Dr. Denise Natali's writings and Kurdistan's regional imperialism

Dr. Denise Natali‘s writing is a support for last propagating regional imperialism in Kurdistan

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.

Omar Sindi | Exclusive to iKurd.net

Observed many of the written articles by Scholar Denis Natali throughout different media outlets, indirectly encouraging and cautioning regional powers to keep cooperating to maintain the status quo of old colonial borders in Kurdistan, to be kept as they are.

Since the inception of the ‘Young Turks Spring – Unionist or ultra-nationalist adventure’ in the late 18th century, they chose to discriminate against Kurdish intellectuals, then to move to mono rule, which dragged the Ottoman Empire into catastrophic wars.

Pan-Arabism – an ideology in the early 19th century, which produced Michel Aflaq’s Baath Party; “its socialism soon became an ultra-national variety,” which produced an infamous figure like Mohamed Talab Hilal in Syria, a Baathist Cabinet Minister in 1963. He planned the systematic destruction of Kurdish land in Eastern Syria and wrote a baseless and unfounded thesis on the Kurdish people.

In it, he set out the “Arab Cordon Plan” (Al Hizam al-Arabi), which envisaged the expulsion of the entire Kurdish population living in eastern Syria, so-called along the border with Turkey. Today, the world has witnessed that the racist, misguided policy set out by these opaque views has led to suffering for all Syrian people. In Iraq, it produced a carnivore-like figure, Ali Hassan al-Majid, known by the nickname “Chemical Ali.”

The Baathists in Iraq, led by Chemical Ali, envisaged destroying the Kurdish people and Kurdistan with chemical weapons once again. The world has witnessed how much Iraq as a whole suffered, particularly the Kurdish people, who suffered the most from this misguided policy.

However, at least Chemical Ali met his fate and “was hanged for his crimes against humanity.” I am not here to teach Scholar Natali a history lesson, but she should be cognizant enough to understand that these kinds of myopic views have degenerated the region, including but not limited to the incalculable amount of money spent on purchasing arms, controlling regional populations, sustaining the status quo, maintaining dictatorial systems, causing economic regression, and preventing academic advancements, etc.

“Kurdistan was erased from the map after World War I, when the Allied Powers carved up the Middle East and denied the Kurds a nation-state.” As far as the Kurdish people are concerned, this is a historical betrayal inflicted on the Kurdish nation by the victors of World War I.

The dominators of the sub-colonial states of this land do not appear to have any future solutions at hand. These armed conflicts have failed to achieve any tangible goals. Therefore, we should pursue a different vision for the whole region.

The best option would be a peaceful process. The Kurdish people have not sought superiority over any other nation; they seek equality, co-partnership, peace, and justice for all, but at the same time, they do not accept inferiority either.

Dr. Natali, in one of your interviews by Joel Wind, the title of the article stated, “Kurdistan will never become independent; it is not in the interest of any regional state.” What gives you such a hypothesis, and on what basis do you make such a crude prediction? Perhaps people like you are sad to see dictators like Saddam Hussein gone from the center stage; it appears that your pen is consumed by realpolitik.

Dr. Natali, while you were working as a teacher in the autonomous region of Kurdistan-Iraq on March 6, 2012, in a written article by Borzou Daragah, he asked you if you were investing your money in Kurdistan. Then you stated, “We are not taking money from Paris (your place of residence) and investing here (in Kurdistan); are you kidding?” That was a wrong financial forecast, in your view.

Whatever amount of money you had invested before in Kurdistan would have quadrupled by now and would have achieved a much higher profit margin than the same amount of money in Paris. Maybe many people listened to such wrong advice and did not invest; I am pretty sure they regret it now because I am one of those who did not invest.

“The ideology of racism serves to legitimate the social inequalities between groups by making them seem ‘natural’ or ‘right.’ If one can believe that all tyrannical behaviors are good, a prejudiced attitude toward members of another group arises. These people are regarded with hostility simply because they belong to a particular group and are assumed to have the undesirable qualities attributed to the group as a whole.”

Natali, these writings have become thoroughly detestable. Your grim view against a nation struggling for decades to free itself from tyranny and gain freedom is disheartening. However, your true colors are camouflaged behind the National Strategic Studies (INSS) at the National Defense University.

Omar Sindi, a senior writer, analyst and columnist for iKurd.net, Washington, United States.

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.