ON REALISM: UNDERSTANDING THE DYNAMICS OF IRAQI KURDISH CONFLICT

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College of Social Sciences And Humanities

Department of Political Science
Mindanao State University
General Santos City

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Contemporary Political Processes

Pol Sci 143

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Ailen Rose Puertas

Eula Marsha Anab

Lyle Friedrich Serojales

December 2017
 ABSTRACT

Kurds are the largest minority in the world in a geographic area encompassing
territories in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Armenia. Kurds experienced cruelty under the
rule of the Turkish and Iraqi government when these states deprived the Kurds from
being an independent state. The Kurdish genocide during the Iran-Iraq war and the
discrimination of the Kurds led by Kemal Attatuk shows how their right as a human has
been violated. They have been promised to possess a land of their own and to have
their own state but why it does seems so hard for the Kurds to achieve it. Why are they
driven away from the territory that was given to them? Their experiences under these
states motivated them to struggle more for sovereignty.

The Iraqi-Kurdish conflict began when Mahmud Barzanji attempted to secede from the
central Iraqi government. The struggle of the Kurds in claiming their independence led
to several revolts that took thousands of lives. Recently, people living in northern Iraq
voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence for the Kurdistan Region but again,
unfortunately, been cancelled by the Iraq’s prime minister.

Here, the famous Kenneth Waltz’ concept of level of analysis was used in examining the
long-term conflict between the Iraqi government and the Kurdish in three levels;
individual, societal and international. Also, it scrutinized who are the major players in the
conflict and what made the Kurds to push more through autonomy and what made the
Iraqi government to hinder the autonomy which the Kurds are fighting for.
 INTRODUCTION

After the First World War, Mosul area is added

to be a part of the new Iraqi state under the
British mandate. In 1990, a treaty was signed
by the Ottoman government who were
defeated during the First World War. This
Treaty of Sevres gave the Kurds who are
living in Mosul the option to join a future
independent Kurdistan state. However, in
1923, Shaykh Mahmud Barzinji rebelled against the British rule and declared a Kurdish
kingdom which occupied the northern part of Iraq.

Consequently, Kurdish demands for autonomy but later ignored in 1932 as Iraq
was admitted to the League of Nations. Due to the decision of Iraq, various uprisings
occurred. In addition, Kurds continue to rebel and reached the borders of Iran where
they joined the Iranian Kurds led by Qazi Mohamed who found an independent
Kurdistan state in Mahabad. In 1946, the Kurdish state finally established the Mahabad
Republic where they held the first Kurdistan Democratic Party its first congress.
However, it immediately collapsed only after few months due to the bombings and
attacks made by Iranian forces which made Mustafa Barzani flee to the Soviet Union.

In 1951, the KDP was revived by some new generation of Kurdish nationalists
who made Ibrahim Ahmad its leader and chooses a close tie with the Iraqi Communist
Party. However, the relation of Kurds and Iraqi continued to be strained which later on
led to the collapse of Kurdish rebellion in the northern part of Iran. In spite of all the
rebellions and disagreements between the Iraqi and Kurds, an autonomy, which is the
true goal of Kurds was granted in March 1970.

The grant of autonomy led to the recognition of the Kurds as part of Iraq including
its language, which became an official language. The Iraqi Constitution was also
amended and stated that the Iraqi people is made up of two nationalities, the Arab
nationality and Kurdish nationality. However, the relationship between the two
nationalities deteriorated. Kurds asked for the aid of the United States in which the act
forced Iraq to draft an agreement for peace. KDP refused to accept the said agreement
and lighted another rebellion.

The rebellion continued and began to spread. As Iran and Iraq have already a
strained relationship, Iran supported the rebellion of Kurds and started to strengthen
their attacks. In 1975, a former leading member of KDP formed another faction, the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). As KDP continued to rely and strengthen its
relationship with Iran, PUK sought support from Tehran.

