Perennial Betrayal of various Russian leaders on the Kurdish aspiration...

Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: historyandheadlines.com

Omar Sindi | Exclusive to iKurd.net

Perennial Betrayal of various Russian leaders on the Kurdish aspiration; so Afrin in Rojava Kurdistan with Vladimir Putin should be no surprise too!

Despite the betrayal – the underlying the cause of the“1916 Sykes –Picot Agreement” crisis is the abject failure in the region, that robbed Kurdistan of statehood. Kurdistan was divvied in 1920’s after the end of World War I, amongst artificially created states such as Iraq, Syria, Turkey… And only to serve greedy European (mainly British and French) colonial power interest in the Middle East. At the same time, various Russian leaders prior to World War I and after the war have assisted anti-Kurdish forces in some fashion. At the time, the Kurdish people were living in a purgatory status. In the early 19th century, Mir Mohammed forces liberated Eastern Kurdistan from end to end, and at that time, Iran, which was under the Qajar Dynasty rule, asked Nichol I Russian for help.

In the 1920’s, the Autonomous Republic, known as “Red Kurdistan” set up at instruction of Lenin inside of the Soviet border in the Caucasus region. Later on, Joseph Stalin, the next Soviet leader, at the request and objections of both regimes, Iranian Monarch Reza Shah and Mustafa Kamal Turk of Turkey, the autonomous Red Kurdistan was removed and its people were forcefully relocated from Georgia to Kazakhstan.

Republic of Mahabad, 1946. The short lived state was initially encouraged and set up with the Soviet Union assistances. Later on, Ashraf Pahlavi, the sister of the Shah of Iran struck a deal with Joseph Stalin anecdotally, it was reported on oil concession deal between the Iranian Monarch and Joseph Stalin, consequently, the Soviet Union with drew its support from the Kurdish government in Mahabad. In the 1970’s, the Iraqi government embarked on an Arabization program policy against Kurdish people, especially in the oil rich areas such as Kirkuk, Khanaqin, and many other places. Soviet/Russian leaders stayed mute, and provided the Ba’athist government in Iraq with the best modern weapons in their disposal, and these weapons were used against the Kurdish people’s liberation movement under the leadership of General Mustafa Barzani.

One of the main factors of hindrances of the Kurdish people aspirations is the atavistic struggle of the leadership to a contemporary the geopolitics of the time. At the time the Communist System was at the beginning of dying stage; people no longer believed the dogmatism, people under so called socialist camps had become apathetic to the ruling system. The 1980’s saw the rise of the Kurdistan Worker Party (PKK) and Abdullah Ocalan claimed that they would set up a communist governing system up at the expense of the Kurdish people’s struggle in the heart of the Middle East, to a key NATO ally Turkey. As result, the deep Turkish State found the excuse to destroy thousands upon thousands of Kurdish villages with no international political criticisms, and with no price to pay.

Everyone is bullying the Kurds, from Ba’athism, Chauvinism, Islamofacism, you name it, including Western States betrayals. After the Kurds brought the nihilistic ISIS to the nearing defeat, they are discarding them, despite many pledges from various Western leaders and politicians, saying ‘we will not abandon our ally the Kurds again!!!’ The most grime anti-Kurds-vile statement from British Prime Minister Teresa May’s government stating that Turkey has a right to defend itself. The question for the Prime Minister Theresa May is: Who attacked Turkey? It’s just like late British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in September 1938 said “the peace for our time” in which he was referencing dealing with Adolf Hitler of Germany.

From Kirkuk to Afrin Rojava– Kurdistan is under attack by chauvinistic forces. This cliché statement from British government is unfair and unbalanced; the Kurds in Afrin didn’t attack anyone. Meanwhile a Turkish military officer said not a single bullet came from Afrin to Turkey. In 2014, Turkey tried to invade Rojava Kurdistan; but the then US President Barack Obama anecdotally didn’t go along with that invasion, even though many Obama critics were saying his foreign policy was enfeebled. Now, US President Donald Trump’s foreign policy is like a rooster without a head. The conundrum of current United States foreign policy stems from the allegations that Russia interfered in the 2016 US presidential election in favor of President Donald Trump in lieu of Hillary Clinton; there is still an ongoing investigation on the election issue, and at the same time it’s widely reported by many media outlets that the President Donald Trump is very soft on the foreign policy issue of Vladimir Putin’s Russia…

During the Medieval wars, warring tribes would cut off water supply from each other; now in the 21st century, Sultan Erdogan and his associates cut off or destroy water supply to millions of people in Afrin.

How can Turkish President Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani both claim that they represent the best of Islam? Both of these regimes’s policy aiding and supporting their proxies inside of the protracted civil war in Syria do not represent Islam. No other religion can condone these kinds of atrocities and carnages against humanity! Only Demagogues do not think about atrocities and carnage.

During the so called Turkish war of independence in 1920’s, without Russian military aid and economic assistance, it was widely reported that Mustafa Kamal Turk couldn’t win the war of independence or couldn’t save the remnants of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. Despite famine in Russia, Lenin and his associates were hoping that by pouring economic and military aid into Turkey, that Kamal Turk would join their camp against the Western Countries; perhaps Putin is a sort of politician just like Lenin, who weighs up the powerful and frail points of geopolitics, so as to measure how its success or its failures will impact his own future policy. Later on, a reporter asked Mustafa Kamal if he was a Bolshevik, and Kamal said, “We are not Bolshevik or Socialist, we are Turk”.

Afrin was a more peaceful area relative to most of Syria; it was unprovokedly attacked by Turkish Chauvinist forces and their Turkish proxies. President Erdogan believes in a “Zero- Sum Game”. He thinks that because he has superior army (tanks, fighter jets, etc.), he doesn’t have to accept any dissent and other people have no rights.

Afrin was a de-escalation zone protected by Russian forces; but it appears that Afrin has become like a cynical trading horse between Putin and Erdogan, just like Red Kurdistan in the Caucasus region became a trading horse between Joseph Stalin of Soviet Russia, and Mustafa Kamal of Turkey & Reza Shah of Iran. Time will tell which Machiavellian will fool which; the authoritarian despot Putin, or the authoritarian despot Erdogan?

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.