THE CONTEMPORARY ROOTS OF IN

Introduction

Contrary to popular opinion, nationalism is a contemporary phenomenon. Until recently most people primarily identified with and owed their ultimate allegiance to their religion or empire on the macro level or tribe, city, and local region on the micro level. This was all the more so in the , where the Islamic umma or community existed (1)and the Ottoman Empire prevailed until the end of .(2) Only then did Arab, Turkish, and Iranian nationalism begin to create modern nation- states.(3) In reaction to these new Middle Eastern , developed even more recently. The purpose of this article is to analyze this situation.

Broadly speaking, there are two main schools of thought on the origins of the nation and nationalism. The primordialists or essentialists argue that the concepts have ancient roots and thus date back to some distant point in history. John Armstrong, for example, argues that nations or nationalities slowly emerged in the premodern period through such processes as symbols, communication, and myth, and thus predate nationalism. Michael M. Gunter* Although he admits that nations are created, he maintains that they existed before the rise of nationalism.(4) Anthony D. Smith

KUFA REVIEW: No.2 - Issue 1 - Winter 2013 29 KUFA REVIEW: Academic Journal agrees with the primordialist school when Primordial Kurdish Nationalism he argues that the origins of the nation lie in Most Kurdish nationalists would be the ethnie, which contains such attributes as considered primordialists because they would a mythomoteur or constitutive political myth argue that the origins of their nation and of descent, a shared history and culture, a nationalism reach back into time immemorial. specific territory, and a sense of solidarity.(5) Many see themselves as the descendants of The constructionists, on the other the ancient Medes who overthrew the Assyrian hand, maintain that nationalism is a recent Empire in 612 B.C.E. They also can recite construction that in effect has invented interesting myths about their origins regarding nations. Ernest King Solomon, jinn, the Gellner and Benedict blacksmith Kawa who Anderson, for example, Contrary to popular opinion, defeated the ruthless have argued that nationalism is a contemporary ruler Zohhak who had states create nations. phenomenon been feeding the brains “Nationalism is not the of young men to two awakening of nations giant serpents’ heads to self-consciousness: it invents nations growing from his shoulders, and their national where they do not exist”(6)-or as Anderson holiday Newroz celebrating the beginning of puts it, “imagines”(7) them through such spring or the new year. Some believe that mechanisms as “print capitalism.” Massimo the Kardouchoi, who gave Xenophon and his d’Azeglio, an Italian nationalist leader during 10,000 such a mauling as they retreated from the Risorgimento, reputedly exclaimed: Persia in 401 B.C.E, were also the ancestors “We have made Italy, now we have to make of the . Italians.”(8) Eugene Weber has documented Mehrdad Izady observes that “reconstruction the recent process of changing “peasants of the Kurdish history is a difficult task” into Frenchmen,” that is how most rural and because it “has all too often... been written village inhabitants of did not think of by its hegemons... The Kurds have not been themselves as members of the French nation hegemons for over 800 year. The result is as late as 1870 or even up to the eve of World that Kurdish contributions to history have War I.(9) been ignored, or worse, appropriated by other

30 KUFA REVIEW: No.2 - Issue 1 - Winter 2013 Michael M. Gunter: The Contemporary Roots Of Kurdish Nationalism In Iraq peoples.”(10) Nevertheless, Izady argues that Sunni that ruled throughout the period from the 5th century BC through the Egypt, , and Iraq.(15) , of course, 6th century AD “marks the homogenization gained his greatest fame in the West as the and consolidation of the modern Kurdish chivalrous Muslim leader who defeated the national identity. The ethnic designator Kurd is Christian Crusaders led by the English king established finally, and applied to all segments Richard the Lion Heart and regained the holy of the nation.”(11) city of Jerusalem for .

In examining linguistic and historical data, In 1597, the Kurdish (prince) Sharaf Vladimir F. Minorsky is more circumspect. He Khan Bitlisi (1543-1603) published the finds that “the Muslim sources and Kurdish ,(16) an erudite history of the traditions do not help us to solve the problem semi-independent , some of the ,” but concludes that of which continued to exist into the middle of “we thus find that about the period of the Arab the nineteenth century. The first part of this conquest [mid 7th century] a single ethnic impressive history written in Persian dealt with term Kurd (plural, Akrad) was beginning to five Kurdish dynasties that had enjoyed status be applied to an amalgamation of Iranian or as royalty or what might be interpreted as iranicised tribes.”(12) Minorsky adds that “we independence: the of Diyarbakir have detailed notices of the Kurds from the and Jazire, the Hasanwayhids of Dinawar time of the Arab conquest onwards. During and Shahrizur, the Fadluyids of the Great the five first centuries of the Hidjra, the Kurds Lur, the princes of Little Lur, and the Ayyubids frequently played a considerable part in events established by Saladin. The second part of and often took the initiative in them. Several Sharaf Khan’s Sharafnama went on to list Kurd dynasties arose at this time.”(13) Edith Kurdish dynasties that had had coins struck and E. F. Penrose, simply observe that “the and the khutba recited in their names. These Kurdish consciousness of separate identity attributes also reflected the equivalent of goes back far in history.”(14) independence. Many contemporary Kurdish nationalists, therefore, point to the Sharafnama History does record that Saladin (1137-93) as historical documentation of the antiquity of was arguably the greatest and most famous their nation and nationalism. of the Kurds. In 1171, he overthrew the Shiite Fatimid caliphate in Egypt and established the One hundred years later, Ahmadi Khan