Of course, casualties were evident during the Iran-Iraq war. In order to give the
affected population attention, coalition forces announced the creation of safe haven in
April of 1991. International aid agencies launched a massive aid operation to help the
refugees of the war. In the intervening time, Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani
opened negotiations with Saddam Hussein on autonomy of Kurdistan. The peace talks
and agreement for autonomy continued to take place until Kurdish peshmerga forces
defied the Iraq government and took control over Irbil and Sulaymaniyah. With this,
Saddam Hussein fortified the border of Kurdish-held northern Iraq and imposed a
blockade.

Moreover, while Iraq-Iran continued to spread havoc, so as the civil war between
the KDP and PUK. To end the civil war, Barzani appealed to Hussein in 1996 to help
defeat the PUK. However, the war continued to become a cycle of claiming the
jurisdiction over certain territories located in northern part of Iraq until September of
1998. During this year, Talabani and Barzani signed a peace agreement in Washington
also with the intervention of the United Nations. Although the government of two Kurdish
regions remained to split between the two administrations, the hope resolution
continued as PUK and KDP officials joined the discussions with other Iraqi groups.
These discussions aimed to coordinate the work of the opposition in the event of US-led
military campaign against Iraq. In October of 2002, KDP and PUK agreed to work
collaboratively during a transitional session until new elections can be held.
 This Us-led military movement aims to oust Saddam Hussein from his post in
Iraq. However, this was not fully met due to the rejection of the Kurdish leaders to bring
Turkish troops in north Iraq to be part of the US-led military forces and the failure of a
parliamentary bill allowing US troops to deploy Turkish soil.

But US did not stop there. In March 20, 2013, US-led forces invade Iraq and
began bombardment of Baghdad and other cities. The following days, coalition forces
launched Cruise missile attack on bases held by Ansar al-asam in the north. Many were
wounded and killed during these attacks. US invaded most of the cities while Saddam
Hussein loses control over each city every invasion. Furthermore, with the hope for
peace and stop the war, Interim Governing Council (IGC) met for the first time during
July of 2003.

The first session of Kurdish parliament was held in Irbil in June 2005 where KDP
Barzani became the president. Later on, Kurdish authorities discovered an enormous
wealth of the country in oil. In July 2009, Barzani was re-elected as the president of
Kurdish autonomous region. However, attacks werestill all over the country. Different
groups began to form and claimed different territories in the country which worsen the
situation of Iraq.

Finally, in 2014, the Iraqi government and the Kurdish leadership signed a deal
on sharing Iraq’s oil wealth and military resources, with the hope that the agreement will
help reunite the country in the threats faced brought by the Islamic State. Constitution
was then revised in 2015 to align with the agreements made.

Conflicts still continued to occur like the joining of forces of Turkish troops and
the US-led military forces. ISIS also began to cause destructions and conflicts not just in
the country but also in the international community. Oil, being the primary wealth of the
country also became a major factor of conflicts not just internally but also with the other
neighboring states.

As for this year, Independence referendum goes ahead in face of international

opposition. Turkish continues to send troops while asserting the claim over some areas
currently controlled by the Kurdish. In October of this year, President Barzani resigned
from his post.

ANALYSIS OF THE CONFLICT

According to Entelman (2002), conflict theories locate conflict in relation. Conflict

springs from interactions as an expression of incompatibility of goals. And so when what
a person wants is incompatible with what others want, conflict arises. From that idea we
have to understand relations between people in order to describe conflict. Hence, this
part presents the primary elements of the sources of conflict between the Kurds and the
federal government of Iraq. By using the Kenneth Waltz’ concept of level of analysis or
LOA we will identify who takes part in the conflict at three different levels.

Who are the Iraqi Kurds?

Kurds make up the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East, but they have never
obtained a permanent nation state. They inhabit the mountainous region straddling the
borders of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Armenia. From the beginning of history, the
Kurds have strived politically and violently to secure a homeland. Sitting at the central
area of Middle East, Kurds were caught up in the middle of hostilities and occupation of
large empires making them internally and externally displaced and were scattered from
the rest of Arab lands. In the early 20th Century, many Kurds began to consider the
creation of a homeland generally referred to as "Kurdistan". After World War One and
the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, the victorious Western allies made provision for a
Kurdish state in the 1920 Treaty of Sevres. However, when the Treaty of Lausanne,
which set the boundaries of modern Turkey, made no provision for a Kurdish state and
left Kurds with minority status in their respective countries. Over the next 80 years, any
move by Kurds to set up an independent state was brutally quashed.

