The Kurdish Struggle

Tommy and Revan,
I do think the candidates were repetitive and I blame this on the organization of the debates. Each debate should strictly be about a certain topic so that it would not be repetitive and therefore candidates could give us their plans in more depth about the topic.
In terms of Middle East politics, the goals of both McCain and Obama are very similar; it is just their methods of achieving their goals that differ. Both strongly support Israel, want a stable and democratic Iraq, do not want to see Iran with a nuclear weapon, and want to get rid of terrorism. Therefore it is only the policies that differ and I believe Obama’s policy to gain more support in the Middle East rather than just using military force, is the better policy for us to pursue.



The uniqueness of the Middle East is its diversity of religion, culture, and ethnicity all in a small region of land that is not resembled in any other area of the world. Although this diversity has led to the advancement and exchange among people, many times it has led to conflict. An example of this ethnic conflict is the Kurdish struggle to gain their own independent state.

The Kurds are a group of people that are strongly concentrated in Eastern Turkey, Northern Iraq, and Western Iran. They are a largely Sunni Islamic people whose culture differs from the Arabs, Turks and Persians. Due to their ethnic differences to the countries in the region they believe it is their right to establish and independent Kurdistan, but obviously neither Turkey, Iraq, nor Iran is willing to give up any of their lands for another state. The Kurds have been oppressed by Saddam in Iraq and by the governments of Turkey and Iran. In order to obtain their independence some Kurds have joined a terrorist organization called the PKK which fights for Kurdish independence using guerrilla tactics. This group has recently been active mostly in Turkey, which contains the largest percentage Kurds, and has sparked a large scale conflict. Ever since the fall of Saddam Hussein Kurdish nationalism has risen and so has terrorist activity. Turkey who feels most threatened has begun air strikes on Kurdish rebels and the PKK in Northern Iraq. They have even sent ground troops into Iraq to diminish the Kurdish threat. In many cases it has been reported that Turkish troops have taken too harsh of actions on Kurdish citizens, but neither the US nor any international organization has tried to put an end to the violence. Unfortunately neither of the US presidential nominees has expressed a view on the conflict, and it will be interesting to see what actions they take if Turkey proceeds in suppressing the Kurds in Northern Iraq. Since the Kurds have a large population and have their own culture and identity, I believe they have the right to have their own independent state.