KUFA REVIEW: No.2 - Issue 1 - Winter 2013 31 KUFA REVIEW: Academic Journal composed Mem u Zin, a tragic love poem analyzing Kurdish nationalism in Mem u Zin, universally hailed as the Kurdish national epic Ferhad Shakely concludes that Ahmadi Khan because of its obvious references to Kurdish “was proud of being a Kurd and thought that nationalist beliefs: “If only there were harmony the Kurds were a nation like other neighbouring among us, if we were to obey a single one peoples and not inferior.”(19) of us, he would reduce to vassalage Turks, Amir Hassanpour argues that the and , Sharafnama and all of them. We would Most Kurdish nationalists would be Mem u Zin mark the perfect our religion, considered primordialists because they historical origin of our state, and would would argue that the origins of their Kurdish nationalism: educate ourselves nation and nationalism reach back into “Sharaf Khan’s in learning and time immemorial work demonstrates wisdom.”(17) In referring a conscious effort to the divisions among to assert Kurdish the Kurds, Ahmadi Khan, of course, was also statehood.”(20) Interestingly, Hassanpour identifying the recurring and most important views the development of Kurdish nationalism factor stymying Kurdish nationalism today. through Marxist lens of social classes Thus, elsewhere in his epic, Ahmadi Khan progressing through what he terms feudal and bemoans the results of this Kurdish division: bourgeois nationalism. He also emphasizes “Look, from the Arabs to the Georgians, the the importance of the Kurdish emirates, some Kurds have become like towers. The Turks and of which existed up to the middle of the 19th Persians are surrounded by them. The Kurds century as autonomous political entities. are on all four corners. Both sides have made In addition, he refers to the 19th century the Kurdish people targets for the arrows of Kurdish patriotic poet Haji Qadir Koyi as “next fate. They are said to be keys to the borders, to [Ahmadi] Khani... the second apostle of each tribe forming a formidable bulwark. Kurdayeti [Kurdish nationalism].”(21) Whenever the Ottoman Sea [Ottomans] and In Kurdish history and heroic folklore, Tajik Sea [Persians] flow out and agitate, the Dimdim (in Persian Dumdum) has become Kurds get soaked in blood separating them a sort of Kurdish Masada. It was at this [the Turks and Persians] like an isthmus.”(18) In mountain fortress near the western shore of

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Lake Urmia that Hatem Beg, the grand vizier of the Ottoman sultans in Persian. Melaye of the Safavid Persian shah Abbas the Great, Cizri was a famous Sufi poet in the early part of besieged the Baradust mir Khan Yakdas from the 17th century who declared, “I am the rose November 1609 to the summer of 1610. When of Eden of Botan; I am the torch of the knights the Persians finally took Dimdim, they found of .” His poems remain popular that all its defenders had committed suicide today. Other early Kurdish authors include rather than be captured. Bayti Dimdim treats the famous 14th-century Islamic historian and the siege of Dimdim as a Kurdish struggle geographer, Abu al-Fida; the great poet of against foreign domination and is considered the , Fuduli (died 1556); Eli by many as a national epic, second only to Heriri; Mele Ahmed of Bate; and Mir Mihemed Ahmadi Khan’s Mem u Zin. of Mukis, surnamed Feqiye Teyran.

Although no records exist of pre-Islamic Under the patronage of the court, a and much undoubtedly has number of excellent Kurdish poets also wrote been lost because of the ceaseless conflicts in the Gurani Kurdish language. This list covers that have ravished Kurdistan, it is possible the period from Mulla Muhammad Pareshan in to mention a few other important works and the 15th century to Mulla Abdal Rahim Mawlawi authors. In the first place, however, one in the 19th century, and also includes Ahmede should note that there have long been Kurdish Texti, Sheikh Mistefa Besarani, Khanay authors who wrote in , Persian, and Qubadi, and Mahzuni. Gurani only ceased as Turkish, while in modern times many Kurds a court literary language with the downfall of used Western languages. Usage of these other the Ardalan emirate in the mid-19th century. languages obscures the Kurdish origins of this Its former literary ascendancy is possibly still literature. The 13th-century Kurdish historian reflected by the fact that the term gorani is the and biographer Ibn al- common word for song Athir wrote in Arabic, in the modern Kurdish while at the beginning Many contemporary Kurdish language. of the 16th century Idris nationalists, therefore, point to The 19th and Bitlisi’s Hasht Behesht the Sharafnama as historical 20th centuries saw (The Eight Paradises) documentation of the antiquity of so many noteworthy traced the early history their nation and nationalism Kurdish authors that it

KUFA REVIEW: No.2 - Issue 1 - Winter 2013 33 KUFA REVIEW: Academic Journal is impossible to list all of them. A partial roll religion is different and their laws and customs would include the aforementioned Haji Qadir are distinct... We also are a nation apart. We Koyi; the much-adored patriotic journalist, Haji want our affairs to be in our own hands.”(22) (Piremerd) Tewfiq; the incomparable Kurdish- Syrian scholar, Muhammad Farid Kurd Ali; Constructionist Kurdish Nationalism the vibrant patriotic poet, Sexmus Hesen Cegerxwin; Faiq Abdallah Bakes; Abdallah Despite these primordial or essentialist Mihemed Ziwer; Ahmad Shawki, the Kurdish- arguments for the antiquity of Kurdish Egyptian who was known as the prince of poets; nationalism, such interpretations can be the Kurdish-Egyptian challenged for a brothers, Muhammad there have long been Kurdish number of very solid and Mahmud Taymur; authors who wrote in Arabic, reasons. In the first and Mihemed Shheikh Persian, and Turkish, while in place, of course, the Abdul Kerim ; modern times many Kurds used very concept of the among many others. Western languages. Usage of these nation and nationalism In 1898, Kurdistan, other languages obscures the being the focus of a journal published Kurdish origins of this literature one’s supreme loyalty in Cairo by a group is relatively new even of Kurdish exiles, proved seminal in the in the West, where many would argue that development of Kurdish literature and modern it only began to develop in the latter part of Kurdish nationalism. the 18th century and specifically during the French Revolution which began in 1789.(23) In 1880, Sheikh Ubeydullah of Nehri led a The concept is even newer in the Middle East. famous but ultimately unsuccessful revolt that Turkish, Iranian, and even is sometimes said to have been the prototype largely emerged only after World War I for subsequent Kurdish nationalist revolts. In following the demise of the multi-national a famous letter to the British consul-general in Ottoman Empire and its emphasis on Islam Tabriz, Ubeydullah seemingly made obvious as the supreme focus of one’s loyalty. Martin references to some kind of pre-existing van Bruinessen, for example, disputes the oft- Kurdish nationalism when he declared that: made claim that Ahmadi Khani’s 17th century “the Kurdish nation... is a people apart. Their

