Recently I have attended a number of meetings and symposiums the revolved around the upcoming Kurdish Independence referendum. There is a common thread that runs through them, both for the supporters and opponents. Those in opposition all agree on one point, the KRG is corrupt and that independence should not be approved until there are different people in charge. I have spoken to this before and will leave well enough alone. The pro side also speaks to similar themes such as the time has come and we have waited long enough and have proved ourselves ready. Again, these are all familiar and do not need further explanation.
What has stuck me as a point overlooked is the way each side both Kurd and others address the cultural and civilian differences in Iraq. The breakout of the Iraqi population is always given as Sunni, Shia and Kurd. This seems to ignore the fact that most Kurds are Sunni. By differentiating Kurds from Sunni and Shia there is the basic acceptance that Kurds are distinct and different from the rest of Iraq, which is Arab.
This brings us to the question of what makes a people or a nation. The accepted answer has been a common language, common culture and common values. If Iraqi itself differentiates between Sunni Arabs and Sunni Kurds and Shia Arabs they in fact have already split the nation. While the Arab portion of Iraq shares a base religion with differing practices they basically share a culture and language and national identity. The Kurds on the other hand share the basic religious beliefs of Islam they do not share customs, language, or values.
This should be sufficient to prove that the Kurds are a different people and are in fact a different nation. International law, the UN charter and other documents have for years called for self-determination of indigenous people. If Sykes-Picot can in any way be rehabilitated let us except the fact that boundaries can be changed, they are not forever. This time instead of the Europeans drawing the boundaries they can be drawn the way European boundaries were, based on the culture, language and values of the people inside the boarders, not on the political/economic desires of a foreign power.
Does this mean the dissolution of Iraq and the independence of the Kurds will be as peaceful as the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, not likely. But if the democratic nations of the world are true to their desires to encourage and assist the growth of democracy in the world they must allow a new nation to emerge in the borders that even Iraq has acknowledged in theory if not in fact, a non-Arab and Kurdish speaking land.
