COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Kurds are inching toward full autonomy and should have international recognition and support as Iraq spirals into chaos and extremists gain more control, experts say.
Iraq’s future is uncertain as an increasingly powerful jihadist movement, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), gains control of Sunni Arab cities like Mosul and the Kurdish Peshmarga forces push back militants following the collapse of entire Iraqi army battalions.
"The Kurds deserve more support and recognition from the outside world,” said Matthias Bjornlund, an historian from the Danish Institute for Study Abroad. “No one is perfect, not even the Kurdish leaders in Iraq, but when the alternatives in the area seems to be jihadists, the Iraqi central power and Bashar al-Assad in Syria, there should be no doubt.”
In the UK, Gareth Stansfield, director of the University of Exeter’s Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, said he believes there is now a greater chance that the Kurdish leadership in Iraq will boost their autonomy or move towards full-fledged independence depending on how events in the rest of Iraq unfold.
“Now, with chaos and instability reigning in Iraq, the Kurds may be left exposed by the collapse of everything else around them, thus making the heightened autonomy or independence of the Kurds a simple de facto reality,” he told Rudaw.
The region — including some Arab countries and Turkey — would largely support more autonomy or independence, he believes.
“Turkey's recent policies in the oil and gas sector indicate a long-term engagement with the Kurdistan region of Iraq that would only be furthered if this region were to turn into the independent Republic of Kurdistan.”
But Kurdish leaders will probably continue to simply “watch and wait,” Stansfield predicted.
Meanwhile, in Denmark, which participated in the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 despite widespread public opposition to the war, people on the streets said they admire Kurdish efforts to stave off Islamic militants and back the idea of an independent Kurdistan.
The Danish government justified its participation in the 2003 war partly on the grounds that Kurds were widely persecuted under Saddam Hussein’s regime. Similar to the U.S. and British claims, many of which were later found to be erroneous, Denmark maintained that Saddam possessed stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and that he had used his chemical weapons against Iraqi minorities, including in Halabja. While the war was deeply unpopular among the public, Iraqi Kurds who had sought refuge from the Baath regime backed the invasion.
Danes in the capital, Copenhagen told Rudaw they feel both admiration and sympathy for the Kurds.
“The Kurds deserve recognition for both their military struggle against the ISIS terrorists and for their ability to create stability and growth in northern Iraq,” said 28-year-old Mads Feddersen, a university student.
“The Kurds have been oppressed,” said Michelle Gram, 30, a communications specialist. “One can just now see the difference between an army and a people who stand together for what they believe in and then a fractured remaining Iraq who do not have faith in anything.”
“The ISIS offensive seems to have slowed down for a while, which is positive for both Iraq and the entire region's stability,” said Thomas William, a 50-year-old publisher. “The Kurds deserve absolute respect for their efforts in this fight.”
Some said they backed Kurdish independence.
"The Kurds should have their own independent state,” said Kristian Larsen, a 45-year-old municipal employee. “We in Denmark and the West should recognize them more as they are the only ones fighting fanaticism in the Middle East."
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