Kurds, A Race Without a Home: The Way Forward

Over the years, you have heard about the Kurds or Kurdistan repeatedly in the lingering Syrian/ISIS crisis. And it is likely that you must have wondered if Kurdistan is a sovereign nation-state and wherein lies its loyalty in the war without end. They are neither on the side of the Syrian Government nor sympathetic to ISIS cause. The Kurds, as an ethnic group, are mostly found in some parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Armenia. And they have no country or a nation-state to call their own. Reversing that non-state status is what this essay is about. Not the debate in Washington and certainly not on who is right or wrong on the argument of quid pro quo at the center of President Donal Trump's withdrawal of American troops from Syria.

The Kurds are an American ally, and over the years, the Syrian Kurds and those under the government of Turkey, have fought fruitlessly, but relentlessly for a separate, distinctive, and independent homeland to call their own. The world watches helplessly, lacking the audacity and a sense of justice to do the right thing. And from nowhere came a group called ISIS who took advantage of a void created in Northern Syria following the outbreak of the Arab Spring and the accompanying civil war in Syria to step into the scene and decided to create its global capital out of the ruin. And they succeeded, while the World was debating the ramifications or justiciability of sending combats boots on the ground in Syria. Eventually, they did and manageable peace evolved on the strength of the Kurds forces who fought the ISIS on the frontline, aided by American forces on the ground on an advisory capacity.

As expected, it was a huge turning point and a big blow to American foreign policy, when a few days ago, President Donald Trump pulled out American Forces from the region and the Turkish Government wasted no time sending it Armed Forces to the region to decimate the Kurds Forces and retake the occupied territory.

Given the number of years of fruitful military cooperation between the US and the Kurds, the sudden withdrawal of our Military Forces from the region by President Trump creates unmitigated backlash at home. So, it is no surprise at all that the crisis in that part of the World is having its toll on the American domestic political divide. Left for President Putin and Russia, ISIS should be decimated for Assad to retake control of the entire old Syria, including Kurdistan.

To the American, Assad is a dictator who ought to go by now. And much as Washington is interested in decimating ISIS, it is not with a view to facilitating Assad's retake of the old Syria or to perpetuate him in power. And that's where American interest at the instance of President Barack Obama, collides with Putin's interest in the region.

So, you can see the reason for the suspicion that erupted over President Trump's decision, knowing full well that when American forces depart, Turkish, aided by the Russians will succeed in decimating the Kurds and reestablishing its brutal reign over the region side by side with Assad. That's Russian's goal, which is inconsistent with what Washington stands for in the region. Now you know why President Trump's move was a grand suspect.

As I write, President Donald Trump and the Speaker of the House of Rep, Nancy Pelosi are having a field day debating who among them is contending with bouts of "meltdown" following the aborted deliberations on the withdrawal of American forces from the region. In spite of everything, I am siding with President Donald Trump on the withdrawal of American troops from that region, if the decision, as he said repeatedly was informed by a genuine commitment to do what is right for our men and women in uniforms and to save the taxpayers at home some money.

The question remains: How long will the American finest remain the sacrificial lambs for a war without end in sight, whether or not as in advisory capacity or as direct combatants? I sincerely believe and truly hold that until the United Nations create a separate homeland for the Kurds, there will never be peace in the Middle East. Permanent occupation, Military support, or Training support, just give it a name, by the American forces or those of the global community is not sustainable and definitely not the appropriate solution at this point in time.

If the goal of the occupation is to forestall the continuation of Assad's dictatorship, vanquish ISIS and Turkish occupation from the territory, and to protect the Kurds, while not just grant them a sovereign status?

We have the State of Israel, created by the UN out of their ancestral or Biblical homeland. We have Pakistan and Bangladesh created out of India in the satisfaction of geopolitical identity. We have Eritrean pulled out of the stranglehold of the Ethiopian Government. And Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) or Western Sahara presently recognized as sovereignty by most countries of the world, despite Moroccan intransigence.

Also, there used to be a country called the USSR - Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, and following Glasnost and Perestroika, that humongous entity is not more. Today, the components units that mushroomed into independent states are politically stable and doing well economically, except in Ukraine where Russian interference is unending. Finally, there was a country formerly called Yugoslavia and after many years of bloody ethnic cleansing campaign and religious suppressions visited on the minority tribes, the international community intervened. Yugoslavia was dismantled and from its ruins emerges new and smaller nation-states that were separated along racial and religious lines.

So, why do we have to dillydally over what is an inevitable reality in Kurdistan? And in the process, the Global Community has inadvertently succeeded in turning the region into a testing ground for Iranian, Russian, and Turkish show of strength Militarily, with a view to securing regional dominance and superiority. And at what cost?

This essay is more than the quid pro quo debate and it is outside the arguments in Washington as to what must have motivated President Donald Trump from pulling American troops out of the troubled land. How long will America and the concerned global powers continue to police a territory without a state or a government? That's a disturbing reality that must to confronted and resolved now for sustainable peace to emerge.

The choice before the UN and the interested superpowers is clear: you step out of the scene and allow the Kurds to have dominion over the territory as an independent nation-state, with the rights and responsibilities to maintain peace and to provide for the security of its people and the international community, or you remain neutral, watching from the sideline, while thousands of lives are continuously wasted every day, and at the same time depleting your national resources for military training and support. And for her long?

Give Kurds their homeland, Iran will no longer have any territorial ties with Iraq, Syria, and Turkey on the one hand. And Turkey and Syria will no longer have to contend with the never-ending resistance from Kurdistan and the scourge of ISIS.

Give Kurds their homeland and you will radically dilute Russian influence in that part of the World while scheming to protect Assad and perpetuate his dictatorship.

And give Kurds their homeland, and they will defend that territory and put an end to ISIS and its goal of transforming that region into its global capital. After all, the Kurds Forces were actually the real forces on the ground that fought and subdued ISIS for the US and the international community in the past four years.

There is no doubt, the Kurds, indeed, hold the ace - they are reliable and dependable. The fact that they could overwhelm and subdued the ISIS and create stability in the region, even as a non-nation-state actor, is an indicator of what lies ahead if imbued with all the attributes of statehood. Therefore, I firmly hold that the earlier America and the United Nations deliberate and resolve to give meaning to that expression (statehood in Kurdistan), the better and safer for the Kurds, the region, and the global community.

(The gray spot on the map, written Kurdistan is under the control of Iran, Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. It is the birthplace of the Kurds and it is today, the citadel of global terrorism).

Alex Aidaghese is the author of "Of ISIS and the Wisdom of American Combat Boots on the Ground in Syria," published on his Blog on April 10, 2016