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Kurdish Leaders and Academics Propose New Model for Middle East in Washington
Topic Started: Oct 30 13, 4:22 (3,410 Views)
Zagros
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Kurdish Leaders and Academics Propose New Model for Middle East in Washington

In a historic conference entitled “The Kurdish Role in the New Middle East,” which took place yesterday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C, prominent Kurdish leaders and academics joined with American politicians and regional experts to discuss the future of the Middle East and the changing place of Kurds in the region. The conference consisted of four separate panels, each of which addressed a different topic.

Salih Muslim, who was scheduled to attend the conference in person but was unable to for reasons that were unclear, reaffirmed his desire to establish relations with the United States and to cooperate in the building of a democratic Syria. When a representative of the KRG, Karwan Zebari, was asked about Muslim’s absence at the conference and the role that the KRG had played in the matter, he said he had no information and declined to comment. Later in the afternoon the former US Ambassador to Turkey, James Jeffery, hinted that Washington would be unwilling to meet with Muslim while the governments in Hewler (Hewlêr ) and Ankara continued to object. Muslim’s absence drew repeated criticism from attendees of the conference.

Karwan Zebari himself emphasized the rapid development of the KRG, its opening of its markets to foreign investors and to international oil companies in particular, and he went on to draw comparisons between the development of Hewlêr and Dubai.

Three Kurdish academics – Kejal Rahmani, Kirmanj Gundi, and Hisyar Ozsoy – discussed and debated new models for the Middle East based on the historical experience of Kurds and others. Rahmani, who said she was optimistic about the growing prominence of the Kurds in international and regional discussions about the region, but warned off complacency and the dangers of further colonial interference. She emphasized that was a natural progression to a new kind of government based in localities, and that the nation-state form itself was a mutation affected by foreign powers.

Rojava

One of the most heated discussions of the day revolved around events in Rojava, and the role that regional powers were playing in Syria. Saif Badrakhan, the representative of the Kurdish National Council (KNK) in the United States, spoke of the oppression of the Kurds under the Baath Regime, and the role that the PYD had played in organizing resistance. He said that Kurds had been “treated like enemies and second-class citizens.” He characterized the Syrian opposition as consisting of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Syrian Military Council and the Free Syrian Army, but also of significant foreign elements affiliated with radical Islamic groups and supported by regional powers.

Badrakhan harshly criticized the economic and social embargo that has been put in place around Rojava, a fact strongly symbolized by Turkey’s construction of a wall along its border with Syria. He went on to emphasize that the PYD is supported by the majority of Kurds in Syria, and that the only goal of the PYD is to organize and protect the Kurdish people, not to take sides between the regime and the opposition. Finally he made it clear that the YPG was winning in its fight against the jihadist elements in the opposition that have been attacking peoples of all faiths and ethnicities in the region; al-Nusra and the Islamic State or i-rack and Syria (ISIS) were defeated in Serekaniye, Qamişlşo, Afrin and parts of Aleppo. He wanted to US and Turkey to understand that the PYD was a significant actor in the conflict, and that both powers needed to take this seriously.

The journalist Amberin Zaman, who writes for the Turkish paper Taraf, shared her disgust with the way in which Salih Muslim had been treated by the KRG after he returned to Rojava upon the death of his son, saying that it violated “all Kurdish codes of honor.” She went on to harshly criticize Turkey’s policy of holding negotiations with Öcalan while also carrying out a proxy war in Syria. She emphasized that the policy was backfiring and weakening the ability of Kurdish leaders in Turkey to legitimate the peace process to their own constituents. Finally, she expressed her dismay that the United States, Turkey, and other NATO powers had ignored the PYD, which she described as the strongest, best organized opposition group in Syria, representing ten percent of the Syrian population, sharing Western values and advocating for secularism.

Alan Şemos, a member of the PYD’s foreign affairs committee, joined the conference via Skype from London. He said that the revolution in Syria had been hijacked by jihadists backed by foreign powers, but that the PYD was working for a democratic revolution for all of Syria and all of its ethnic and religious minorities. The PYD, he emphasized, is to expand its model of democratic governance to the whole of Syria as well as the greater Middle East. When asked if his party continued to be members of the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change – an independent organization of Syrian left opposition parties – he said that they were not only members but founders, and that the PYD was committed to the democratization of the entire country.