Among the Kurdish population Iraq’s Kurds enjoyed more national rights than Kurds
living in neighbouring states, but they also faced brutal repression. They comprised 15%
to 20% of Iraq's population and they are the majority of the three provinces in northern
Iraq which are popularly known as Iraqi Kurdistan. For quite a long time, the Kurds had
continually pushing for its independence from their hosts countries. The Iraqi Kurds had
been very clear with what they are fighting for. The long and series of tremendous wars
that erupted in this region were the consequence of Kurdish resistance from the
oppressive Iraqi authorities. Notably, the Kurds are scattered at the center of Middle
Eastern bloc leaving them no place for permanence and compromising their ethnicity as
well as their identity. The fact that Kurds are popularly referred to as “Nomads” has
social and historical origin that designates them as North-Western Nomads rather than
a concrete ethnic group. Ancient and Medieval empires had denied the Kurds their
basis rights and proper acknowledgement instead they were the victims of territorial
expansions and conquests. Not until the 20th century after the WWI when the Kurdish
nationalism emerged with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. The Iraqi Kurds along
with that of Turkey, Iran and Syria had resorted to various movements to gain what is
really for them-Independence.

IRAQ VS KURDS:
AUTONOMY FOR
KURDISTAN

KURDS VS KURDS:
CIVIL WAR

KURDS AND THE

WORLD

Ist level: Iraq and the Kurds: a difficult history

The Iraqi Kurdish conflict is an internal conflict happened with the aim of freeing the
kurds from the central rule of Iraq. In this section we will use this two parties as the
primary actors at the first level of the conflict. Putting this two hostile parties in this level
will provide a clear image of where and when did the conflict had started. But this does
not mean to depart the concept of who are the individual actors involve in the conflict
rather understanding the Kurds itself as a group of people having considerable size of
population, own language, and even institution and territory don’t have its own state and
only making friends with the mountainous portion of the mentioned countries above.
Uprooting the main reason of the conflict makes this draw a clear direction of the
analysis. With this we see the Kurds and Iraqi government as collective element
representing the opposite interest of the two sides. The conflict is: Kurds having its own
institution rebel against the upper hand Iraq who consequently feel threatened of
Kurdish nationalism and movements messing up their pursuit for stability and prosperity.
The conflict can be analyzed through the idea that both parties have two incompatible
goals. The Arab nation, of which the Iraqi Arabs are part, and the greater Kurdish nation
to which the Iraqi Kurds belong. These two people share a common country and state
which cannot be claimed entirely for either of those two nations.

The uprising started in 1919 with the series of revolts led by Mahmud Barzanji against
the Iraq controlled by British crown. With his strong resistance against the British
mandate Iraq he was imprisoned and eventually exiled to India for a one-year period.
When he returned home he was once again appointed a governor, but shortly
afterwards revolted again and declared himself the ruler of the Kingdom of Kurdistan.
The British forces did not the kingdom last for long and in 1924 the region of Kurds was
reverted again to Central British Iraqi rule. Mahmud retreated into mountains and in
1932 reached again the independent Kingdom of Iraq. Mahmud’s revolts are considered
as the beginning of the Iraqi-Kurdish conflict. Many had seen that the Kurds’ struggle
was the British’ fault. The British mandated that the area occupied by the Kurds will be
incorporated to be part of Iraq. This ultimately created the bloody war in 1961 lasted for
nine long years resulted to 75,000 to 105,000 casualties and damages. The war was
ended through the establishment of Autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan in 1970, when the Iraqi
government and the Kurdish opposition forces signed an autonomy agreement,
however the agreement fell apart by 1974 and the region again devolved into violence
and the second Iraqi-Kurdish conflict started.