34 KUFA REVIEW: No.2 - Issue 1 - Winter 2013 Michael M. Gunter: The Contemporary Roots Of Kurdish Nationalism In Iraq epic Mem u Zin was a precursor of modern [Kurdish nationalism] from becoming salient Kurdish nationalism. He argues that neither or highly ethnicized.”(26) Following World War the political nor socio-economic prerequisites I, however, “different forms of Kurdayeti have existed in 17th century Kurdistan for any evolved in Iraq, , and as a function notion of the nation to exist because tribes of the political space in each state.”(27) Hakan were the main collectivity with which the Kurds Ozoglu aptly demonstrates how Kurdish identified. “In general, people did not identify nationalism only began to emerge in Turkey themselves as ethnic groups or nations in the after the Ottoman Empire collapsed and the way that people nowadays do.”(24) Kurdish notables had to seek a new identity. “Kurdish nationalism appeared to be the only Hugh Seton-Watson analyzes the rise of viable choice for Kurds in the absence of a what he calls “official nationalism” in such functioning ideology such as Ottomanism. It multi-national states as Russia and Hungary was a result of a desperate search for identity during the second half of the 19th century: after Ottomanism failed.”(28) Thus, Kurdish “The leaders of the most powerful nations... nationalism... was not a cause of [the Ottoman] impose[d] their nationality on all their subjects- Empire’s disintegration, but rather the result of of whatever religion, language or culture... As it.”(29) they saw it... they were strengthening their state by creating within it a single homogeneous M. Hakan Yavuz elaborates on the modern nation.”(25) Russification in the origins of Kurdish nationalism in Turkey when under Alexander III and Nicholas II imagined he declares: “The state’s [Turkey’s] policies a nation without diversity, and subsequently are the determinant factors in the evolution and became the model for many of the new states modulation of... Kurdish ethno-nationalism. in the Middle East like Iraq, Turkey, and Iran. The major reason for the politicization of Kurdish cultural identity is the shift from multi- Denise Natali illustrates how “in both the ethnic, multi-cultural Ottoman and Qajar realities of the Ottoman [Persian] Empires the Kurdish nationalism . . . was not a Empire to the nation- absence of an exclusive cause of [the Ottoman] Empire’s state model.”(30) The official nationalist project disintegration, but rather the result Kemalist reforms, based on ethnicity of it which aimed to create prevented Kurdayeti

KUFA REVIEW: No.2 - Issue 1 - Winter 2013 35 KUFA REVIEW: Academic Journal a modern Turkish nation-state “resulted in the minimal amount of Kurdish autonomy.(36) Thus, construction of Kurdish ethno-nationalism.”(31) the revolts of Sheikh Mahmud Barzinji in the Throughout his analysis, Yavuz emphasizes 1920s and Mulla Mustafa beginning that “the major difference between Turkish in the 1930s were mainly tribal affairs at times and Kurdish nationalism is the presence opposed by more Kurdish josh (literally, little of the state... Since Kurdish nationalism in donkeys or Kurds who supported the Iraqi Turkey, Iraq, and Iran evolved in response government in Baghdad) than supported. to modernizing nation-states, it constantly In discussing the revolts of Sheikh Mahmud stresses its ethnic ‘difference,’ sometimes Barzinji, for example, David McDowall argues even evoking racism to historicize itself.”(32) that “he had little in common with today’s Kurdish leaders. Both the vocabulary and style Hamit Bozarslan basically agrees with are quite different. It is significant that Shaykh Yavuz’s analysis when he argues that Mahmud did not waste his time appealing to two significant factors preventing Kurdish nationalist sentiment. He was a sayyid [literally nationalism from exerting significant influence a reputed descendant of Muhammed], and the from 1919-1921 were “the ideal of Islamic language his constituency understood was fraternity, and the fear of the establishment the language of Islam. In 1919 he appealed of an Armenian state.”(33) However, “the for a jihad, not a national liberation struggle. proclamation of the Kemalist Republic in 1923 Furthermore, his style was to use kin and meant the end of... the Ottoman tacit contract tribal allies and his aim was the establishment between centre and peripheries [and]... to a of a personal fiefdom.”(37) large extent explains the... traditional [Kurdish] dignitaries... participation in the subsequent Barzani’s rise to prominence after his return revolts.”(34) to Iraq from exile in the Soviet Union in 1958 is not easy to fully explain unless one appreciates the contemporary roots of Kurdish nationalism Kurdish Nationalism in Iraq in Iraq. As late as 1957, for example, no less an Similarly in Iraq,(35) Kurdish nationalism astute observer of affairs than C. J. Edmonds, only began to develop after World War I in who had been a British Political Officer in Iraq response to the attempts to build a modern during the 1920s and also written a number of Arab state that would permit no more than a useful analyses of the Iraqi Kurds, mentioned

