside. Based on living and working in Iraqi Kurdistan from 1997 to 2000 and frequent returnvisits since then, Gareth Stansfield in Iraqi Kurdistan: Political Development and Emergent Democracy (Routledge Curzon, 2003) provides a wealth of factual data andinsightful interpretations.
Asa Lundgren’s The Unwelcome Neighbour: Turkey’s Kurdish Policy (I. Faleh A. (I. Ahmadzadeh.