That ‘Snow is the primary form of precipitation in Kurdistan’ may astonish those new to Kurdish issues. The mountain snow irrigates the land where agriculture was born. The mountains have also long been seen by the Kurds as their only friends given how many times they have sought refuge there, as recently as last year when Kurdish Yezedis fled from the genocidal Islamic State to Mount Sinjar.
The Kurds are now winning new friends globally because they are seen, particularly in Iraq, as a bulwark against IS and a ‘moderate security buffer against spiralling violence in Iraq’. Understanding the Kurds’ past, present and future is vital but the last major book on the Kurds is a generation old. Although slightly marred by scrappy editing in places, this readable, succinct, candid, and authoritative book by an American ‘activist Professor’ who has spent 25 years travelling extensively throughout the four Kurdistans admirably fills the gap.
Phillips chronicles the systematic betrayal and abuse of the Kurds in the twentieth century: President Woodrow Wilson’s efforts at Versailles to end the bartering of peoples as mere chattels, sacrificing the Kurdish national aspiration – aided by the lack of clear Kurdish vision and credible leadership – and cynically exploiting Kurds as pawns in the cold war. The Kurds became beleaguered minorities repressed by racist leaders as ‘mountain Turks, ‘ the ‘children of satan’ according to Ayatollah Khomeini, stateless ‘strangers in their own land’ in Syria, and the victims of Arabisation and genocide in Iraq. Finally, the no-fly zone of the early 1990s and Saddam’s demise in 2003 gave them hope.
Phillips admires the Kurds but criticises when necessary. The historic decision by the Iraqi Kurds to establish a parliament in 1992 was soon followed by a bitter and bloody civil war over ‘petty differences and profiteering.’ He describes the PKK’s ‘rigid hierarchical structure and Stalinist discipline’ including executing five founders. The chapters on Kurdish Iran and Syria are thinner but punchy.
A ‘virtual Kurdistan’ with greater cross-border links is more feasible than a single Kurdish nation state. Iraqi Kurds do not want to be blamed for breaking up Iraq and will not move precipitously, unless the crisis becomes urgent or they have international support. They are also wary of the ‘golden handcuffs’ of Turkey, which disappointed them when IS came near to their capital last year although, he reveals, the Kurds had contingency discussions about independence in 2012 with Turkey, their biggest trade partner which needs their plentiful energy supplies. Former prime minister Barham Salih once argued that landlocked Iraqi Kurdistan needs three energy export pipelines.
Phillips recognises America’s ‘good faith’ effort to save Iraq but, if that becomes wishful thinking, America should proactively get ahead of history through ‘reality-based contingency planning’ and organise support for Iraqi Kurdistan’s independence, including basing troops there.
He also recognises that ‘only the Kurds can protect the Kurds’ and that Iraqi Kurdistan should ‘get its affairs in order and gradually assume the trappings of statehood.’ He outlines a menu of reforms that include diversifying and even dollarising the top-heavy and oil dependent economy, creating a tax base, overcoming a ‘culture of materialism and conspicuous consumption,’ tackling nepotism and corruption through greater meritocracy, finalising its borders, and devising security and economic relations with their neighbours. All a tough programme and even more difficult given the financial crisis now facing the Iraqi Kurds.
Whether the Kurds can stay in Iraq or embrace independence, they need informed friends to help maximise the potential of this progressive, youthful, secular and potentially pivotal place in the Middle East. This timely book should be studied by those who want to understand or lend a hand.
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Gary Kent is director of the all-party parliamentary group on the Kurdistan region. He writes in a personal capacity and tweets @GaryKent
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The Kurdish Spring: A New Map of the Middle East
By David L Phillips
Transaction Publishers | 268pp | £16.34