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Barzani only in passing generals, Barzani’s Kurdish nationalism only began as a “fugitive rebel from retreat to the Soviet to develop after World War I in Iraq,”(38) and concluded Union subsequently response to the attempts to build a that “with every year that became epic in the modern Arab state that would permit passes any concerted rise of modern Kurdish no more than a minimal amount of armed revolt becomes nationalism in Iraq: Kurdish autonomy more improbable.” “We marched for fifty- two days. In the high How wrong could mountain passes the late spring snow was six anybody be? Two years later, although to twelve feet deep. We fought nine encounters, now realizing that “the event which perhaps lost four killed and had seven wounded.”(40) more than any other has caught the popular Even so, to his dying day, Barzani never fully imagination is the return of Mulla Mustafa,”(39) exceeded the bounds of tribal chieftain. In Edmonds could only argue that “it is difficult part, this helps to explain his bitter disputes to explain this rapid build-up into a national with and Ahmad’s son-in-law, all-Iraqi figure... otherwise than as the work . of a well-organized chain of communist propagandists long established throughout In time, however, ’s Iraq.” Again how wrong could any analyst genocidal attempts to reduce the Kurds in be? Given subsequent developments, the 1970s and 1980s,(41) had the opposite Edmonds’s lack of foresight, stemmed from effect of fostering Kurdish nationalism in his understandable failure to predict the Iraq. Iraq’s defeat in the Gulf Wars of 1991 contemporary rise of Kurdish nationalism in and 2003 spawned the Kurdistan Regional Iraq as a reaction to the excesses of Iraqi Arab Government (KRG), a federal state in post- nationalism. Saddam-Hussein Iraq in which an increasingly strong sense of Iraqi Kurdish nationalism Thus, only in the 1960s did the Kurdish began to grow within what was largely a movement in Iraq begin to take on the Kurdish-ruled state.(42) Social and economic characteristics of a genuine nationalist factors also played important roles in the movement. Following the destruction of the development of Kurdish nationalism in Iraq. Mahabad Republic of Kurdistan in Iran in 1946, The oil industry, construction of major dams, in which Barzani had been one of commanding

KUFA REVIEW: No.2 - Issue 1 - Winter 2013 37 KUFA REVIEW: Academic Journal cement and tobacco factories, and agricultural distinct Kurdish identity.”(43) Although Bedir mechanization all created greater wealth Khan’s writings were propagandistic and and helped move people out of their smaller contained simplistic, misleading, and distorted traditional valleys into the larger urban world. analyses of Kurdish history, they still maintain In the first decade of the 21st century, Iraqi an important influence on the subsequent Kurdish nationalism has become the most development of Kurdish nationalism and its highly developed form of Kurdish nationalism analysis. among the entire Celadet Bedir Khan Kurdish people, but was elected the first clearly its origins are only in the 1960s did the Kurdish president of Khoybun, mainly contemporary, movement in Iraq begin to take on a transnational Kurdish dating only to the events the characteristics of a genuine party created in 1927 described briefly above. nationalist movement by Kurdish intellectuals The Bedir Khan living in exile in Syria. brothers’ (Tureyya, The party sought to Kamuran, and Celadet) attempt to develop or establish a strong Kurdish national liberation invent Kurdish nationalism in the 1920s and movement with a trained fighting force that 1930s also aptly illustrates its contemporary would not depend on the traditional tribal roots. The three brothers were grandsons of the leaders and helped instigate the unsuccessful famous Bedir Khan of Botan whose powerful Ararat uprising of the Kurds in 1927-1930. emirate was only destroyed by the Ottomans in Subsequently, Celadet Bedir Khan devoted 1847. The three brothers grappled with many himself to literary work and helped to develop problems, including the ambivalent nature of a Kurdish alphabet in Latin characters. During the Kurdish relationship with the Turks and his final years in the 1960s, he served asa the primitive state of affairs in Kurdistan. As spokesman for Mulla , the Martin Strohmeier notes, “all Kurds were famous Iraqi Kurdish leader discussed above. deeply if variously enmeshed in social, In 1937, Kamuran Bedir Khan published ideological, economic and personal relations Der Adler [Eagle] von Kurdistan, a formalistic with the Turks... These bonds hampered the and forgotten attempt to write an epic novel to development of a self-assertive, robust and promote the Kurdish cause on the magnitude

