Power and Borders - Kurds and Kurdistan CS

Question 1

What type of sovereignty is threatened here?

Answer 1

Territorial integrity

Question 2

Who are the main actors involved?

Answer 2

Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria

Question 3

How many of the Kurdish population live in Turkey?

Answer 3

50%

Question 4

Why do the Kurds have no established territory?

Answer 4

Denied a state since the Ottoman Empire

Question 5

Why is there a territorial integrity/sovereignty issue?

Answer 5

Their territory falls across 4 states that already exist, including nations in conflict -> Syria and Iraq

Question 6

Why is this a complex issue?

Answer 6

• The Iraqi and Syrian Kurds have a form of autonomy -> neighbouring Turks are pushing into this region
• In 1988 Iraq Kurds suffered violent oppression -> Saddam Hussein gassed thousands
• USA supported Syrian Kurds during civil war, then withdrew when Syrian fighters became useless in holding ISIS back -> ‘Used the Kurds’

Question 7

What are the social causes of the issue?

Answer 7

• With shared religion and similar language have been systematically persecuted
• Division within Kurdish community along tribal, and linguistic lines -> cohesion difficult

Question 8

How have the Kurds been persecuted?

Answer 8

• Villages burnt
• Banned language

Question 9

What year were the Kurds allow to teach language and culture in Turkey?

Answer 9

2012

Question 10

What are the economic causes of the issue?

Answer 10

• Conflict with Iraq led to loss of land and Kirkuk oil fields
• Building the Kurdistan state would mean a landlocked state surround by hostile neighbours
• Losing territory poses a threat to the socio-economic development of Turkey as Kurds make a significant proportion of the pop.

Question 11

What proportion of the Turkish population are Kurds?

Answer 11

15-20%

Question 12

What are the environmental causes of the issue?

Answer 12

• Kirkuk considered central to Kurdish statehood -> oil wealth
• Kirkuk in Iraq and it was attacked after the Kurdish independence referendum

Question 13

When was the Kurdish independence referendum?

Answer 13

2014

Question 14

What are the political causes of the issue?

Answer 14

• No middle Eastern state will give up land for the Kurds -> would break surround states
• Kurdish state would be allied to US/Israel and Iraq and Iran hostile to this
• Not all Kurds want a state -> want autonomy in a already existing state
• Kurds seeking more political rights in Turkey -> PKK seen as a terrorist organisation

Question 15

What is PKK?

Answer 15

Kurdish Political Party

Question 16

What was the vote for independency for Kurds in Iraq?

Answer 16

93%

Question 17

What is the relationship between the Kurds and the Govt in Syria, Turkey and Iraq?

Answer 17

It is fractious and tense, and often fatal

Question 18

What are the interventions and actions of other world powers?

Answer 18

• Allies promised the Kurds a state after WW1, but never materialised
• No other states have recognised Kurdistan because their own sovereignty would be threatened by domestic independence movements
• Allowed Turkey to attack Kurdish held areas in Syria’s NW territory

Question 19

What are the challenges for stability, equality, economic growth and development?

Answer 19

• Kurds do not agree on a state
• Independence for a small Kurdish state in Iraq would cut them off and weaken them
• Turkey would see Iraqi Kurdistan as a threat, and would enact sanctions on Iraq

Question 20

What are the opportunities for stability, equality, economic growth and development?

Answer 20

• Kurdish referendum in Iraq for independence is a symbol of liberal democracy and freedom, in a region where this is not a the norm

Question 21

What are the key words associated with this case study?

Answer 21

• Separatist pressures
• Nation
• Territorial integrity
• Sovereignty
• Autonomy

Question 22

What are the impact on people?

Answer 22

• PKK armed struggle in Turkey has cost 1000s of lives
• Migration of Kurds -> Germany and Europe 1.5 million

Question 23

What are the consequences of global governance strategies for local people?

Answer 23

• Lack of global governance has rendered Kurds without a state
• Current lack of new states due to permanence of territorial integrity makes future state difficult to achieve

Question 24

What is a nation?

Answer 24

A large body people united buy common descent, history, culture or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory

Question 25

How much oil is estimated to be in the Northern part of Iraq?

Answer 25

45 million barrels

Question 26

What’s the impact on place?

Answer 26

• Areas of NE Syria now in hands of Assad , leader of Syria, to prevent autonomy
• Kurdish areas of NE Iraq destroyed by heavy Govt backed bombardment in 1998 , to prevent insurgency

Question 27

How is Pakistans sovereignty threatened?

Answer 27

Externally:
- Has become a regional security threat -> matter of survival
- Effects amplified by climate change

Question 28

How much of Pakistans agricultural industry does it support?

Answer 28

90%

Question 29

What’s one reason why India want Jammu and Kashmir?

Answer 29

It is their route into Central Asia

Question 30

What is the economic factor contributing to the conflict?

Answer 30

75% pop are farmers -> economic disaster if water supply cut off