For over two years, I slacked on my research and everything else for this course because I thought it was a nuisance. However, when my third-year internship began, and now that I have completed my Entrepreneurship minor and am pursuing my thesis, I came back to this course of study and understood the importance of it all. My internship made me question whether “home” means anything to me, whether I really have a “home” and how the time spent traveling and possibly working outside will affect this idea. Not because someone made me think and question it, but because it became an internal struggle that needed to be addressed. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Before my time in Indonesia and West Africa, I was simply traveling for months and was unsure of my future in tourism elsewhere. Frankly, about 8 months ago the idea of ​​emigrating to northern Iraq, particularly the Iraqi Kurdistan region, took hold. At this point, this idea has grown to the point where my girlfriend and I are very seriously considering emigrating. in Kurdistan and went so far as to research everything related to our “new entrepreneurial life” and our new “home”. Together we want to develop our two entrepreneurial ideas into one global company with three areas: ; my tour operator, his stained glass workshop and our guest house. In early 2018, we announced our plans to family and friends and they were received with equal parts excitement and concern. With all this in mind, I decided that the (struggle for) Kurdish independence would make an excellent topic for this essay. Mainly because of its relevance to the CBT course; entrepreneurial initiatives, ideological contexts, political settings, historical connections and more. Second, the situation (potentially) influences everything my girlfriend and I also work for and dream about. Who are these Kurds and what is their fight? Kurds are the fourth largest ethnic group in the Middle East, numbering between 20 and 25 million people. Around 15 million people live in the regions of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria, a region they call Kurdistan, and yet they have no state, no "home" to call their own. own. It is particularly strange that among all the ethnic groups in the world, the Kurds are still fighting for their independence. This eternal conflict has important geographical as well as religious and cultural implications. The history of the Kurdish nation, the causes of these conflicts and an analysis of the situation will be discussed in this article and will contain the following points relevant to the TCC course: ideological contexts, political contexts, historical connections and changing worldviews. Furthermore, in this article the focus will be on the Iraqi part of Kurdistan and the most recent demands for independence. This is because of personal importance as explained in the justification preceding the introduction. Iraqi Kurdistan's Struggle for Independence History of Kurdistan and the Kurds The contiguous Kurdish regions of Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria lie in the north-central area of ​​the Middle East. Over the millennia, many ethnic groups have migrated, settled or inhabited the region. From the beginning of history to the present, all these ethnic groups have fought politically and violently, offensively and defensively, for a secure homeland. As a crossroads of the Middle East, Kurdistan has been a hotbed of ethnic conflict as well as peaceful ethnic coexistence. Thus, atOver the past hundred years, the desire for an independent Kurdish state has created conflicts primarily with Turkish and Iraqi populations in areas where most Kurds live. Formal attempts to establish such a state were crushed by the region's largest and most powerful countries after the two world wars. When the Ottoman Empire collapsed after World War I, the Kurds were promised their own independent nation under the Treaty of Sèvres. However, in 1923 the treaty was broken, allowing Turkey to retain its status, thus preventing the Kurdish people from having a nation of their own. When the Treaty of Sèvres was rejected by the new Turkish Republic, a new treaty, the Treaty of Lausanne, was negotiated and signed. However, the Treaty of Lausanne canceled its predecessor, giving control of the entire Anatolian Peninsula to the new Turkish Republic, including the territory of Kurdistan. The new treaty does not provide for any referendum on Kurdish independence or autonomy. Kurdistan's hopes for an autonomous region and an independent state have been dashed. Although much time passed between the end of World War I and the Gulf War in 1990, the Kurds got little closer to independence as they waged unsuccessful guerrilla campaigns to achieve autonomy . All campaigns were repressed by force and the Kurdish people suffered ever stronger repression each time. Kurdish independence was only viable if, like the countries of the caucuses and the Middle East, it was supported by a major player in the world. The first indication of this occurred just after the Gulf War in 1990-1991, when the Americans imposed a security zone in the Iraqi Kurdistan region and the Iraqi Kurds gained their first costly autonomy, as they suffered great difficulties. Nonetheless, this led to an alliance of political parties, the Iraqi Kurdistan Front, which held parliamentary and presidential elections, thereby establishing the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), a new autonomous government of Kurdistan in Iraq. The KRG is a secular government modeled after the modern independent nation-state in a federation with the rest of Iraq. They have their own parliament, their own army (the “Peshmerga”), their borders and their foreign policy. The second indication of this support occurred in 2003, when the Americans invaded Iraq and the Peshmerga (the military forces of Iraqi Kurdistan) joined the fight to overthrow Saddam Hussein. After Hussein was ousted from power, Iraqis, in a national referendum, approved a new constitution. The new constitution recognizes the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Kurdistan Parliament. This government was later unified under the leadership of Prime Minister Barzani, slowly but surely turning the dream of an independent state for the Kurds into reality. Causes of the conflict The causes of this major conflict have great geographical relevance. The geographical areas linked to these specific conflicts constitute a historical territorial claim on the part of the Kurds: cultural, economic and political geography. These four geographic areas can better explain the reasons for these Kurdish conflicts. First of all, the Kurds have a valid historical claim to the territory. They have lived in the region for over 2000 years. This is why they want the creation of a Kurdish homeland. Iraqis and Turks, although they have lived in the region for a long time, cannot historically claim this same region. The conflict arises, however, because the region is