More to say, the conflict is a series of simultaneous wars usually ended up by insincere
agreement laid by Iraq to calm down the raging anger of the Kurds. That is why the
negotiations and the attempt to reconcile both parties fell shortly through time as the
ruptures of the conflict were not addressed structurally, where little tensions and
confrontations frequently transformed into armed combats and atrocities. Hence, the
military conflicts, continuous oppression, and the force expulsion of Kurdish citizens
remain in the memories of Kurdish populace that even felt up to this day. It is quite
uncomfortable to ask if the Kurds really can achieve their independence, because the
question got no accurate and favorable answer.

2nd level- Societal actors: Kurds versus Kurds

Earlier we saw deep historical reason and distinction of the Arabs and Kurds as the
reasons for the conflict. This section will examine the societal context and the existing
parties involved. This include the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan, and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) was established in 1946 made to be the main party
in Iraqi Kurdistan. This party was founded by Mustafa Barzani that led the fight of the
Kurds for autonomy and independence from Iraq. The aim is to combine "democratic
values and social justice to form a system whereby everyone in Kurdistan can live on an
equal basis with great emphasis given to rights of individuals and freedom of
expression." Many had considered that most of the movement to gain the autonomy
were done by the KDP but has suffered setbacks and defeat at the hands of the much
more Iraqi Army and Air Force. In 1975, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan or PUK broke
away from the KDP because of their increasing discontent within the KDP and the odd
relation between the leaders of both parties. The PUK is said to have been founded by
Jalal Talabani and other former KDP intellectuals who had a more leftist leaning,
democratic, socialist political ideology. A perfect rival for the traditional, conservative
and tribal centered policies of KPD. Almost from its founding the PUK was at odds with
the KDP. Their sensitive relationship had soon transformed into the so called Kurdish
civil war. This is due to the clashes between KDP and PUK on who will administer the
government and the oil reserves. The civil war lasted for four years from 1994 that
lasted till 1998 when the Washington Agreement was signed by Masoud Barzani and
Jalal Talabani.

Today, the Iraqi Kurdistan is governed by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)
located the city of Erbil, one of the three regions in Northern Iraq dominated by Kurdish
population. Like other nation-states in the region, Iraqi Kurdistan and the KRG were
borne out of conflict and the protection of the major powers. The KRG is a
Parliamentary Democracy within the federated Republic of Iraq. The KRG has legal
jurisdiction over three provinces, Erbil, Duhok, and Sulaymaniyah. In the aftermath of
the collapse of the Iraqi Army security in the region and the current occupation by ISIS
forces, the KRG gained de facto jurisdiction over an additional three provinces, Diyala,
Nineveh and Kirkuk. KRG primarily depends on the oil resource of the abundant in the
region. This revenue-generating resource is the sole reason why Iraqi government firmly
contesting ownership against the Kurds. The army of Iraqi Kurdistan is the Peshmerga
who is protecting the region from the harmful and direct advance of Iraq.
The Peshmerga force itself is largely divided and controlled separately by
the Democratic Party of Kurdistan and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, although both
pledge allegiance to the Kurdistan Regional Government.

3rd level: International relation: Kurds and the rest of the world

The third and final actor of the conflict can be examined through the wars between
borders of Iran and Iraq, Saddam Hussein and the 1991 Gulf war with US involvement
and the considerable involvement of Turkey and Syria in the Iraqi Kurdish conflict.

Iraq added up Iran to the awful picture of the conflict. In 1980, Iraq under Saddam
Hussein’s command invaded Iran on the 22nd of September. The roots of the war lay in
the number of territorial dispute over borders and the political dispute between Hussein
and Khomeini. The war lasted for almost eight years which destabilized the region and
devastated both countries. On the other hand, the Kurds and KDP saw this as a good
opportunity to advance their independent movement by reconnecting Iran and their
forces to overthrow oppressive Hussein’s regime. This had embarked the symbiotic
relationship of Iran and the Kurds. Iran for a long time been sponsoring the Kurds
movements and made them matched the military forces of Iraq.

