Inkwell Institute

Middle East Desk

All eyes are on Iraq and the situation with the militants of ISIS……..the decision will soon be made as to what response the West will have to this conflict……will it be enough to save Iraq from a total meltdown?

For me, I am watching the situation in the autonomous Kurd region of Northern Iraq……I think that that area will be the real story that should be taken away with by the so-called “experts”.

So what are the Kurds and why is this going to be the story?

A people variously called the Carduchoi, Carduchi, Cordyene, have lived in about the same region since ancient times. Xenophon noted the fierce resistance of the Carduchoi to his retreating troops in the Anabasis. Roman historians recorded the subjugation of Corduene, evidently the same area, and its liberation by Pompei from Phraates. Pliny (Pinius Secundus), considered the Cordueni  to be descendants of Carduchis. In his Natural History he notes, “Adiabenis conectuntur Carduchi quondam dicti, nunc Cordueni, praefluente Tigri,” (Adjoining Adiabene are the people once called the Carduchi and now the Cordueni, past whom flows the river Tigris…)(Book 6:44)  ( http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Pliny_the_Elder/6*.html ). Cardene people, apparently the same, are mentioned in Livy and other texts. Early Christian texts mention a “land of the Kurds.”

Kurds have a long history as a people, including a more or less independent political life that waxed and waned with the fortunes of battle. This history is wont to be suppressed by those who oppose Kurdish national rights, and exaggerated by those who advocate such rights. It is clear that throughout most of recorded history, an indigenous Kurdish people has gone through periods of more or less independent rule in various independent and unassociated principalities, as well as persecuted life as a minority under other regimes. The national status of the Kurds could at no period be likened to that of ancient peoples like the Hebrews, Egyptians or Romans who had nation states, or even to medieval Poland or England, which were not modern nation states but were usually ruled by more or less cohesive feudal dynasties. It could be similar to that of Germany prior to unification or analogous to the status of Bohemia prior to World War I.

Before World War I, most Kurds lived within the Ottoman Empire. As the Ottoman rulers advanced, they took over Kurdish areas, primarily from Persian rulers. At first the new rulers improved the conditions of the Kurds. After defeating Shah Ismail I in 1514, Sultan Selim I annexed Armenia and Kurdistan. He entrusted the organization of the conquered territories to Idris, a Kurd from Bitlis. Idris divided the territory into sanjaks or districts and installed the local chiefs as governors under Turkish rule. He also repopulated areas despoiled by the Mongols and the Persians, including the rich pastoral country between Erzerum and Yerevan.

In 1640 the Ottomans attacked the Yazidi Kurds of Mount Sinjar with a force of 40,000, massacring about 5,000 in total. In 1655, Abdal Khan, the Kurdish emir of Bitlis, rebelled against the Ottomans, who put down the revolt in a very bloody battle and subsequent punitive measures.

Despite occasional unrest, the system of administration initiated by Idris survived essentially unchanged until the close of the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-29. However, as the Ottoman Empire declined, the Kurds increased their influence and power, and had spread westwards over the country as far as Angora.

Following the Russo-Turkish War war, Kurdish Sanjaks revolted, primarily resisting modernization decrees and attempts at increased taxation  Revolts under Bedr Khan Bey and others failed. Following the Crimean War the Turks strengthened their hold on the country. Kurdistan was created as an administrative entity during the Ottoman Tanzimat, in December of 1847, but was abolished in 1864.

In the 1880s, owing to enmity created by the Kurdish revolt of Ubaidullah in Persia, which involved attacks on Armenians, Kurdish – Armenian enmity increased. As Armenian agitation for independence mounted, the Turkish government encouraged Kurdish opposition. In 1891 they created a well armed Kurdish irregular cavalry, the  Hamidieh soldiers, named after the Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid II. This cavalry took an active part in suppressing Armenians and in massacres of Armenians.

During World War I, the Turks carried out a deportation of Kurds similar to the one carried out against the Armenians, but which received hardly any international attention. Evidently, about 350,000 Kurds perished in these operations, of a total of about 700,000 who were transferred to various regions.

Now you’re caught up to date with the Kurds and their desire for independence.

It all became more interesting when the US invaded Iraq and the Kurds help us……when the hostilities were over the Kurds got their fist step o an independent Kurdistan……a autonomous region of Kurdistan……

And now ISIS is doing the work for them……..ISIS is mostly concerned with the government in Baghdad and not pressing their attacks directed to the Kurds. (For now).  This is playing into-the hands of PeshMerga, the Kurdish army in exile……….army members are in Iraq, Syria and Turkey with a small group in Iran……..

The Kurdish army has seized control of the 3 provenances that they claim are part of a Great Kurdistan….they claim for the security of the region……..

Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said it had moved Peshmerga forces into Kurdish-populated areas outside its official borders purely for defense.

“The Peshmerga forces are in those areas for defense and in no way will they initiate attacks or offensive actions,” a KRG statement said, following a meeting in Erbil on Saturday.

The Peshmerga forces are also trying to control the border between Syria and Iraq……….

Kurdish Peshmerga forces have confirmed seizing the Rabia border crossing, the northernmost major crossing between Iraq and neighboring Syria. Kurdish forces say they took the crossing on Tuesday after Iraqi troops fled the area.

The other side of the border, the Syrian town of al-Yaroubiyah, has been under the control of al-Qaeda’s Jabhat al-Nusra for quite some time, and has repeatedly been contested by the Kurdish militias in Western Kurdistan, the Syrian northeast.

Eventual Kurdish control of both sides of the border would connect the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Iraqi territory with the de facto autonomous Syrian Kurds, and could be a goal for KRG as they drift closer to secession.

Now you are caught up to date on the doings in the region……..so while the world watches ISIS and the Iraqis….the Kurds are making their move.

I recently wrote a piece on the Kurds and what to look for……in case you would like to check out what I say……….http://lobotero.com/2013/11/29/lets-hear-for-the-kurds/

I also predicted this area to be volatile and could be the next linchpin that could ignite the world in conflict……but check it out for yourself……….http://lobotero.com/2013/06/13/looking-for-the-linchpin/

If the Iraqi army stays as impotent as it has been in the last week or so then Maliki will have no other option but to turn to the Kurds for assistance…….their participation will be more autonomy and more freedom……..and then the rest will be history.

Regardless what happens between Iraq and ISIS….this conflict is the beginning of a new nation…..a free and independent Kurdistan.

God I love this stuff!