Political renaissance for Kurds as Turkey takes fight to PKK in Iraq

19 December 2007

Turkey's recent air strikes on PKK bases in Iraq demonstrate the growing significance of Kurdish politics in the four states with major Kurdish populations - Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. A new Chatham House paper reveals that Kurds are experiencing a political renaissance in the Middle East and the international community, while resistant to the idea of Kurdish self-determination, now finds that it shares some common interests with the Kurds.

The PKK is a well-motivated force that enjoys local support and the protection afforded by the inaccessible terrain of the border regions. Turkey can probably never defeat the PKK and any further incursions across the border are likely to be futile. The Iraqi government is reluctant to tackle the PKK because of the military risk involved, and even if it managed to flush them from the mountains this might leave the door open for radical Islamists to turn the region into their own Tora Bora-style stronghold.

Meanwhile in Iran the PKK's sister group, PJAK, is engaged in bloody conflict with the Iranian military near the border with Iraq. Unlike the PKK, PJAK is not designated as a terrorist organization by the US government. Its redoubt in the Qandil Mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan is frequently subjected to shelling from Iranian artillery across the border.

While none of these conflicts offer the prospect of an independent Kurdish state, the very existence and prosperity of Iraqi Kurdistan has spurred Kurdish nationalist aspirations across the region and for the first time in their history, some Kurds have the ability to shape their political future in a significant way.

Read this new briefing paper - The Kurdish Policy Imperative.

Note to editors:
Wednesday 19 December
09.00 to 18.00
The Kurds in International Affairs
Former UK special representative to Iraq, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, and members of the Kurdish Regional Government will be among speakers at a Chatham House conference on the day the paper is launched. Conference Programme.

For further information please contact:
Sean Armstrong
Press Officer
Direct: +44 (0) 20 7957 5739
Mobile: +44 (0) 78 4985 3757
Email: Sean Armstrong

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