38 KUFA REVIEW: No.2 - Issue 1 - Winter 2013 Michael M. Gunter: The Contemporary Roots Of Kurdish Nationalism In Iraq of Franz Werfel’s classic, The Forty Days of The Current Situation in Iraq Musa Dagh for the Armenians. Bedir Khan At the present time the relationship between attempted to forge an imagined Kurdish Baghdad and the KRG “is characterized by nation that illustrated its heroism, patriotism, suspicion, animosity and brinkmanship”(44) that reverence for the land, identification with the “threaten the stability of the [Iraqi] state at a mountains, pride in the language and heritage, far deeper political level.”(45) As the Baghdad beauty of the folk tales and songs, strong government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and patriotic women, and overall Kurdish grew in strength and confidence, it naturally solidarity. He even sought to assert that the began to seek to reimpose its authority Kurds’ true religion was and over the northern Kurdish part of the state. that the Biblical Garden of Eden had a Kurdish The 2005 constitution that guaranteed real counterpart in the legend of the Thousand federalism and thus semi-independence for Lakes (Bingol). Proverbs such as “Lion, put the KRG was now challenged as having been your faith in your paws,” demonstrated how imposed at a moment of weakness. Many (but the Kurds relied on their own strength and did not all(46)) Shiite and Sunni Arabs now seek to not merely await divine aid. Kamuran Bedir return to what they see as the rightful situation Khan’s effort to produce a Kurdish national of a more centralized state. epic, however, proved unsuccessful and failed to stir Kurdish nationalism. The large majority For the past several years, Massoud of the Kurds had not yet imbued enough Barzani, the president of the KRG and al- sense of Kurdish nationalism to part with other Maliki have been locked in a bitter verbal . struggle over the situation. During a tense meeting in Baghdad in November 2008, for example, Barzani told al-Maliki “you smell like Although Bedir Khan’s writings a dictator”(47) and also declared that the Iraqi were propagandistic and contained prime minister was “playing with fire.”(48) In simplistic, misleading, and distorted August 2008, these semantic fireworks nearly analyses of Kurdish history, they resulted in open hostilities over the disputed still maintain an important influence city of situated in Diyala province on the subsequent development of some 90 miles north of Baghdad on their de Kurdish nationalism and its analysis facto internal border often referred to as the “trigger line.” Here the Kurdish peshmerga

KUFA REVIEW: No.2 - Issue 1 - Winter 2013 39 KUFA REVIEW: Academic Journal ignored an ultimatum by the Iraqi Security are matched by few other disputes over Forces (ISF) to withdraw within 24 hours. After territorial ‘ownership.”(51) From a position of some very tense brinkmanship, the two sides initial strength that appeared to be ready to each withdrew some 15 miles north and south hand to the KRG under the provisions of the city leaving security within Khanaqin of Article 140 of the 2005 Iraqi constitution, to be handled by the the contested city and police. During a tense meeting in Baghdad province now seem the proverbial bridge The two sides have in November 2008, for example, too far for the Kurds come close to fighting Barzani told al-Maliki “you smell like to take. Kirkuk also on several subsequent a dictator” represents the occasions. Only the opposing constitutional presence of U.S. positions with the Kurds maintaining that the troops stationed nearby seemed to prevent Iraqi constitution (including Article 140) must bloodshed.(49) Now that these troops are be implemented, while Baghdad has become gone, the situation may become even more increasingly critical of the constitution in untenable. For example, in November 2012, general and particularly Article 140 as being tensions mounted over the formation of part of a constitution written for a now dated Baghdad’s Dijla Operations Command, a new situation. military formation that was to operate in the area over which both Baghdad and the KRG Ironically, however, many Arabs fall back claimed jurisdiction. Troops from the two sides on the constitution by pointing to Article 142, faced off in what one report declared was which implements the promise to the Sunnis to “a crisis that... could erupt into a full-blown review the document by allowing amendments war,”(50) before tensions were defused. agreed to by a parliamentary majority to be passed together as one bloc.(52) Indeed an Iraqi Oil-rich and strategically located Kirkuk, Constitutional Review Committee has been at of course, represents the center of these work since the adoption of the constitution in Baghdad-KRG tensions. It “is a classic divided 2005. Maybe its most important work has been city... over which people are prepared to fight to try to define the constitutional definition of and die... The numbers of actors involved, federalism as it would be implemented in a resource dimensions, and international manner acceptable to all Iraqi parties. involvement-add... layers of complexity that

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How then will ties between the KRG and Conclusion Baghdad play out?(53) Clearly, their political That the roots of Kurdish nationalism future remains in doubt. Whether Iraq will lie mainly (although not completely) in remain truly federal as the KRG demands contemporary times in no way impugns either or federal in name only as the Arabs its current existence or legitimacy. Indeed recentralize the state remains to be seen. its contemporary roots are not unique. Arab, However, KRG president Massoud Barzani Turkish, and Iranian nationalisms are only has unequivocally warned: “We will not allow slightly older, while that of the European the Kurdish people’s achievements to be nations-where the concept of nationalism was wrecked by the Iraqi parliament. Iraq will fall born-are also relatively new. apart if the Iraqi constitution is violated.”(54) In addition, as Stansfield and Anderson It is true, of course, that Kurdish nationalism- concluded: “A government founded on Arab compared to that of its immediate neighbors nationalism, devoid of Kurdish representation in Turkey, the Arab world, and Iran-has been and dedicated to stunted and divided. eliminating meaningful In addition, this article Given its much greater resources, Kurdish autonomy in the has shown that Kurdish time seems to be on the side of north, would spell the nationalism largely Baghdad. Does this mean that the beginning of the end for developed in the 20th KRG might be tempted to strike the territorial integrity of century as a stateless Iraq.”(55) Given its much before it is too late? ethnic reaction against greater resources, time the repressive “official seems to be on the side of Baghdad. Does this state nationalisms” mean that the KRG might be tempted to strike of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria. Martin van before it is too late? So far, Baghdad and the Bruinessen has commented on how “the KRG have shown a wisdom and maturity that sort of ‘nation building’ policies that were so argues against any such rash action. Violence successfully implemented in the earlier period and even civil war, if they come, are more appear to have the reverse result in the present... likely to eventuate inadvertently. However, Since the 1970s... repressive measures just how often can the two sides dodge the directed at the expression of Kurdish nationalist proverbial bullet? sentiment have had the effect of strengthening rather than eliminating it.”(56) Moreover, referring