The Peace Process in Turkey

In the last panel of the day, Selahattin Demirtaş – the co-chair of the BDP – spoke alongside US Congressman Lincoln Davis and former US Ambassador James Jeffrey. Demirtaş began by thanking all those in Turkey and the United States who had made the conference possible, saying that it was a “historic moment” for the Kurds and their struggle for recognition. He went on to talk about the new model that his party, and the Kurdish movement more generally, are proposing for the Middle East. He said that Kurds could not reject the other faiths and languages in Kurdistan, nor could they say that Kurdistan was just for Kurds. He said that the nation-state model itself, with its monist, hegemonic identity, could be never be successful in the region. He went to explain how the Kurdish experience of oppression gave them a special insight into the shortcomings of the nation-state model, and that he criticized Turkish domestic and foreign policy for showing a lack of interest and sincerity in the course of the peace process. He asked that Turkish government and Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan look at the opportunity to speak with the Kurds as a blessing that could bring peace and future prosperity to the country.

He also shared his disappointment that Salih Muslim was not allowed to attend the conference, and harshly criticized Turkish policy towards Rojava. He went to say that the PYD should be able to propose its model in the United States, and that their model was the same model that the BDP was struggling for in Turkey. Finally, he deplored the Turkish blockade on Rojava, arguing that even if one disagreed with the PYD’s policies in Syria an approach that brought deliberate suffering to civilian populations should be condemned by all sides.

http://rojavareport.wordpress.com/

Maybe Kurdish model replaces the Turkish one.
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Apoci
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Why are us Kurds trying to get closer to Washington? I don't have anything against Americans, but it's very clear that the American government prefers the Turks over us. We should be trying to get closer to Russia or China or any other non NATO country.

Don't get me wrong, I love certain types of Americans and I hate certain types too.
WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE!

Best Peshmerga video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KviemSsOTE
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Xoybun
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Apoci
Nov 10 13, 11:30
Why are us Kurds trying to get closer to Washington? I don't have anything against Americans, but it's very clear that the American government prefers the Turks over us. We should be trying to get closer to Russia or China or any other non NATO country.

Don't get me wrong, I love certain types of Americans and I hate certain types too.
So we can later prove America why we allied with China and Russia
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Kurdistano
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Apoci
Nov 10 13, 11:30
Why are us Kurds trying to get closer to Washington? I don't have anything against Americans, but it's very clear that the American government prefers the Turks over us. We should be trying to get closer to Russia or China or any other non NATO country.

Don't get me wrong, I love certain types of Americans and I hate certain types too.
Is this site turning into some Communist mindfu... meeting. I bet they are invited by the same freaks who couldn't win any debate while they were already in majority. I bet this Dlovan has something to do with this.

It's always the same scheme they come here, first do like they are interested about Kurdistan, butt than after just 1 or two comments about Kurdistan turn everything into a "I love Communism debate".

So Americans prefer Turks over us (true) but Russians would abandoned their relation to Iran and Syria for us, just like they did during Mahabad republic didn't they?

Now gtfo and go to the same Communist whole you came out from.

It's not actually that he wants us to become less dependent from America but he wants to make us the tool of Russia and China because of his homophobic dreams of a Communist union.
Edited by Kurdistano, Nov 11 13, 2:32.
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Kurdistano
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And I ask kindly the mods to start cleaning up these kind of threads and open another one for these kind of discussions. Since these individuals turn every single thread to an discussion about Communism and go off topic.
Edited by Kurdistano, Nov 11 13, 3:14.
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Qandil
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Where's your manners, dude? You don't know him, so why do you insult him?
"Kurdino! Bibin yek; eger hûn nebin yek, hûn ê herin yek bi yek." - Cigerxwîn.
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Kurdistano
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Qandil
Nov 11 13, 3:30
Where's your manners, dude? You don't know him, so why do you insult him?
Boy stop getting on my nerphes. Every time a person with almost homophobic love for communism appears and turns every friggin thread into a Communist-Capitalist debate. You and your comrades (we all know who I mean) are the first to like this as if you guys are in some kind of Communist sect. And this every time. We already had more than a dozen threads and debates over this. Instead of just joining into these already started topics and read the arguments already brought up (this is how a good discussion has to be run) and than join the debate, they start the same game all over again on a new thread by going off topic. Grow some brain or stop debating.

