West Asia is in a phase of fundamental upheaval. Decades-old rulers are falling, traditional powers find themselves under huge pressure. And the world is discovering new players in the region. In the course of these changes, the Kurdish people have developed into a key actor whose influence extends far beyond the borders of their own settlement area.
Both regionally and internationally, there is therefore growing interest in establishing direct relations with the Kurds in order to better understand their motivations and goals.
The 5000-year-old history of Kurds in West Asia
Around 5,000 years ago, the Sumerians referred to their neighbours in the Zagros and Taurus mountains to the north of them as “Kurti” – “the people from the mountains.” The Assyrians spoke of the “Nairi”, the people who lived near the rivers Euphrates and Tigris.
The word ‘Kurdistan’ – ‘the land of the Kurds’ – was first mentioned in the 9th century. The Kurds themselves trace their cultural roots back to the Neolithic revolution around 15,000 years ago. They consider themselves a people that has made significant contributions to the West Asian “cradle of civilization.”
As one of the oldest peoples in West Asia, the 50 million Kurds play a central role in the region culturally, politically, economically and militarily. With a population of 25 million in Turkey, 13 million in Iran, 7 million in Iraq and 3 million in Syria, Kurdistan is geostrategically located in the heart of West Asia.
There is also a diaspora of around 5 million Kurds, particularly in European countries such as Germany, France and the UK, but also in Russia, Armenia, Egypt, Lebanon, Israel or Jordan. Rich water resources in the form of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, large areas of fertile land and enormous mineral resources also give the predominantly Kurdish populated areas great economic importance.
The 100-year-old policy of denial and genocide against the Kurds has failed today
The forceful division of the region’s multi-ethnic and multi-religious societies along nation state borders by European colonialist powers after World War I led to a state of permanent conflict. Today, the autocratic and oligarchic nation states established 100 years ago in West Asia have become an obstacle for globalised neoliberalism.
The Sykes-Picot-Treaty (1916) and the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) have thus become obsolete. This has put especially Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran under great pressure.
Despite these recent changes, the recognition of the Kurdish people as an important regional player is not a given. In the course of the reorganisation of West Asia during the First World War, Great Britain and France decided to divide Kurdistan into the four states mentioned above.
This was followed by a century of denial and genocide against the Kurds, particularly on the part of the Turkish state. In Turkey, Kurdish names and the Kurdish language were banned, millennia-old names of Kurdish villages were changed and millions of Kurds were forcefully expelled to Turkish cities or to Europe.
Due to their strong ties to their homeland, the Kurds have always resisted this policy over the past 100 years. Since the 1970s, this has taken the form of a modern popular movement that enjoys the support of an absolute majority in all four parts of Kurdistan.
This development was started by the Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan in the 1970s based on the conviction that “Kurdistan is a colony”. In 1978, Öcalan founded the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which has since lead to the development of a huge people’s movement, armed struggle, major civil uprisings and a comprehensive political struggle.
In Turkey, the Kurds today make up the majority of the 62 members of parliament of the DEM Party, the third largest party in Turkey’s parliament. They control over 100 municipalities and even tip the scales in elections in major Turkish cities such as Istanbul and Ankara.
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The Kurds living in Iran insist on democratisation and demonstrated their determination to protest peacefully during the “Jin, Jiyan, Azadî” protests in 2022. In Iraq, the Kurds have a constitutionally guaranteed autonomous status in the form of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI).
In Syria, too, the Kurdish population has made a significant contribution to the creation of a de facto autonomy: the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES). The DAANES’ self-defense forces – the YPG, YPJ and SDF – defeated the Islamic State in heavy fighting between 2014 and 2019 and are still holding around 12,000 IS fighters from over 50 countries captive today.
The successful fight against IS in particular ensured that the Kurds are now recognised internationally as a progressive, democratic and secular actor in West Asia.
The Kurds are finding their place in a new, democratic West Asia
In recent years, it has been Turkey in particular that has resisted the democratic reorganisation of the region. It has extended its policy of denial and genocide against the Kurdish population to Syria and Iraq in the form of military operations since 2016.
Parts of the north of both countries are currently under Turkish occupation and are subjected to dozens of air strikes by Turkish drones and fighter jets every day. In Turkey itself, more than 10,000 Kurds are currently in prison for political reasons, including numerous democratically elected parliamentarians and the former co-chairs of the HDP, Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ. Military and police operations take place on a daily basis in the predominantly Kurdish-populated east of Turkey.
But Turkey’s destabilising influence in West Asia goes even further. With the help of Islamist mercenaries in Libya and Armenia or Muslim Brotherhood organisations such as Hamas, Turkey is trying to destabilise the region and thus create the conditions for implementing its dreams of a “neo-Ottoman empire.”
Especially after the weakening of the Syrian regime in the course of the Arab Spring, the role of the Kurds in the region has changed. In 2012, they took control of their villages and cities in the North-East of Syria.
There, they did not opt for the drawing of new borders, but instead decided to shape their future together with all ethnic and religious groups of the area. The Kurdish strategy proposed by their leader Öcalan encouraged them to build inclusive and grassroots democratic structures in order to secure lasting peace. An essential dynamic of democratization in these structures has been women’s empowerment.
Since the G20 summit in Delhi in September 2023, the reorganisation of West Asia has gained significant momentum – but largely in contrast to Turkey’s neo-Ottoman ambitions. Similar to during the First World War, international and regional forces are pushing for a reorganisation of the region.
Kurds have friendly relations with a large number of states and societies
In this context, the Kurds do not believe that the creation of a separate Kurdish nation state would solve the need for democracy and stability. In order to avoid further wars and conflicts, they instead seek solutions within the existing borders while pushing resolutely for the democratisation of West Asia.
Their fundamental demand is the creation of new, democratic constitutions in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. They understand this as strengthening local self-government, the equal participation of women in all areas of life, the representation of all ethnic and religious groups and the ecological transformation of the economic system.
Two important developments in recent weeks clearly show that the Kurds are serious about democratising and stabilising the region. On the one hand, Abdullah Öcalan, who has been imprisoned in Turkey for 26 years, has paved the way for a political solution to the Kurdish question in Turkey and the democratisation of the country with his ‘Call for Peace and a Democratic Society’ on 27 February.
Öcalan’s call received great international support, e.g. from the UN, the USA, Germany and China, and triggered intensive efforts by all parties in Turkey to find a political solution. On the other hand, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – the Kurdish self-defense forces YPG and YPJ play a decisive role in the SDF – and the Syrian interim government signed a memorandum-of-understanding on March 10 regarding the political and military integration of DAANES into an overall Syrian system.
If the eight-point document is actually implemented by the end of the year as agreed, this would mean a fundamental democratic reorganization of Syria. This development was also welcomed internationally, including by Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait.
Due to their achievements in the region and their diaspora around the world, the Kurds today enjoy friendly relations with a large number of states and societies. They therefore feel strengthened in their efforts to democratise the region. The Kurdish people and the international community have a shared vision of a new organisation of the region. They are aware that only a democratic West Asia can be stable in the long term.
The Kurds consider the support of international and regional forces for the voices of democracy to be very important. West Asia has been suffering from war, genocide and violence for far too long. Only through joint efforts will the region once again become a peaceful and prosperous home for its millennia-old peoples and faith groups. A key player for democracy and stability in the region – the Kurds – welcome a close exchange with all those who are interested in developing West Asia in this direction.
Nilüfer Koç is a member of the Executive Council of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK).