KUFA REVIEW: No.2 - Issue 1 - Winter 2013 41 KUFA REVIEW: Academic Journal specifically to the Kurds, Murat Somer recently not present even in Iraq. noted how “people can have multiple and mixed Indeed, early in the 21st century, Kurdish conceptions of their identities, whereby ethnicity nationalism bids fair to challenge the future of has to compete with other sources of belonging, such states as Iraq, Turkey, Iran, and Syria. In such as national, supranational, and regional northern Iraq particularly, Kurdish nationalism identities.”(57) These problems and differences has flourished since the creation of the KRG, in Kurdish nationalism, however, do not negate a de facto Kurdish state created following its existence, which continues to develop and the defeat of Iraq in the 1991 and 2003 Gulf mature. Wars. Under the protection of a no-fly zone Recently, for example, the development enforced against the government of Saddam of transnational space has led “to externally Hussein until his fall in 2003, an entire Kurdish based opportunity structures such as diasporic generation was raised under a Kurdish-run networks, international nongovernmental administration and learned to speak only organizations, host-country democratic Kurdish, not Arabic. In addition, a Kurdish systems, and advanced telecommunication civil society began to emerge with dozens of systems that provide new forms of support or newspapers, magazines, and television and constraint to Kurdish nationalist projects.”(58) In radio stations using the Kurdish language and Iraq, “the creation of a protected, autonomous representing a broad spectrum of opinion. region encouraged the transfer of people, The Kurds enjoyed freedoms impossible to ideas, and resources to , imagine in the rest of Iraq. Furthermore, an all of which helped advance the notion of increasingly influential and, in part, highly Kurdish self-rule.”(59) In Turkey, “access to educated diaspora of more then 500,000 institutions has reinforced Kurds in the West(61) has provided a reservoir of ties to the international support for the Kurdish Under the protection of a no- network of human- nationalism developing fly zone enforced against the rights organizations in this de facto state. government of Saddam Hussein until and created a new The U.S. war that legal political arena his fall in 2003, an entire Kurdish removed Saddam for Kurdish nationalist generation was raised under a Hussein from power in claims... a ‘juridicization’ Kurdish-run administration and 2003 has furthered the of Kurdayeti at the learned to speak only Kurdish, not development of Kurdish international level”(60) Arabic

42 KUFA REVIEW: No.2 - Issue 1 - Winter 2013 Michael M. Gunter: The Contemporary Roots Of Kurdish Nationalism In Iraq nationalism in Iraq.(62) At the expense of its 2005 almost unanimously opted for Kurdish inveterate opponent Turkey, Iraqi Kurdish independence. Geopolitical realities, of course, nationalism became an even closer U.S. ally currently prohibit independence, but who can than anyone could have possibly expected. accurately predict what the future will bring if This ironic situation was a democratic federal brought about by Turkey Geopolitical realities, of course, Iraq proves impossible refusing to allow the currently prohibit independence, to create? Kurdish United States to use its but who can accurately predict what nationalism in Iraq may territory as a base for a the future will bring if a democratic come to be seen as northern front to attack federal Iraq proves impossible to having the right-in the Iraq in March 2003. create? name of stability that The Iraqi Kurds were also would benefit the suddenly thrust into the United States, Turkey, role of U.S. ally, a novel position they eagerly and other neighboring states-to move towards and successfully assumed. During the post- independence. war insurgency that turned many sections of What is more, given the fact that greater Arab Iraq into a very dangerous place, the Kurdistan contains a sizeable amount of the Kurdish area of Iraq served as a relatively oil in the Middle East as well as the water, peaceful haven and Kurdish nationalism as Kurdish nationalism clearly will impact the staunchest supporter of the United States. the region’s and, therefore, the world’s In return, the U.S.- supported new constitution future. To begin to come to grips with these for Iraq has given the Kurds an enormous consequences, therefore, other states and power over their future in Iraq. nations must grant the legitimacy of Kurdish As of the beginning of 2013, Iraqi Kurdish nationalism. Once this legitimacy is admitted, nationalism is in a uniquely powerful position then stable and just solutions to the problems given its virtual veto power over future it entails may be found. Kurdish national self- developments in Iraq. If the Arabs will not determination need not necessarily destroy agree to a democratic federal Iraq that the territorial integrity of the states the Kurds satisfies the goals of Kurdish nationalism, now inhabit. Various forms of autonomy, the Kurds will simply continue administering federalism, and even simple but genuine themselves as they have since 1991. Indeed, democracy may satisfy the just demands of two unofficial referenda held in 2004 and Kurdish nationalism.(63)

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6 Ernest Gellner, Thought and Change (London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1964), p. 168. Notes 7 Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: * Michael M. Gunter is a professor of political science Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism at Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, (London: Verso, 1991). Tennessee and teaches during the summers at the 8 Cited in Benyamin Neuberger, “State and Nation Megatrend International University Vienna in Austria. in African Thought,” Journal of African Studies 4:2 He also teaches for the U.S. government area studies (1977), p. 202. program in Washington, D.C. He is the author of numerous critically praised scholarly books on the 9 Eugene Weber, Peasants into Frenchmen: The Kurdish question, the most recent being Kurdish Modernization of Rural France, 1870-1914 (Stanford: Historical Dictionary, 2nd ed., 2011; and The Kurds Stanford University, 1976). Ascending: The Evolving Solution to the Kurdish 10 Mehrdad R. Izady, The Kurds: A Concise Handbook Problem in Iraq and Turkey, 2nd ed., 2011. He (Washington: Crane Russak: 1992), p. 23.