As much as I feel sick of America fanboism like Worldwarboy II was one off. Man he was never able to reach the level of absurdity and fanboism as 90% of the individuals defending Communism here.

The main point here is, that these Communist lovers are not really interested in having a less American dependent Kurdistan, but to turn our Kurdistan into a bitch of Communism.

The same Communist low minded individuals who always are fast in bringing up US alliance and betrayel with our enemies, do not friggin care about all the shizz we had to go through when the Soviets and Lenin, Stalin supported the Armenian/Assyrians to massacre over 80% of the Kurdish populations in some parts of Kurdistan, or when they abandoned us in Mahabad, or forcefully settled Kurds from Caucasus into Central Asia, or are in alliance with two of our enemies

They are basically spitting on the graves of million Kurds who had to suffer under this chancer of Communism. They are not saying we should distance ourselves from US influence, but asking to distance our selves from US to get closer to China (Communist) and Russia (ex Communist) countries. When even Russia has abandoned Communism. It should actually be a warning for us about Communism.

I am sick of close minded clowns flooding this forum with their anti Kurdish agendas. No matter how disgusting American capitalism might be or turn, this will never be a reason to become the hoe of Communism which is as sick.

When I see East European, Caucasus and Central Asian countries which have still to suffer from the side effects of Communist Soviet Union. I just can't understand these people promoting it. I always feel like they want to drag us into poverty and dictatorship.

The funny part all of you Guys looked down on WW2Boy, while every single of you are WW2Boy's on your own.
Edited by Kurdistano, Nov 11 13, 2:35.
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Tevger
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The rage though...
'' Don't touch me doctor! My death is necessary for the Kurds to wake up''
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Kurdistano
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Tevger
Nov 11 13, 3:59
The rage though...
:clap just try to appear mature so no one realizes your real maturity status.
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Xoybun
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Kurdistano grow up, the West are using you, you are their tool, America is part of Turkification of you, me, our families and anyone who is Kurdish. We don't want American shizz democracy, it's fake and will never exist according to what democracy is, democracy is just a disguise for dicatorship. Communism and socialism are real.
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jjmuneer
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Merg û Şeref

Kurdistano and we are childish?

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jjmuneer
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Merg û Şeref

Quote:
 
When I see East European, Caucasus and Central Asian countries which have still to suffer from the side effects of Communist Soviet Union. I just can't understand these people promoting it. I always feel like they want to drag us into poverty and dictatorship.


Firstly just because the Soviet Union adopted their own interpration of lennistic/stalinistic communism, it doesn't represent all forms of Communism.
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RawandKurdistani
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Surchi/Xoshnawi

I will suggest that you ALL shut up! Peace out :D
I am confused by God's wisdom:
In this world of States
Why have the Kurds remained Stateless, dispossessed,
What for have they all become fugitives, condemned?


Ahmad Khani

Feed the hungry and visit a sick person
And free the captive
If he be unjustly confined
Assist any person oppressed
Whether Muslim or non-Muslim


- Prophet Muhammad Ibn Abdullah (PBUH)


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purearch72
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Please guys listen to JJ he's talking about history.
Geliye Qasumlo
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lashgare
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Roflmao... kurdistano and his anti-communist rants. I have zero idea why he's refering to communism. Anything anti-US= communism. I prefer kurdish food to american food= COMMUNISM rofl rofl rofl. You honestly think that russia and china are communist today? Are you stuck in the 60s-70s? Russia and china are competing world powers with US. They're not communist. Either way the only way we can get US on our side is if we create a strong lobby like Israel, and i mean really on our side, and not "we will use you then betray you". And now that we have money, we should invest. I say be nice to US... but be suspicious and keep an eye on them. We need them for the time being on our side, but we can't trust them in the long-term.
Edited by lashgare, Nov 11 13, 8:15.
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