Making Kurdistan possible

The Kurds are a vital ally in the Middle East. Isolationism would mean turning our backs on them, writes Gary Kent

This week marks the first anniversary of the peaceful referendum for the negotiated independence of the Kurdistan region in Iraq. Although 93 per cent voted Yes on a 72 per cent turnout, Baghdad swiftly punished the Kurds. Iran’s Quds force also exerted its muscle to encourage tough Iraqi action and overcome obstacles to a military corridor from Iran to the Mediterranean.

Baghdad closed Kurdistani airports for six months and squeezed the Kurds economically. Worse still, the Iraqi Army and associated Shia militia tried to invade the officially recognised Kurdistan egion to dismantle its government and control key assets. They were repulsed in three battles and then accepted international intervention for a strong Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in a unified and federal Iraq.

Prime minister Abadi used violence to overcome the humiliation of losing Mosul in 2014. Playing the strongman card, he thought, would bolster his nationalist credentials in the Iraqi elections in May of this year. The response by Baghdad included killing about 100 Peshmerga, some of them crushed by American battle tanks gifted for the purpose of defeating Daesh, and operated by Shia militia linked to Iran.

Far too little has been made of this by the international community – but the Kurds have not forgotten

It was a dishonourable payback for how the Kurds resisted Daesh almost alone, saved Kirkuk, and helped the Iraqi army liberate Mosul. Far too little has been made of this by the international community – but the Kurds have not forgotten.

But Baghdad failed to crush the Kurds, who acquired relatively increased strength in the recent Iraqi elections and in building a new coalition government in Iraq. Abadi is unlikely to remain as prime minister.

The Kurds have come far from the times when they couldn’t freely speak their own language and read their own newspapers. The understandable fear of further genocide lies deep in the Kurdistani psyche, but it didn’t stop them playing a positive role in Iraq as it stabilised itself after the invasion.

Survival is just the first step in reforming Kurdistan

But survival is just the first step in reforming Kurdistan. It needs to make itself fit for whatever future it can achieve in – or in association with – Iraq, with which economic, political and security relations are geographically essential.

I can rattle through Kurdistani achievements and assets: democratic aspirations, support for women’s equality, openness to the world and the West, especially Britain, and a natural and deep embrace of religious moderation and pluralism.

I can equally rattle through their defects: large-scale and unproductive state employment, almost total reliance on the vicissitudes of oil and gas revenues, a puny private sector, corruption, and a weak civil society that has not motivated its large youth population. All these merits and defects are detailed in All Parliamentary Party Group reports, including the last delegation in May to Kurdistan and Baghdad.

We often think in short-term cycles, tick off successes such as the military victory over Daesh, and move on

None of this is exceptional in the Middle East but there is a willingness in Kurdistan to overcome defects and amplify assets. For instance, the Kurdistani parliament, facing elections this week, is forming its own APPGs – the first one is on the United Kingdom. They have asked us to train their members of parliament and, working with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), we can also to train youth and student organisations. This is part of a wider relationship between the KRG and the UK to help improve governance and the capacity of the Peshmerga.

Inevitably, the salience of places like Kurdistan ebbs and flows in British politics, transfixed as it is by Brexit. But the importance of the Middle East to the development of global civilisation remains constant, even if there is an insular mood in Britain and especially in America.

For some, the original sin is intervention, usually seen as the invasion in 2003 – but one can cite forcing the Kurds into Iraq a century ago. There is also the lack of staying power and an eagerness to quit before the job is done. We often think in short-term cycles, tick off successes such as the military victory over Daesh, and move on.

Baghdad’s harsh, needless and violent reaction to the peaceful referendum convinces me that independence is necessary

The premature withdrawal of American troops in 2011, for instance, encouraged Baghdad to crack down on Sunnis who helped them defeat Al Qaeda, and gave traction to a new iteration of the group in the form of Daesh. Yet the roots of that vile organisation remain live and could erupt again if Iraq again fails to treat all its citizens fairly and equally.

Baghdad’s harsh, needless and violent reaction to the peaceful referendum convinces me that independence is necessary. The Kurds have the right to defend themselves against any further genocide, which came back with a vengeance when Daesh slaughtered the Yezedis and menaced Kurdistan. The result of the referendum stands, and the unknown question is whether it can become feasible for a landlocked country surrounded by strong and sworn opponents

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In the meantime, and maybe a long meantime, the Kurds should reform their own society while they have a large youth demographic that can enthusiastically create a sustainable economic base beyond oil. And the Kurds can also encourage Iraq to become a more open, federal and decentralised state. People can then be more easily persuaded that the jihadists have no answers but death and destruction. That is not merely a moral plea for solidarity with the Kurds in Iraq but part of a long-term effort to encourage democratisation in the Middle East and thereby reduce the flow of killers to and in our country.

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Gary Kent is Secretary of the APPG on the Kurdistan Region in Iraq. He tweets @garykent

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