previously published portions of the present article 11 Ibid., p. 34. as “The Modern Origins of Kurdish Nationalism,” in 12 Vladimir F. Minorsky, “Kurds, Kurdistan: Origins and Mohammed M.A. Ahmed and Michael M. Gunter, Pre-Islamic History,” in The Encyclopedia of Islam, eds., The Evolution of Kurdish Nationalism (Costa New ed. Vol. 5. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1981), p. Mesa, CA: Mazda Press, 2007), pp. 1-17. 449. 1 On the concept of the umma, see William L. Cleveland 13 Ibid. and Martin Bunton, A History of the Modern Middle 14 Edith and E. F. Penrose, Iraq: International Relations East, 5th ed. (Boulder CO: Westview Press, 2013), and National Development (London: Ernest Benn, pp. 33, 110, and 117. 1970), p. 276. 2 Carter Findley, The Turks in World History (Oxford 15 Saladin, however, identified himself first as a Muslim, and New York: Oxford University Press, 2004). not a Kurd. Malcolm Cameron Lyons and D.E.P. 3 The continuing instability of most of these states Jackson, Saladin: The Politics of the Holy War is due in part to the continuing influence of Islam (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982). challenging their secular legitimacy. Western 16 For a recent translation of part of this work, see imperialism too has played no small role. Prince Sharaf al-Din Bitlisi (English translation and 4 John Armstrong, Nations before Nationalism (Chapel commentaries by M. R. Izady) The Sharafnama: Or Hill: University of North Carolina, 1982). the History of the Kurdish Nation, 1597-Book One 5 Anthony D. Smith, The Ethnic Origins of Nations (Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda, 2005). (Oxford: Blackwell, 1986). 17 Cited in Martin van Bruinessen, Agha, Shaikh and

44 KUFA REVIEW: No.2 - Issue 1 - Winter 2013 Michael M. Gunter: The Contemporary Roots Of Kurdish Nationalism In Iraq

State: The Social and Political Structure of Kurdistan Origins of Kurdish Nationalism (Costa Mesa, CA: (London: Zed, 1992), p. 267. Mazda, 2003), p. 44.

18 Cited in Amir Hassanpour, Nationalism and 25 Hugh Seton-Watson, Nations and States: An Language in Kurdistan, 1918-1985 (San Francisco: Enquiry into the Origins of Nations and the Politics of Mellen Research University, 1992), pp. 53, 55. Nationalism (Boulder: Westview, 1977), p. 148.

19 Ferhad Shakely, Kurdish Nationalism in Mam u 26 Denise Natali, The Kurds and the State: Evolving Zin of Ahmad-iKhani (Brussels: Kurdish Institute of National Identity in Iraq, Turkey, and Iran (Syracuse:

Brussels, 1992), p. 64. Syracuse University Press, 2005), p. 24.

20 Amir Hassanpour, “The Making of Kurdish Identity: 27 Ibid., p. 160. Pre-20th Century Historical and Literary Discourses,” 28 Hakan Ozoglu, Kurdish Notables and the Ottoman in Abbas Vali, ed., Essays on the Origins of Kurdish State: Evolving Identities, Competing Loyalties, and Nationalism (Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda, 2003), p. 112. Shifting Boundaries (Albany, NY: State University of 21 Ibid., p. 130. New York, 2004), p. 117.

22 Cited in David McDowall, A Modern History of the 29 Ibid., p. 18. For further analyses of the Kemalist Kurds (London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 1996), p. modernization project and state discourse toward 53. the Kurds, see Mesut Yegen, “The Turkish State 23 John Hutchinson and Anthony D. Smith, eds., Discourse and the Exclusion of Kurdish Identity,” Nationalism (Oxford and New York: Oxford University, Middle Eastern Studies 35 (April 1996), pp. 216-29.

1994), pp. 5ff., mention such other specific events 30 M. Hakan Yavuz, “Five Stages of the Construction of as the first partition of Poland in 1775, the American Kurdish Nationalism in Turkey,” Nationalism & Ethnic Declaration of Independence in 1776, and Johann Politics 7 (Autumn 2001), p. 1. Fichte’s Address to the German Nation in 1807. 31 Ibid., p. 2. They also argue that “nationalism, as an ideological 32 Ibid., p. 3. For further analyses, see M. Hakan Yavuz, movement, did not emerge without antecedents” “A Preamble to the Kurdish Question: The Politics of such as the printing press, classical humanism of Kurdish Identity,” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs some northern Italian cities, the growth of free towns 18:1 (1998), pp. 9-18; and Robert Olson, “Five as centers of capitalism, and the “disentangling of Stages of Kurdish Nationalism, 1880-1980,” Journal ‘England’ from ‘France’ at the end of the Hundred of Muslim Minority Affairs 12:2 (1991), pp. 392-410. Years War (1337-1453),” among numerous other 33 Hamit Bozarslan, “Kurdish Nationalism in Turkey: events. From Tacit Contract to Rebellion (1919-1925),” in 24 Martin van Bruinessen, “Ehmedi Xani’s Mem u Zin Abbas Vali, ed., Essays on the Origins of Kurdish and Its Role in the Emergence of Kurdish National Nationalism (Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda, 2003), p. 165. Awareness,” in Abbas Vali, ed., Essays on the

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34 Ibid. Hiltermann, A Poisonous Affair: America, Iraq, and

35 Phebe Marr, The Modern , 3rd ed. the Gassing of Halabja (Cambridge: Cambridge (Boulder CO: Westview Press, 2011); Charles Tripp, University Press, 2007). A History of Iraq, 3rd ed. (Cambridge University 42 Gareth R.V. Stansfield, Iraqi Kurdistan: Political Press, 2007); Toby Dodge, Inventing Iraq: The Development and Emergent Democracy (London Failure of Nation Building and a History Denied and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003); Michael (New York: Columbia University Press, 2003); and M. Gunter, The Kurds Ascending: The Evolving Eric Davis, Memories of State: Politics, History, and Solution to the Kurdish Problem in Iraq and Turkey, Collective Identity in Modern Iraq (Berkeley and Los 2nd ed. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011); Angeles: University of California Press, 2005). Mahir A. Aziz, The Kurds of Iraq: Ethnonationalism

