1958

International Journal of Kurdish Studies, Jan, 2004 by Kamuran Aali Bedir-Khan

... A Treaty made more than a quarter of a century ago assured the Kurdish people the right of unity and independence; this Treaty was obtained by sustained efforts and heavy sacrifices. Even though this Treaty has never been executed, its moral force has been strengthened by new factors. We have only to think of the principle of auto-disposition adopted by the United Nations, the right of self-government, the moral principle concerning human rights and the dignity which develops therefrom.

In spite of these conditions Kurdistan remains a country divided and subdued. This situation is all the more tragic because of the fact that it is due to the three States of the Middle East. Is it not paradoxical that Turkey, Iran and Iraq, declaring themselves champions of anti-colonialism and defenders of liberty, should subdue one of themselves? In fact Kurdistan has the same status as Turkey, Iran and Iraq inasmuch as it is a country of the Middle East and attached by multiple liens.

It is all too well known to insist that through intolerance, chauvinism and aggressive nationalism towards the Kurds, the Governments of these States have not hesitated to pass laws declaring that five million Kurds in Turkey are classed as Mountain Turks and that three million Kurds in Iran are classed as mountain Persians. The result is clear: the Kurds are forbidden to declare themselves as Kurds, forbidden to speak their language, forbidden to have their own schools and to publish their own periodicals. In the part of Kurdistan which is in Turkey there is only one hospital bed for two hundred thousand Kurds, and in one locality where the population is forty thousand one school only is available for one hundred children. Even then they are forced to study in the Turkish and Iranian languages, instead of in their own mother tongue. These States by their discriminative measures forbid the cultural, social and political evolution of these human masses. If the Government of Baghdad does not go further than the two preceding governments in the method of discrimination, it will forbid the progress of one million and a half Kurds living in the Kurdistan of Iraq.

It should be remembered that the Iraqi Government receives royalties of seventy million francs annually from the oil extracted from the Kurdish territories. One must admit that in this part of the Kurdish territory there are a few primary schools and in three Kurdish towns three literary periodicals are published but no political papers are permitted. No college exists for a million and a half Kurds.

The picture is dark.

Hope, all the same, is admitted, seeing that the politics of these three Governments are not derived from a national feeling of hatred. One can say without hesitation that the Turkish, Iranian and Arabic peoples have no bad feeling against the Kurds. So many ties attach these peoples to each other; family ties, the same faith, proximity, daily interests, etc.

Another source of hope is the collaboration of the youth of these countries. Why should it not be possible that through the sympathy, comradeship and comprehension of youth some peaceful solution should be forthcoming? It would be an honour for the Middle East!

It is not necessary to say that another solution is open; but I have never liked and still dislike violent methods.

From "Foreword," Kurdistan: Divided Nation of the Middle East by S S. Gavan. London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1958.

EMIR KAMURAN AALI BEDIR-KHAN

Paris, February, 1958