Letter written to President Biden over Turkey's military operations in Iraqi Kurdistan

US President Joe Biden, August 24, 2021. Photo: The White House

Omar Sindi | Exclusive to iKurd.net

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW,
Washington, DC 20500,
United States of America

Dear President Joseph Biden,

I’m writing this letter to you on the behalf of voiceless people, the Kurdish people, particularly this part of Kurdistan that is under invasion by the Turkish troops in Kurdistan, the people in this area are watching the cutting of trees in front of their eyes and Turkish armed drones are in the air 24/7, and have killed so many innocent people in this area. The invasion of Kurdistan- Northern Iraq by the Turkish troops is against International law, and at the same time as this illegality is going on, the Turkish troops and their mercenaries are committing deforestation under the guise of a war with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the autonomous region of Kurdistan-Iraq.

Turkey is nominally a NATO member, but it’s very apparent that the Turkish state does not adhere or act like the other NATO alliance/members, democratic backsliding, the erosion of the checks and balances of political power, human rights is a big issue, etc. If the U.S. led coalition withdrawal happens, Iraq will most likely fall further into civil war, and ISIS attacks will be more vicious. In addition, Iraq will become a battleground competition for both Turkey and Iran. Because the Middle East is mostly run by authoritarian regimes, America‘s leadership in this stage is absolutely necessary to chide/exert pressure on President Erdogan to cease these reckless acts and policies. With reckless policies comes more chaos, more bloodshed, etc.

Turkish forces are committing mass deforestation in this part of the pristine Kurdish area of Iraq. Since the beginning of recorded history, this pristine area has been preserved- it has served as a habitat for many different species of insects, plants, and animals such as mountain goats, wolves, bears, foxes, squirrels, mountain leopards, honey bees, as well as many type of birds, such as hawks, eagles, and the list goes on…

The deforestation being committed by the Turkish state will have a catastrophic effect on the ecosystem for this region and greater environmental effects for the Middle East at large because this area is also a part of contributory water resources to the Tigris-Euphrates basin. These rivers are also sources of drinking water.

Turkey is a participant of both the Paris climate Accords, an international treaty on climate change adopted in 2015 and the Glasgow Climate Change Conference – October/November 2021. On the global warming prevention issue. Maybe they think cutting trees across borders does not affect their atmosphere.

Letter written to President Biden over Turkey's military operations in Iraqi Kurdistan — Turkish truck carrying cut trees out of Iraqi Kurdistan to Turkey, 2021. Photo: PM Hividar Ahmed/SM

“Deforestation and Its Extreme Effect on Global Warming-From logging production and other economic activities, deforestation adds more atmospheric CO2 than the sum total of cars and trucks on the world roads. The reason that logging is bad for the climate is that when trees felled they release the carbon they are storing into the atmosphere, where it mingles with greenhouse gases from other sources and contributes to global warming accordingly…”- Scientific American [and] “Cutting trees both adds carbon dioxide to the air and removes the ability to absorb existing carbon dioxide…” – World Resources Institute.

This Deforestation act by the Turkish state is against the UN agenda/policy of global reforestation acts. Below is a copy of the introduction of the proposed UN agenda on reforestation policy.

“United Nations strategic plan for forests, 2017-2030

I, Introduction

A. Vision and mission

Forests are among the world’s most productive land-based ecosystems and are essential to life on earth. The United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests 2017-2030 (UNSPF) provides a global framework for actions at all levels to sustainably manage all types of forests and trees outside forests and halt deforestation and forest degradation. The UNSPF also provides a framework for forest-related contributions to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement adopted under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, the United Nations Forest Instrument (UNFI)i, and other international forest-related instruments, processes, commitments and goals.

2. The UNSPF serves as a reference for the forest-related work of the UN systems and for fostering enhanced coherence, collaboration and synergies among UN bodies and partners towards the following vision and mission, as well as a framework to enhance the coherence of and guide and focus the work of the International Arrangement on Forests (IAF) and its components.

Vision:

A world where all types of forests and trees outside forest are sustainably managed, contribute to sustainable development and provide economic, social, environmental and cultural benefits for present and future generations.

Mission:

To promote sustainable forest management and contribution of forests and trees outside forests to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including by strengthening cooperation, coordination, coherence, synergies and political commitment and actions at all levels…”

Mr. President, the deforestations of earth should not be considered a subject matter of one nations against another nation or one state government dominance of another state government; it’s subject matter of the deforestation is a process of causations-Global warming effect, which will have dire economic effect and political implications for generations to come. According to many prominent non partisan scientists and scientific communities around the world. As also eloquently described in the United Nations strategic plan for forests, 2017-2030.”

The Middle East faces an acute water table shortage and the Kurdistan mountains and forest area contains many rivers which contribute to the Tigris-Euphrates rivers all the way down to the marshes in Southern Iraq, then into the mouth of the Persian Gulf. The Turkish State tree cutting operation in Kurdistan will have a short term personal benefit to them, but it will have catastrophic effects on the ecosystems along this area, on the population and beyond. Turkey’s aggression and transgressions suffer no backlash from the International community. The International community needs to admonish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Turkish State, and force them to abide by international law, to respect civil liberties and human rights. Because civil liberties and human rights are the sanctity of life.

Sincerely yours,

Omar Sindi
United States

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.