36 For background, see C. J. Edmonds, Kurds, Turks and National Identity in Iraqi Kurdistan (London and Arabs: Politics, Travel and Research in North- and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2011); and Mohammed Eastern Iraq, 1919-1925 (London: Oxford University M.A. Ahmed, Iraqi Kurds and Nation-Building (New Press, 1957); and Wadie Jwaideh, The Kurdish York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), among numerous Nationalist Movement: Its Origins and Development others. (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2006). 43 Martin Strohmeier, Crucial Images in the Presentation

37 McDowall, Modern , p. 158. For of a Kurdish National Identity: Heroes and Patriots, further discussions, see Edmonds, Kurds, Turks Traitors and Foes (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2003), and Arabs; and Sa’ad Jawad, Iraq and the Kurdish p. 54. Question, 1958-1970 (London: Ithaca, 1981). 44 For a lucid analysis, see Gareth Stansfield and Liam Nevertheless, Sheikh Mahmud did declare himself Anderson, “; The Struggle between “king of Kurdistan” in 1922. Baghdad and ,” Middle East Policy 16 (Spring

38 This and the following citation were taken from C.J. 2009), pp. 134-45. This penetrating article sums up Edmonds, “The Kurds of Iraq,” Middle East Journal very well the current dilemma. 11 (Winter 1957), p. 61. 45 Ibid., p. 135.

39 This and the following citation were taken from C.J. 46 The Shiite Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) Edmonds, “The Kurds and the Revolution in Iraq,” agrees with the Kurds about maintaining real Middle East Journal 13 (Winter 1959), pp. 4 and 8. federalism in Iraq. Although influential in Basra, the

40 Cited in Dana Adams Schmidt, Journey among ISCI lost considerable electoral support in the local Brave Men (Boston: Little, Brown, 1964), pp. 109-10. Iraqi elections held in January 2009. It came in a stronger third in the national elections held on March 41 For background, see Middle East Watch, Genocide 7, 2010, winning 70 seats. Ayyad Allawi’s Iraqiya in Iraq: The against the Kurds (New Alliance (largely Sunni supported) came in first with York: Human Rights Watch, 1993); and Joost R.

46 KUFA REVIEW: No.2 - Issue 1 - Winter 2013 Michael M. Gunter: The Contemporary Roots Of Kurdish Nationalism In Iraq

91 seats and Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law (Shiite) http://www.krg.org/articles/detail.aspsmap=02010100&I List came in a very close second with 89 seats. The ngnr=12&anr=25113&rnr=223, accessed August 10, Kurdistani List (KDP-PUK alliance of the two main 2010.

Kurdish parties) came in fourth with 43. 55 Stansfield and Anderson, “Kurds in Iraq: The Struggle 47 Cited in “Iraq: Is It Really Coming Right?” The between Baghdad and Erbil,” p. 144.

Economist, November 27, 2008. 56 Martin van Bruinessen, “Shifting National and Ethnic 48 Cited in Ernesto Londono, “Kurds in Northern Iraq Identities: The and the European Receive Arms from Bulgaria,” The Washington Post, Diaspora,” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 18 November 23, 2008. (April 1998), p. 39.

49 The following narrative is largely based on “Too Late 57 Murat Somer, “Failures of the Discourse of Ethnicity: to Keep the Peace? The Americans Are Trying Again Turkey, Kurds, and the Emerging Iraq,” Security to Keep the Peace between Arabs and Kurds,” The Dialogue 36 (March 2005), p. 114.

Economist, February 11, 2010. 58 Natali, Kurds and the State, p. 161.

50 “Before a Full-Blown War?” Aswataliraq.ingo, 59 Ibid., pp. 164-65. November 22, 2012. 60 Ibid., p. 169. http://www.mesop.de/2012/11/22/before-a-full-blown..., 61 For background, see Vera Eccarius-Kelly, The accessed November 24, 2012. Militant Kurds: A Dual Strategy for Freedom (Santa 51 Liam Anderson and Gareth Stansfield, Crisis in Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2011). Kirkuk: Ethnopolitics of Conflict and Compromise 62 For two separate collections of articles on these (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, events, see Mohammed M.A. Ahmed and Michael 2009), p. 9. M. Gunter, eds., The Kurdish Question and the 2003 52 The following discussion is largely based on Haider Iraqi War (Costa Mesa, CA.: Mazda, 2005); and Hamoudi and Chibil Mallat, “Iraq at a Crossroads: Brendan O’Leary, John McGarry, and Khaled Salih, Constitutional Review Committee Fills in Crucial eds., The Future of Kurdistan in Iraq (Philadelphia: Gaps,” The Daily Star (Beirut), November 19, 2009. University of Pennsylvania, 2005).

53 For a recent analysis, see Rand National Defense 63 For further background concerning Iraq, see Reidar Research Institute, Security in Iraq: A Framework for Visser and Gareth Stansfield, eds., An Iraq of Its Analyzing Emerging Threats as U.S. Forces Leave Regions: Cornerstones of a Federal Democracy? (Santa Monica: Rand, 2010). (New York: Columbia University Press, 2008). 54 Kurdistan Regional Government, “President Barzani: Iraq Will Fall Apart If Constitution Violated,” KRG Press Release, August 7, 2008.

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48 KUFA REVIEW: No.2 - Issue 1 - Winter 2013