China’s imposition of a national security law on Hong Kong, unilaterally breaking the ‘one nation, two systems’ agreement protected by international law, has rightly attracted condemnation from across the international community and received worldwide media attention. The actions of other governments that are less prominent than China are, however, flying under the political and media radar.
It’s likely that many have missed the news that Turkey is bombing parts of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq, which remains an important beacon of religious tolerance and equality in the Middle East. Without our Kurdish allies, we could not have defeated the terrorist group, Daesh.
In the Kurdistan Region, interminable waves of Turkish bombings have recently killed and maimed civilians, forced many to leave villages, and wreaked severe damage on the rural economy.
Turkey says it is pursuing the PKK (the Kurdistan Workers’ Party), a proscribed terrorist group that threatens Turkey’s stability. However, I fear these unnecessary bombardments have more to do with domestic Turkish politics than any new threat from the PKK and its affiliated groups.
The Kurdistan Regional Government has urged the Republic of Turkey to respect the sovereignty of the Kurdish homeland and to stop killing civilians. It has also called for the PKK to leave its territories immediately to prevent tension on its borders and further deaths. It could not be clearer in its aspiration to have friendly relations with all its neighbouring states.
The British Government should call for Turkey to show restraint and ensure that counter-PKK operations are limited to highly targeted and time-limited interventions. Turkey has our support in wanting to protect itself and crack down on a terrorist group, but I believe its air campaign is too indiscriminate to be defensible.
The new Government of Iraq has rightly stepped forward and called on Turkey to respect the sovereignty of Iraq and the Kurdish Autonomous Region – hauling in the Turkish ambassador to Baghdad at least twice. It may yet be necessary to raise the issue at the Arab League or UN Security Council.
I hope that the Iraqi Government will also take steps to end the tensions between the autonomous Kurdistan Region and Baghdad. Mutual territorial and economic agreements need to be reached quickly. This is made more urgent by the reported regrouping of Daesh [Islamic State, ISIS] in the significant no man’s land between the Kurdish Peshmerga and the Iraqi Army. These territories remain disputed thirteen long years after the Iraqi constitution aimed to have finalised their status. The UK should step up, and play a role in helping to ensure long-term agreements are secured that reflect the terms of the Iraqi constitution, which was endorsed by its people. That is the basis for a plan that overcomes differences and promotes collaboration between Iraq and the Kurdistan Autonomous Region.
COVID-19 has made pan-Iraq co-operation even more essential. The economic damage the pandemic has caused to Iraq and Kurdistan is significant, not least because of crashing oil prices and state revenues. They both need to diversify their economies to become less reliant on oil, be less state-centred, and to tackle their overly heavy reliance on public sector employment. The Kurdistan Region has huge potential, with significant water and wind resources and a wonderful and welcoming culture. It should once again become the bread basket of Iraq.
The UK has a history of standing by the Kurdish people. Walking around Erbil, it is not uncommon to be greeted by a South London accent, one of the many thousands of Kurds we hosted in exile from Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship. Our role in the 1991-2003 No-Fly Zone is a point of national pride, as is our partnership with the Kurds to defeat Daesh. These actions underline the importance of Anglo- Kurdish co-operation and make our responsibilities to the Kurdish people even more pressing.
The British Government’s policy of seeking a strong Kurdistan Regional Government within a strong and unified Iraq will uphold the stability of the region, while also respecting the Kurdish people’s right to self-determination, which is too often forgotten. We must continue to uphold the rights of the Kurdish people, at the same time as pursuing solutions in the Middle East that contribute to the lasting peace of this troubled region. That starts with standing by our allies. We must call for Turkey to be more surgical in its efforts to defeat the PKK, support the Government of Iraq in calls for Turkey to cease immediately activities that risk taking civilian lives, and for Baghdad to reach long-term economic and territorial agreements with our friends, the Kurds.
Alicia Kearns is a member of the British parliament for Rutland and Melton, and a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and National Security Strategy Joint Committee.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rudaw.