Another historical event is the Iraq’s invasion in Kuwait. Noted that Saddam’s interest in
Kuwait was all driven by the oil reserves of the country, aiming to expand its power and
resources. The UN and the security council highly condemned Saddam’s act of invasion
and ordered them to withdraw its troops occupying Kuwait. Hussein did not give in with
the precautions and warnings made by the Security Council and continue sending its
troops to Kuwait. And in 1991 another war had erupted in the Middle east of course
United States was actively involved. When the Turks denied US passage into Iraq for
the Iraqi invasion, the Iraqi Kurds took the opportunity to help the US overthrow
Saddam. While the Kurds still lack true independence, the United States has pledged
support for Kurdistan in the form of arms and ammunition, as well as USAID to the
Kurdish Regional Government (KRG). When the Americans launched Operation Desert
Storm, and the First Gulf War in 1990, the United States used the opportunity to impose
a no-fly zone over Iraqi Kurdistan, preventing further Kurdish repression by Saddam.
The United States also played a role in establishing the opposition Iraqi National
Congress (INC), based in Kurdistan. President Clinton and the United States helped
bring an end to the Kurdish Civil War between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)
and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in 1998 by brokering the Washington
Agreement, a peace treaty between the KDP and PUK.

Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria are the four Middle Eastern states with significant Kurdish
communities. These four countries had coincided to shift from confrontation to
collaboration on the Kurdish issue. They agreed to oppose the establishment of an
independent Kurdish state in the region due to the fears that this could have domino
effect in the region. Though these countries drew support with the Iraqi Kurds, as in the
case of Iran, still these Arabs countries will never grant the Kurds the independence that
they wanted.

On Realism- Kurds: the largest Stateless Population in the World

Though the Kurdistan Regional Government qualifies the criteria for statehood under
the Montevideo Convention, Kurds are the largest stateless population in the world.
Despite of having exclusive jurisdiction in the region and the capacity to form its own
local security forces and the international interactions granted by Iraqi constitution, they
still lack sovereignty.

Though the Kurdistan Regional Government qualifies the criteria for statehood under
the Montevideo Convention, Kurds are the largest stateless population in the world.
Despite of having exclusive jurisdiction in the region and the capacity to form its own
local security forces and make international interactions, still international community
deny them the recognition of having sovereign authority. In fact, the Iraqi constitution
gives the KRG the power to govern the region meaning it is legally bound by
constitutional power, the Iraqi federal government has provided the region with limited
external sovereignty. For example, the KRG cannot effectively manage the growing
threats to its borders because they still have to gain the approval from Baghdad-Iraq's
capital to grant them direct military aid and financial support. Another example is the
recent declaration of unconstitutionality of the Kurdish referendum of independent Kurds
in 2017.

With this, the Kurds continue to seek not only short term military aid but also the long
term political and diplomatic recognition from the United States and its allies. It must be
emphasized that US and the kurds have this mutualistic relationship since the former
will be needing support from the later in its war against the ISIS. Meanwhile, US interest
in the KRG is not only motivated by its mission to eliminate ISIS, but also by its long-
term agenda to encourage the development of a strong western-allied KRG. This led to
the signing of memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Peshmerga and
the US Department of Defense, giving the KRG direct military aid in exchange for its
cooperation and participation in the liberation of Mosul. But this relationship does not
guarantee that Kurds with the help of US can independently break away with Iraq. US is
also committed to a unified and stable federal Iraq as it fears the precipitation of
violence and instability in Iraq, this include the Iraq's problem of disputed territory like
the Kurdish secession in the north. Therefore, while US supports for a strong KRG, it
does not support an independent Kurdistan

Another realistic view of Kurdish struggle is the dispute over the oil reserves ownership
in the controversial area of Kirkuk. As the KRG actively find foreign investment in its
energy sector the Iraqi Federal Government also curtail the regions authority to exploit
their natural resources. This factor is filled with controversy since KRG had already build
transactions from international investors while Iraq continues to scrutinize the legality of
such contracts.