located within theborders of Iraq and Turkey. Even though the Kurds' claims were true, the Turks and Iraqis chose to ignore it and attempted to eliminate the Kurds. Second, and probably most important, this conflict involves cultural geography. Kurds are ethnically and culturally different from Turks and Iraqis. They speak a different language and, although all three groups are Muslim, they all practice different forms of it. The Kurds used this cultural difference as a reason to establish a homeland. However, Turks and Iraqis view the ethnic contrast in a very different sense. The Turkish government viewed any religious or ethnic identity that was not its own as a threat to the state. Furthermore, Saddam Hussein believed that the Kurds were "in the way" in Iraq and he perceived them as a threat to "the glory of the Arabs". It was for this reason that he carried out his massive genocide of the Kurds in his country The third factor in these conflicts is economic geography. The areas of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria in which Kurds live are called Kurdistan. Kurdistan is a strategically important area for Turkey. Iraq because it contains significant oil and water resources that they cannot afford to lose economic activity in the region, due to the trade embargo against Iraq in force since 1991 and continuing. a long period after. A final cause of the conflict is political geography. The Turks and Iraqis do not wish to lose control of the region and have resorted to various measures such as the attacks described above. , had their own political problems. There was a deep divergence of opinions between the two main Kurdish political parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The parties disagree on how to resolve the conflicts in which their people are involved. Even if this internal conflict between the Kurds is almost resolved, it will be difficult for them to deal with the Turks and Iraqis due to recent developments. Recent Developments The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (IS), the latest existential threat, now controls a vast swath of territory straddling the Iraqi and Syrian borders. ISIS attacks Kurdish towns in Syria and Iraq. The Peshmerga defend and attempt to retake towns that were previously under Kurdish control. The Peshmerga, which also includes women, has proven to be an effective fighting force but has few resources against what appears to be a well-funded and growing IS army. America supports Iraqi Kurdish autonomy and provides direct and ongoing military support to train and equip the Peshmerga as well as to conduct airstrikes to destroy ISIS. Kurdistan is a landlocked country that depends on its neighbors for access to markets, both for its supplies and for its oil exports – Kurdistan's main economic resource. Given the region's history and Kurdistan's geographic importance as a crossroads of the Middle East, the risk of continued conflict is extremely high. If Kurdistan hopes to survive as an independent nation-state, it must prove itself strong enough to defend itself against the inevitable existential threats that will arise and establish peaceful relations with its neighbors despite a history of conflict, distrust and grievance. . An independence referendum in 2017 The current impasse is the result of mistakes made by both the KRG and Baghdad. But the Kurdish cause in Iraq is, in essence, a question oflong-term security and survival for an ethnic minority group subjected to violent repression for generations. Despite much talk of change in Iraq since 2003, the government in Baghdad – whoever is in power – has repeatedly demonstrated that it intends to undermine and dominate the Kurds. Baghdad's mistreatment of Sunni Arabs shows how brutal it can be. The language is very different from Turkish or Arabic, in that it uses an extended Latin alphabet as opposed to Abjad Arabic. They also have their own cuisine with dishes such as Yapraxi galamew, which is rice stuffed in grape leaves, Kfta which is spicy meat coated in a thin layer of mashed rice pudding, shifta, which is a form of meat patty, and the Mastaw. , which is a yogurt-based drink. Favor: It is their natural right. The right to decide one's fate is a natural right. The Kurds have the right to determine whether they want to live with the Arabs in Iraq or have their own country on their own territory. It is the natural right of every nation, regardless of which country or politician likes and supports it or dislikes and opposes it. Favor: Kurdistan hasA history of support for the United States, says Gary Bauer: “Even with outdated equipment and limited aid, the Syrian Kurds redefined the battlefield. They also put forward the idea of ​​creating an autonomous region in northern Syria. This is an idea that Americans should support because the national interests, government goals, and democratic principles of the Kurds are pro-American and pro-West.” Why not support them if their cause is just in the eyes of Americans. Against: Countries have ethnic diversity Kurdistan should not be independent because countries like the United States of America are known as the "Melting Pot" and are perfectly comfortable with the diversity evident within of the country. Yes, there is racism and differences between each ethnic group; however, all work well together. If a Kurdish country were to be created, it would only be the beginning of more serious problems. Plus, they will have too much control since they are in the middle of the Middle East. If a war were to break out with the Kurds in the Middle East between any of the Arab countries, they would have blockades, which would destroy and make the wars worse than they already are. The Kurdish country constitutes a threat and not an advantage for the Middle East. Against: This would upset a major NATO member. Turkey is a member of NATO and the Kurds of Türkiye want to separate. This will not be enough, as NATO would side with Turkey due to the nature of the alliance. So if there was a civil war in Türkiye, the United States might even end up fighting the Kurds if they pose a threat to Turkey. The breakup of Turkey will not help anyone except Russia, which wants to weaken NATO. If we do not help Turkey in its war against the Kurds, then obviously we will not be able to respect the treaties we signed when we created NATO, and not only would the world lose confidence in us, but the alliance of NATO would collapse. Against: Yet another conflict, even more problems Kurdistan should not gain independence because a regional war could break out in the Middle East. Kurdistan includes the territories of four countries: Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. With an independent Kurdish state, the chaos in Iraq and Syria will be even worse, more people will die, and as a result, the United States will be drawn into the conflict. The governments of Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria will not be satisfied with Kurdish independence and will not hesitate.