Kurdistance: Picking up the pieces

After a month's hiatus, Kurdistance is back up and running…and attempting to pick up the pieces of Kurdish opinion floating out there in the blogosphere. The big issues this month have been the Saddam Hussein verdict, the US in Iraq, and the flooding in Northern Kurdistan/Southeast Turkey.

The Saddam Verdict: covered around the world and here on Global Voices, the Kurdish reaction to the Saddam Verdict has been muted at best. The primary question posed by Kurds is not whether Saddam Hussein should die, but rather if his death will really give the Kurdish people the closure that they need. Iraqi Kurdistan refers to the judgment as “fair and just”. Rasti is disappointed that the death sentence might be carried out before the end of the second trial: the Anfal genocide campaign against the Kurds. Mizgin believes that all of the evidence of Saddam's atrocities need to be brought to light and she suspects that the United States will push for a quick execution before US involvement in the Anfal campaign comes to the forefront of media attention.

So the Americans, for the sake of their own interests, are planning on dropping Saddam from the gallows before he drops a dime on them. In other words, it's much safer for the US and the rest of the international community that Saddam be dispatched before evidence of wholehearted support for him sees the light of day in an Iraqi courtroom.

Hiwa's viewpoint strikes me as the most poignant, he states that the verdict ‘doesn't really mean that much’ because the trial really reflects on the new Iraqi government and the future that it is trying to create.

I have always been against the way the trial was conducted, the way it was published, the way Saddam was faced with the allegations! I must say I cannot suddenly say I liked the decision etc etc just because I hate the guy and I believe he deserves death!
Are we talking about a Trial, or what he deserves? Are we talking about proving to be guilty while he is innocent or not? If it is the latter then Saddam is still innocent because he still have the chance of an appeal! …..
I think the tribunal needs to do much more, while the new but wobbling Iraqi government has to prove that they can deal with present fugitives as well as past ones! We have a saying in Kurdish that stresses the importance of the current stuff not the past stuff, so its easy now that almost all 6 Billion population of the globe is against Saddam to sentence him to death without much fact finding and delivering justice NOT only to the perpetrators but ALSO to the victims! It is equaly important for the supposedly elected Iraqi government to show that they are able to deal with the current situation and they will account for what happened in the past, otherwise what is the REAL benefit of dealign with the past while the present is unsafe and the future is not known!

Violence in Iraq is another hot topic in the Kurdish blogosphere. Bilal Wahab from Better Kurdistan and Iraq places a transcript of a recent interview he did about the current violence in Iraq. Roj Bash! details a kidnapping attempt while in Southern Kurdistan/Northern Iraq.

However the news about Northern Iraq/Southern Kurdistan is not all bad, Pearls of Iraq gives us an update on her book drive to benefit Kurdish schoolchildren.

While the world talked about Saddam Southeast Turkey/Northern Kurdistan was hit with heavy rain and flooding. The devestation has been widespread due to lack of proper infrastructure in the area; and sadly, serves as the most under-reported event in the Kurdish blogosphere. Vladimir for From Holland to Kurdistan gives us all of the details, including video.

10 comments

  • Is there such a country as ‘Kurdistan?’

    The post refers to “the flooding in Northern Kurdistan/Southeast Turkey.”

    Also, if there is a Kurdistan, why is ‘Kurdistance’ under the ‘Turkey’ heading in Global Voices. If there isn’t, the same question applies. Or is ‘Kurdistan’ simply the existence of land strictly in Turkey alone?

    Can someone explain?

  • Hejar

    Yes there is a land called Kurdistan. The dynamic of oppression and
    and its proactive encountring created a reality for a vast number of people, no matter their political affiliations or state citizenship.
    They consider themslevs as Kurds and feel attachment and belonging to a geographycal space called Kurdistan.
    If we tackle the issue from this perspective then the eventual debate on the question of self identification and legal aspects of that could be easily understood and not be rejected out right.
    For Kurds, there is a diveded nation called Kurds and a place/land/country called Kurdistan
    The “others” may accept and respect this reality, or reject it out of
    ethnic prejudice and political motivation.
    The International bodies, the present Nation/states as long as continue to ignore this reality , they certainly will not be able to
    have harmony and peaceful lives for their “citizens” as a whole.
    The modern Kurdish identity seeking movement to a great extend have been able to free itself from national prejudice and haterd.
    When you respect the difference, you respect your identity in the first place.
    HEJAR

  • Hejar: My question was, ‘Is there a country called Kurdistan?’ Your reply talks about land and geographical space and fantasyland dimensions. Are your claims of Kurdistan any different than American Indian lands in which the USA is built and operates upon. Or ‘Babylon-land’ or ‘Hittite-land’ or Fantasyland in Disneyland.

