It goes without saying that there is hardly any country in the region that would be against territorial integrity of Iraq. The same is valid for the countries involved for some time with Iraq. In other words, following the official statements by the United States' officials, any disintegration appears to be the least desired option.

Only if worst comes to worst and a lack of compromise between various opposing fractions within Iraq accompanied by an untimely withdrawal of the American troops leave us without a federal (or confederal) Iraqi future prospects, the independent Kurdish state in the Northern Iraq might be one of the available alternatives at the disposal – for the Iraqi Kurds.

But again, it is needless to say that even realization of the last option would have to correspond with geographic and demographic realities. Only then such a trauma can be overcome with relatively minor injuries.



Aggressive diaspora

However, sometimes stating the obvious might be a disturbing reality for some, mainly for those with the nationalist reflexes excessively developed. And while “Great Kurdistan” would perhaps say very little to the Kurdish populations of Iran, Syria or Turkey, pan-Kurdish ideology is nothing unknown for the powerful Kurdish diaspora abroad.

We can find an ample amount of evidences around when diasporas pursue much more aggressive nationalists agendas than people living in the concerned countries. And one would be surprised how little attractive solving the Kurdish issue within existing borders is for some elements of the Kurdish diaspora.

When diplomat and prolific author Ingmar Karlsson launched his 15th book titled “Kurdistan – the country that doesn't exist” last month in Stockholm, it was generally very well received – including by Kurdish intellectuals – except by some Kurdish groups present and active in Sweden. They, apparently, felt so much “outraged” by the new book that they didn't refrain even from physical threats to the author.

Karlsson who has written all 15 books during his active career tackles in his latest book the Kurdish question with a good portion of realism based primarily on his personal interest experiences from his diplomatic positions. Hence, he sees the solution to the Kurdish problem in achieving the basic human and cultural rights for the Kurds within the states they are living in at present and not in creating a Kurdish state by taking to arms.



Unification not possible

According to Karlsson any unification of Kurds into a kind of greater Kurdish state is an impossibility not only due to the economic and geopolitical realities prevailing in the region but also since there is no monolithic Kurdish identity, no common national awareness, and no strategies for political mobilization and moreover four languages with different alphabets. The internal political power struggles in such an entity would be enormous.

On the other hand, in order to curb the Kurdish nationalist tendencies, stable political conditions and progressive development towards pluralism and democracy in the countries where they constitute a minority are a sine qua non of a successful outcome.

This, in the case of Turkey has a lot do with the clear EU membership process free of any ambiguity – either from the side of EU or Turkey.

Even though an existence of a problem is a raison d'etre for the survival of a diaspora, it would be advisable for the Kurdish one to stop being a hurdle and instead to join those Kurds who have decided to engage in dialogue.

Ingmar Karlsson's book is giving an objective account of the current position of the Kurdish issue therefore it is highly unlikely to satisfy nationalists on any side. We can follow the responses soon, as it has been recently translated also to Turkish (under the title “Kürdistan – olmayan ülke”) and it will be available from the middle of October at the Homer Kitabevi bookstore in Istanbul.

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Die Kurden scheinen doch Größere Nazis als die Türken zu sein :rolleyes: