The Kurds and Kurdistan. Is fighting terror their only interest?

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 03 Jul 2015 21:58:57 -0400

The Kurds are some of the fiercest fighters in the Middle East. I have had the pleasure of working very closely with them. But just as the Middle East is complicated so are the Kurds. There are all not allied as many think. The PDK and PUK have allied against Iraq in the past to defend their homes in Iraq. They are the Iraqi Kurds. The are supported by the US and are supplied to some extent by us.

Now this isn't the case of the PKK. They are the Turkish Kurds and are a terrorist group that has openly attacked the Government of Turkey. They have even mortared a Turkish military base recently. They are insurgents. But when ISIS came they created a new entity called the YPG, the Syrian off shoot. I will say that these groups only have their own interest in them. US forces have been attacked by likes of the PKK.

As we are going to find out. Once these groups take land they aren't just going to give it back to Iraq. They are fight for keeps. They are using this to gain control of land and finally create the nation of Kurdistan.

Kurdistan is a nation that only extincts in the hearts of the Kurdish people. Kurds aren't arab and don't really have a country of their own. They do control an autonomous region of Northern Iraq but they not officially recognized by any other nations.

Kurds intent on carving new state out of Iraq after ISIS fight ‘whether the US likes it or not’

Kurdish fighters and leaders are intent on carving an independent state out of Northern Iraq after they wrest back vital territory from the Islamic State whether the U.S. likes it or not, according to American and international security forces on the ground.

Response by SFC Mark Merino made Jul 3 at 2015 10:12 PM

SFC Mark Merino — Fri, 03 Jul 2015 22:12:48 -0400

The days of any country going to war strictly for the moral good of the world are loong gone. I am no expert on the Middle East, but I spent a long time with the Kurds and I don't just mean being in their area during a deployment. One of our Blackhawk sky gods was from there and those tribal people are loving, caring, and hard core courageous badasses (and they are awesome cooks!) In my extremely limited knowledge of them, based on interaction and not having a PhD, they want to be left alone. They want to rule as more like a family than that of a corrupt government or one that has to chop off heads to stay in power. Of course everything was translated and taught by someone from the prominent tribe, so I hope I'm not embarrassing myself. I'd like to sa that they would make an awesome ally if given their own country and the natural resources within their borders. But hey, they might start seeing those Almighty Dinars (lol) come rolling in and go just as scoot scoots as the rest of them. Given the situation, they are the only legitimate 'power' in the area that commands any respect in my book. But with any tribal group, their memory of tribal disputes go back a millennia.

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 3 at 2015 11:28 PM

MSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 03 Jul 2015 23:28:10 -0400

CPT Private RallyPoint Member & SFC Mark Merino

Thank you for the info and insight on understanding these people.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Jul 3 at 2015 11:55 PM

MAJ Ken Landgren — Fri, 03 Jul 2015 23:55:06 -0400

Thanks for the post. It appears the Kurds have had a sad history.

Response by SFC Nikhil Kumra made Jul 3 at 2015 11:57 PM

SFC Nikhil Kumra — Fri, 03 Jul 2015 23:57:10 -0400

Amen, these guys deserve their own state. If I would love to see a sovereign nation in the middle east, it would be a sovereign Kurdistan.

Response by CSM Michael J. Uhlig made Jul 4 at 2015 4:35 AM

CSM Michael J. Uhlig — Sat, 04 Jul 2015 04:35:19 -0400

The terrorist fight is more out of necessity than pure desire to fight. This is a Warrior Culture and one that has been fighting for generations!

The challenge for an autonomous "Kurdistan" is that it is another landlocked middle eastern country which means they would be dependent on other countries for imports and exports...some of the thinking is quite similar to the Pashtunwali way of thinking, and something we (westerners) have trouble putting into practice (no matter how much we say we understand!)

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 4 at 2015 11:23 AM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 04 Jul 2015 11:23:02 -0400

I say let them carve out as big a section of Iraq a d Syria as they want. They seem to be the only people there who can handle having their own land.

Response by SPC Byron Skinner made Dec 4 at 2015 3:56 PM

SPC Byron Skinner — Fri, 04 Dec 2015 15:56:36 -0500

Sp4 Byron Skinner. All of the replays so far are good and cite specific problems but the elephant in the lunch bowel is quite clear on the may accompany the Lt's. posting. In order for a Kurdistan to exist four countries would have to give up land with Turkey losing about a third of its real estate. Sorry gentle but thats just not going to happen. I do like the Lt's clever statement"…the fiercest fights in the Middle East." Think Mosul 2014. Currently that title must go to the Radical Islamic Groups. Note The Islamic State started breaking up in mid October. daash is still controlled by former Iraqi soldiers under Saddam Hussein and is not affiliated with any of the other independent groups. The pieces on the Middle East Chess board have been moved.

Response by SPC Harold Bustamante made Jun 15 at 2016 9:46 PM

SPC Harold Bustamante — Wed, 15 Jun 2016 21:46:35 -0400

I support the Kurds and been following the progress since Daesh took lands and killed innocent in 2014. The Syrian Kurds are strong and my advise to anyone is to read the history of the Kurds, plenty of books in libraries. Turkey is two sided ally and they have and are just as bad as Saddams Iraq as they tell and massacre Kurds. We americans promised and supported the idea of Kurdistan after WW1 but back stabbed when the new treaty was made and split the land up between 4 created countries. Kurds deserve their own territory and as far as the PKK they are freedom fighters and any sensible human can see that.. war is war.. ..turkey supplies arms and resources to IS and they have been playing double face..Turkey is not a democracy, I'm not Kurdish, I just know and see the facts and Kurdish women are fierce fighters. Its time we see the truth and set turkey straight and stop playing games with EU and NATO... NATO is US created, that means there should be moral oversite. Kurds want freedom and we should be supporting democratic ways for that to happen and we should support the kurds to end the war in Syria.

Response by SPC Harold Bustamante made Mar 25 at 2018 7:39 PM

SPC Harold Bustamante — Sun, 25 Mar 2018 19:39:09 -0400

Watch Video
we need to support the Kurds and not Turkey..educate your community, we veterans have a voice..
we really need this discussion to spread to more circles and veterans. We need to talk with our Kurds in US. They need support to educate or we together to educate Americans.. this is going to be a bigger problem if we do not bring awareness

https://www.facebook.com/SYInternational.org/videos/ [login to see] 37966/?hc_ref=ARSlICFyuVWN7ZKyTgZXxGP161X5WXHNAz05incTesFOGq4mNdhSaFkYqK4kKRqpPYw&fref=nf

SY International

As a Dutch-Kurd, I hereby explain my sarcastic ‘appreciation’ for the entire Western world abandoning the Kurdish people who defeated ISIS, in favor of Turkey's dictator.