Iraqi Kurds invariably become irked when others portray their autonomous region and nation as merely another interchangeable part of Iraq. Given their history, the legal status of their autonomy, and their desire for independence, they are justified in feeling this way. Iraqi Kurdistan should, therefore, always be carefully depicted as a distinct entity in articles and discussions on Iraq and the Middle East.
Iraq pic.twitter.com/nbwDe9qnN4
— Arab world (@Arabbeau) July 27, 2021
A one-word tweet on a Twitter account about the Arab world on Tuesday simply read ‘Iraq’. The accompanying photograph was of Barzan in Iraqi Kurdistan. Kurds promptly responded by emphasizing that Barzan is part of Iraqi Kurdistan and doesn’t identify as Iraqi. Indeed you would be hard pressed to find an Iraqi national flag in Barzan. The colourful Kurdish flag, on the other hand, is ubiquitous there, as it is in most parts of Iraqi Kurdistan.
That wasn’t the first, and undoubtedly won’t be the last, time that many Kurds felt angered by such portrayals.
In November 2019, a visiting journalist admiring the idyllic Lake Dukan in Iraqi Kurdistan tweeted: “Iraq, you have so many problems, but your scenery is not one of them.”
His tweet got several responses from Kurds and their supporters, who stressed that he should have clarified that he was, in fact, in Iraqi Kurdistan. Indeed, some journalists visiting Iraqi Kurdistan have ended up depicting themselves as brave and intrepid for setting foot in ‘Iraq’, with its reputation among many in the West as a dangerous place, when all they did was visit a region as accessible and safe as much of Europe.
In 2018, the U.S. consulate in the Iraqi Kurdish capital Erbil posted a short video mainly consisting of photographs of Iraqi Kurdistan’s mountains along with the text: “The dramatic landscapes of #Iraq reflect the beauty and diversity of its people. #NationalPride”
The dramatic landscapes of #Iraq reflect the beauty and diversity of its people. #NationalPride pic.twitter.com/mBqrAdbJD3
— U.S. Consulate General Erbil (@USCGERBIL) October 10, 2018
With most of the video showing Kurdish landscapes without any mention of Kurdistan, many Kurds were understandably annoyed, with some simply questioning why the U.S. consulate couldn’t even refer to Iraqi Kurdistan by its official legal name, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. One responded by unequivocally tweeting: “For Kurds of Iraq, #NationalPride refers only to Kurdistan Region, not Iraq as [a] whole.”
Kurds have long felt this way. In September 2017, Iraqi Kurds voted overwhelmingly ‘yes’ in an independence referendum, with 93 percent opting for their region to secede from Iraq. Almost none of them identify as Iraqi and even loathe the idea of being considered Iraqi. They vividly remember how they were subjected to a series of horrific massacres by the Anfal campaign by Saddam Hussein’s regime in the late 1980s that killed over 180,000 Kurds and destroyed over 4,000 of their villages.
While not independent, Iraqi Kurdistan has, in a sense, been de-facto separated from Iraq, both physically and psychologically, since acquiring autonomy in the aftermath of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. An entire generation of Kurds born in the intervening 30 years doesn’t even speak Arabic despite holding Iraqi citizenship!
Iraqi Kurdish autonomy was bolstered and enshrined in the Iraqi Constitution, which the Kurds played a major role in drafting, after the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003. As Iraq descended into a cycle of instability and violence throughout the subsequent Iraq War, Iraqi Kurdistan had a markedly different experience. During those years, Kurds advertised their region as the ‘Other Iraq’ and called for investment, boasting that it was not only stable and secure but was even prospering. Incidentally, the fantastic BBC documentary miniseries Once Upon A Time In Iraq, which covers the Iraq War and the subsequent war against Islamic State, doesn’t even mention Iraqi Kurdistan.
Many look at Iraqi Kurdistan with its international airports, parliament, and regional security forces and argue that the Iraqi Kurds already have what essentially amounts to a de-facto state. Why then chance pursuing the dream of independence given the grave risk of the region becoming strangled economically or even invaded since it is completely surrounded by countries hostile to any form of Kurdish separatism?
These arguments and questions are often posed in good faith by those who want to see the Kurds preserve their gains and live in relative peace and security. Detractors and opponents of the Kurds, on the other hand, often question where Kurdistan is on a map, insinuating it doesn’t exist or suggesting that nations and peoples without countries of their own are somehow illegitimate. The Iraqi Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani once made a prompt retort when a variation of this question was posed to him by a Turkish student.
The Iraqi Kurdish politician Barham Salih, who is Iraq’s current president, also once said that it “pains” him as a Kurd every time he passes by the United Nations in New York to see there isn’t a Kurdish flag among the flags of the world, despite there being 40 million Kurds in the Middle East.
Iraqi Kurdistan is not a country. It is not on “the map”, nor is its flag at the United Nations. It is, however, indisputably a legitimate nation and autonomous region situated within the boundaries of Iraq with its own distinct culture and language. That simple fact alone should necessitate making unambiguous distinctions between it and Iraq proper, especially by visiting foreigners. Kurds are, therefore, justified in feeling indignant when such elementary distinctions are not made or, worse, knowingly disregarded.
Image credit: Levi Clancy