Another fuel for the conflict is the proliferation of internal social cleavage dividing the
Kurds loyalty to the two conflicting parties: the KDP and the PUK. Despite the parties'
observance of the peace agreement still the relationship of two remains tense. This is
particularly happening in the land of Kirkuk where PUK consider it as their territory of
domination seized by KDP. Since the current priority is to preserve territorial integrity,
Kurds must as much as possible solve their internal conflict because it brings them
nothing to gain but everything to lose. Their internal division dimishes their chance to
obtain an independent community.

In a realist perspective, Kurdistan's territory is the ultimate reason that caused defeated
wars and struggle. The fact that it is landlocked constitutes the aspect of a violent,
troubled state. They are basically neighbors with a terrorist organization and hostile
countries denying their national identity and autonony. Also, Kurd's economy,
infrastructure and defenses just aren't strong enough to stand on their own brought
them instability and insecurity. With these all, this analysis saw that despite of all the
wars that erupted, the Kurds are simply meant to have no distinct portion of territory
only lurking on to the unpleasant states of Middle East.
 CONCLUSION

In this paper, we have considered the Three-Level concept of analysis by Kenneth

Waltz in analyzing the Iraqi-Kurdish conflict. We outlined the conflict occurring in three
levels. Firstly, the conflict occurs between two different individuals, the Iraq and the
Kurds wherein the central Iraqi government hinders the autonomy of the Kurds for the
reason of being threatened to what the Kurdistan nation could do when they become a
state. Secondly, the conflict occurring in the society which involved the two parties in
Kurdistan namely, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) wherein they clashed
because of natural resources (oil reserves). Lastly, the international conflict which
involved the United States and other Kurdistan’s neighboring countries which occur
because of the territorial dispute over borders and the political dispute between Hussein
and Khomeini. US became the Kurd’s powerful ally in advancing their movement
against the central Iraqi government.

Looking back at the discussion in the previous page, we have found out that in reality,
Kurdistan will never be called a state no matter how hard the Kurds will try to fight and
cry for their independence from the central Iraqi government. The very reason is that the
conflict is within them, an intra-state conflict. Kurds, perceived as people who are
scattered among the states: Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Armenia, do not have their
unified language, religion, etc. that binds them together. Try to look at their societal
conflict. There is a rivalry between the Kurd’s parties. How could they strongly stand for
what they want if their enemy is their selves? Another factor is the Kurd’s neighboring
countries; Turkey, Iran, Syria and Armenia who decided to agree opposing to give the
Kurds a chance to establish an independent Kurdish state. Kurds should always
remember that ‘same feather flocks together’. These are all Arab countries who will
never let an uncertain identity like Kurds to step on them. Kurds should bear in their
mind that politics is dirty. These Arab countries once need the Kurds because they saw
something which would benefit them and them to advance their power. However, we
have no reason to conclude that Kurds should stop from fighting what they want.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

BBC News. October 13, 2017. Iraqi Kurdistan Profile Timeline. Retrieved from:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-15467672
Hawre et al. September 2017. Kurdistan’s Struggle for Sovereignty: State, Societal,
and Human Security. Retrieved from: www.dohainstitute.org/en/Lists/ACRPS-
PDFDocumentLibrary/Hama%20and%20Connelly%20Case%20Analysis%20Kur
distan%20Referendum.pdf
Kurdish Project. Kurdish History Retrieve from: https://thekurdishproject.org/history-
and-culture/kurdish-history/
Modern Conflicts: Conflict Profile. Retrieve from http://www.peri.umass.edu/fileadm
in/pdf/Iraq2.pdf
Map of Kurds. Retrieved from: https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=map+
+Kurds&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwil_
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=636&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=YFYzWpWAJ4Kr0QSA_4r4BA&q=kurds
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Pictures and Images of Iraqi Kurdish Conflict
 British air force planes fly a reconnaissance mission over Kurdistan in
1934. A few years later the air force bombed Kurdish rebels resisting
British rule

A Kurdish father and his babe in arms were among

thousands of victims of a poison gas attack on
Halabja

The Kurdistan Patriotic Union leader Jalal Talabani met Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein to negotiate an autonomy agreement

Massoud Barzani was elected president of the autonomous region

in 2005