Israel and Kurdistan will likely soon be neighbors

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Oct 28, 2017 at 01:40

Hi, Debanjan.

"I believe we are overestimating the capabilities of the Kurds."

You are right about the Iraqi Kurds. They are divided between two Kurdish languages: Kurmanji (N. Kurdish, the native language of the Barzanis) and Sorani (C. Kurdish, the language of the Talabanis). Kurmanji is shared by the Turkish and Syrian Kurds; who do not follow Barzani, but rather the secular leader Ocalan. Omar Said Ali, the leader of the Gorran movement, is also a Sorani like the Talabanis. Masoud Barzani carries the extra baggage of being the son of Mustafa Barzani, the father of the modern Kurdish Independence Movement (until his death in 1979).

Mustafa Barzani was the leader of a short-lived Kurdish state of Mahabad in NW Iran, shortly after WWII. The Kurds in Iran area and were also splite, between Kurmanjis, Soranis and Pehlewanis (S. Kurds), whose clan loyalty has always been greater than any national identity.

There is no standard dialect in any of the Kurdish languages; and they are written mostly in two alphabets: modified Roman for the N. Kurds, and modified Arabic for the C. and S. Kurds. The Northern Kurds have been severely repressed in Turkey and Syria, and have little literature in Kurmanji. The Soranis have a greater literature, due to their relative cultural freedom under in the Iraqi KRG. Northern Kurdish, on the other hand, is by far the largest language of the Kurds.

You spoke of "resilience". The Kurdish people have been amazingly resilient, considering the linguistic, political and historical obstacles they have had to contend with. The fact that the various factions in the KRG voted nearly in one accord for independence, before their leaders betrayed them, speaks strongly in their favor. The book isn't closed on them yet.

I'm still waiting for Turkish President Erdogan to massively overplay his hand, and join the Iranians in an attack on Israel. God's word in the Bible, is that Israel will crush them -- a truth that both Erdogan and the Ayatollah will need to try to disprove, if they are to have credibility among their followers. After Israel wins that war, the new border may be at the Euphrates, with Israel on the right bank -- and the Kurds on the left.

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