Kurdistan: A State or a State of Mind?
By Guney Yildiz
Guney Yildiz lays out the history and political differences that divide the KDP, the party that leads Iraqi Kurdistan, and the PKK and YPG in Turkey and Syria. This article is particularly important as background for those new to the politics of the region:
"The real question moving forward is how Kurds will unify in the future. Will Kurds continue to be citizens active as part of their present nation-states— that is as confederated autonomous areas—or will Kurds seek actual political independence? ... they can either work against the dominant states to set up their own country or work with the states in a bid to reform those states’ apparatuses in regards to minority rights. Iraqi and Syrian Kurds exemplify these two ongoing attempts at Kurdish self-determination; Iraqi Kurds aim to set up an independent state while the Kurds in Turkey and Syria are seeking to establish a decentralized government, based on autonomous regions that are not organized along ethnicity but instead recognize the rights of minorities.
…
The KDP has moved on from its previous official objective of establishing an autonomous Kurdish region and today champions setting up an independent Kurdish state. One of the main pillars of the strategy of the KDP leadership in its efforts to establish a Kurdish state is to obtain international support for the cause. The party’s founding leader initially secured some limited support from the Soviet Union and then switched to seeking assistance from the United States and Israel. The KDP did not succeed in receiving open diplomatic and military support until 1991 when the northern Iraqi no-fly zone coupled with funds and limited recognition from the United States and Europe, allowed the KDP to solidify its power."