ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—As the Kurdish quest for independence seems to be gaining momentum on the Sykes-Picot centennial, an Iranian Kurdish leader believes the Kurds’ positive image in the world media has gained them support “but they need to be united and pursue only their national interests,”
“The Kurds now have a positive image in the world for our secular movements and non-sectarian politics,” Raza Kabi, deputy leader of the Iranian Kurdish Komala Party told Rudaw in an interview. “The world has also changed fundamentally since the signing of the Sykes-Picot agreement a century ago. It is no longer the case that someone from England could come and draw borders.”
Kabi whose Komala Party is one of two major groups fighting Iran, says that political groups have played a key role each in its own capacity, but they need to gather around one goal.
“In Kurdistan we have a number of political groups and some of them are very powerful,” he said. “So what is important is for these groups to gather around one goal and that is to pursue and protect their national interest. To tell the world in one voice what they are fighting for.”
Kabi is a member of the Kurdish National Congress set up in Erbil three years ago to bring all Kurdish groups in the Middle East under one roof to pursue their nation’s rights.
More than 40 parties got together and discussed many issues, including pursuing an encompassing national agenda, an initiative Kabi believes must be revived at this juncture to speak to the world about Kurdish ambitions.
“Unfortunately dispute among parties is the cause that the Congress has ceased since then,” he said, reassuring Middle Eastern states that “By a Congress for all four parts does not mean we want a greater Kurdistan. It could mean we could have four Kurdistans.”
He argued that there could be a Kurdish homeland with four Kurdish states like the Arab world with its multiple Arab states.
One disagreement at the initial launch of the Congress, according to Kabi, was how many representatives each part of Kurdistan could have in the Congress.
Kabi urges all Kurdish parties to show compromise, assuring them that a national Congress “will not weaken any party. It will have great popular support, and prevent party tensions and have great impact on today’s Middle East.”
“Today, if we seek international help they might tell us you yourselves are not united and have too many opposing parties,” said Kabi. “They could easily throw it at our face.”
Kabi’s own party has ceased armed activities in Iran for a number of years, he said, but Kurds in that country have turned to civil disobedience. People take to the streets in protest or close their markets in support of other parts of Kurdistan as they did for Kobani two years ago, he explained.
Kabi argued that the Kurds of Iraq and Syria have come a long way and despite challenges facing Kurds in Iran and Turkey, “Now is the golden age for Kurdish political movements.”
“But we still have challenges,” he added. “Regimes in the region do their best to thwart Kurdish ambitions just as it is our dream to become independent. The most important therefor is national unity.”
“The Kurds now have a positive image in the world for our secular movements and non-sectarian politics,” Raza Kabi, deputy leader of the Iranian Kurdish Komala Party told Rudaw in an interview. “The world has also changed fundamentally since the signing of the Sykes-Picot agreement a century ago. It is no longer the case that someone from England could come and draw borders.”
Kabi whose Komala Party is one of two major groups fighting Iran, says that political groups have played a key role each in its own capacity, but they need to gather around one goal.
“In Kurdistan we have a number of political groups and some of them are very powerful,” he said. “So what is important is for these groups to gather around one goal and that is to pursue and protect their national interest. To tell the world in one voice what they are fighting for.”
Kabi is a member of the Kurdish National Congress set up in Erbil three years ago to bring all Kurdish groups in the Middle East under one roof to pursue their nation’s rights.
More than 40 parties got together and discussed many issues, including pursuing an encompassing national agenda, an initiative Kabi believes must be revived at this juncture to speak to the world about Kurdish ambitions.
“Unfortunately dispute among parties is the cause that the Congress has ceased since then,” he said, reassuring Middle Eastern states that “By a Congress for all four parts does not mean we want a greater Kurdistan. It could mean we could have four Kurdistans.”
He argued that there could be a Kurdish homeland with four Kurdish states like the Arab world with its multiple Arab states.
One disagreement at the initial launch of the Congress, according to Kabi, was how many representatives each part of Kurdistan could have in the Congress.
Kabi urges all Kurdish parties to show compromise, assuring them that a national Congress “will not weaken any party. It will have great popular support, and prevent party tensions and have great impact on today’s Middle East.”
“Today, if we seek international help they might tell us you yourselves are not united and have too many opposing parties,” said Kabi. “They could easily throw it at our face.”
Kabi’s own party has ceased armed activities in Iran for a number of years, he said, but Kurds in that country have turned to civil disobedience. People take to the streets in protest or close their markets in support of other parts of Kurdistan as they did for Kobani two years ago, he explained.
Kabi argued that the Kurds of Iraq and Syria have come a long way and despite challenges facing Kurds in Iran and Turkey, “Now is the golden age for Kurdish political movements.”
“But we still have challenges,” he added. “Regimes in the region do their best to thwart Kurdish ambitions just as it is our dream to become independent. The most important therefor is national unity.”
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