    Why do you get defensive when somene asks a question about ‘country’ hood versus neighbor-hood.

    Please answer the question. Is there such a country as Kurdistan. If not, will there be one? And how do you see as its fruition if ‘you’ do nt respect the borders of the ‘countries’ that make up a wishful thinking Kurdistan?

  • Metin, I’m pretty sure there will never be an East, West or Northern Kurdistan. However it might be time to stop calling Northern Iraq, “Southern Kurdistan”. It’s the closest thing to a ‘country’ of Kurdistan that we’re likely to ever see.. I hear it’s a beautiful and peaceful place, far removed from the carnage of the rest of Iraq.. What I wonder is whether significant numbers of Kurds from Turkey, Iraq or Syria are relocating there. Somehow I doubt it, because it’s probably more convenient to stay put and just continue to hate the “occupiers”, spit on their respective flags, fight guerilla warfare etc.

  • Deborah Ann Dilley

    The problem here gentleman is that I have to keep alot of people happy with my columns. Yes, there is no country of “Kurdistan”, but there is a region that fulfills that name. If I referred to specific areas by only the regional name of Kurdistan, I anger the Iraqis, the Syrians, the Turks, and the Iranians. If I refer to specific areas by the only the country name of where something takes place, I anger the Kurds. So I chose to refer to things in the redundant manner of things like Northern Iraq/Southern Kurdistan, so that I can keep everyone happy.

    As this is an article devoted to reporting what is being covered in the Kurdish blogosphere I must refer to locations as in Kurdistan, because that is their worldview. And as I dislike getting angry emails and commments from people who are angry over the term Kurdistan I must also use the country name.

  • Hejar

    Metin !
    I got neither defensive by your questin at all. I think my answer was clear enough. If by “Country” you mean a member state of United Nations, the answer is no, But the political identity seeking Movement derives its force and motivation from a country called Kurdistan and an oppresed people there.
    During the past 100 years this struggle for recognition by “others” have been going on. It seems in some sections of KURDISTAN a kind of
    sovereignty will be consolidated , not before long.
    Hejar

  • AmerikanTurk: Turkish Kurds would have to decide whether they would like living with Arab Kurds first before any ‘relocation’ takes place. This is where the true test comes into play. I don’t see any American Armenians, or even Turkish-Armenians, itching to move to Armenia. And I suspect the same will be true for Kurds of Turkey. Nothing short of living where they live, but instead calling it by the new ‘country’ name is what the ‘Turkish’ Kurds want. And Hejar knows that. If anything, there might be 3 separate Kurdistan states. But Turkey and Iraq, as well as Syria would not allow it.

    If it was up to me, I’d give it to them anyday. The amount of money Turkey spends on the Southeast, as well as Cyprus issues are too great for the sake of keeping those lands. Maybe then Turkey would at least spend the money on Turks who want to stay Turks, whether they’re Turks, Kurds, Greeks, or Armenians.

  • […] Sorry for the slow week, however if you want to read an interesting dialouge on the nature of Kurdistan in the geographic sense, check out the comments on the last installment of <a href=”http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2006/11/16/kurdistance-picking-up-the-pieces/”>Kurdistance</a&gt;. […]

  • […] Sorry for the slow week, however if you want to read an interesting dialouge on the nature of Kurdistan in the geographic sense, check out the comments on the last installment of Kurdistance. Deborah Ann Dilley […]

  • towsonu2003

    So no one covered the promotion of a Kurdish operating system by the mayor of Sur, Diyarbakir? And Diyarbakir attorney general started an investigation on both the operating system and the mayor. I see this as important because:
    1. Kurdish people now has an operating system in their own language
    2. Even a Kurdish operating system cannot be “tolerated”.

    News here: http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Kurdish_operating_system_under_investigation_by_Turkish_attorney_general

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