At the United Nations headquarters I am sitting at a place where the heads of state, kings, representatives and leaders of more than one hundred countries have gathered.
As a Kurdish journalist there I thought this would be a perfect venue to find out if the world had indeed abandoned the Kurds now that the war with ISIS was considered over. I wanted to know if the only way forward for the Kurds now was through Baghdad and Tehran and whether, after the referendum, America’s back was forever turned on the Kurds.
Those ideas could also only be a myth created after the October 16 events. Maybe the Kurds still have a golden opportunity before them to stand on their feet again and be seen by American leaders as instrumental in the fight against ISIS.
In pursuit of answers, I questioned the presidents of the US and France, and diplomats of some 17 countries. The following are the answers I received and what mistake I think the Kurds are making.
US President Donald Trump said to me on Wednesday about the Kurds: “We are helping them a lot. We have been very friendly with them. As you know we have fought side by side. And we defeated ISIS a short while ago in the Middle East and we did with a lot of help from the Kurds. They are great people. They are great fighters. I like them a lot.”
His Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told me that the US would stop Iran in Iraq and he also spoke on the formation of a new government in Baghdad.
French President Macron concurred with the US president, saying, “You’re right, we have to recognize the implication and the role of the Kurds in the fight against ISIS. This is the reality.”
All other European diplomats I talked to this week said that they owed much to the Kurds for the ISIS war.
A Russian diplomat whose name and title I am not at liberty to reveal told me that Vladimir Putin does not see the rise and power of Kurds in Iraq and Syria as a threat.
The Kurds are being talked about in the halls of power and I think the government of the Kurdistan Region is making a mistake.
The KRG’s diplomatic activities are at their lowest level in years. For example, last year the KRG had a special team attending the UN General Assembly where they held a number of crucial meetings.
This year the KRG and its team were absent.
The reason isn’t that all Kurdish politicians are hard-pressed by the ongoing election campaign at home. It is in fact related to the notion that the best way to influence world powers is through their low-level diplomats in Erbil. Another belief is that Iran is now calling the shots and therefore is the way to achieve one’s goals. Both ideas are wrong.
If you just step back for a moment and think outside the box of Kurdish elections you will see a clearer picture.
The United States and its allies still see the Kurds as the only tool to face the threat of terrorism or any other threat in Iraq and Syria. The Kurdistan independence referendum of last year and the feelings of a couple diplomats here and there haven’t really changed the reality.
Trump’s and Macron’s answers to my questions are proof of that.
Iran itself is in a sad state and it’s getting worse by the day. The sanctions are not only going to bite Iran hard in November as Trump said, but as Pompeo told me, the US is going to focus on Iran and its activities in Iraq, too. Pompeo and Nikki Haley have tried to persuade even China and India to buy less oil from Iran.
So, if Kurdish leaders are only after political posts in Baghdad, then their best bet is Qassem Soleimani. But if they indeed have long-term goals, then they have to play a totally different game.
The first step is for the KRG to resume its diplomatic efforts with vigor and bring its presence on the world stage back to the level where Erbil was once treated as a world capital.
Majeed Gly is a Rudaw correspondent in New York.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rudaw.
As a Kurdish journalist there I thought this would be a perfect venue to find out if the world had indeed abandoned the Kurds now that the war with ISIS was considered over. I wanted to know if the only way forward for the Kurds now was through Baghdad and Tehran and whether, after the referendum, America’s back was forever turned on the Kurds.
Those ideas could also only be a myth created after the October 16 events. Maybe the Kurds still have a golden opportunity before them to stand on their feet again and be seen by American leaders as instrumental in the fight against ISIS.
In pursuit of answers, I questioned the presidents of the US and France, and diplomats of some 17 countries. The following are the answers I received and what mistake I think the Kurds are making.
US President Donald Trump said to me on Wednesday about the Kurds: “We are helping them a lot. We have been very friendly with them. As you know we have fought side by side. And we defeated ISIS a short while ago in the Middle East and we did with a lot of help from the Kurds. They are great people. They are great fighters. I like them a lot.”
His Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told me that the US would stop Iran in Iraq and he also spoke on the formation of a new government in Baghdad.
French President Macron concurred with the US president, saying, “You’re right, we have to recognize the implication and the role of the Kurds in the fight against ISIS. This is the reality.”
All other European diplomats I talked to this week said that they owed much to the Kurds for the ISIS war.
A Russian diplomat whose name and title I am not at liberty to reveal told me that Vladimir Putin does not see the rise and power of Kurds in Iraq and Syria as a threat.
The Kurds are being talked about in the halls of power and I think the government of the Kurdistan Region is making a mistake.
The KRG’s diplomatic activities are at their lowest level in years. For example, last year the KRG had a special team attending the UN General Assembly where they held a number of crucial meetings.
This year the KRG and its team were absent.
The reason isn’t that all Kurdish politicians are hard-pressed by the ongoing election campaign at home. It is in fact related to the notion that the best way to influence world powers is through their low-level diplomats in Erbil. Another belief is that Iran is now calling the shots and therefore is the way to achieve one’s goals. Both ideas are wrong.
If you just step back for a moment and think outside the box of Kurdish elections you will see a clearer picture.
The United States and its allies still see the Kurds as the only tool to face the threat of terrorism or any other threat in Iraq and Syria. The Kurdistan independence referendum of last year and the feelings of a couple diplomats here and there haven’t really changed the reality.
Trump’s and Macron’s answers to my questions are proof of that.
Iran itself is in a sad state and it’s getting worse by the day. The sanctions are not only going to bite Iran hard in November as Trump said, but as Pompeo told me, the US is going to focus on Iran and its activities in Iraq, too. Pompeo and Nikki Haley have tried to persuade even China and India to buy less oil from Iran.
So, if Kurdish leaders are only after political posts in Baghdad, then their best bet is Qassem Soleimani. But if they indeed have long-term goals, then they have to play a totally different game.
The first step is for the KRG to resume its diplomatic efforts with vigor and bring its presence on the world stage back to the level where Erbil was once treated as a world capital.
Majeed Gly is a Rudaw correspondent in New York.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rudaw.
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