David L. Phillips, The Kurdish Spring: A New Map of the Middle East, New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 2015. 268 pp., (ISBN-13: 978-1412856805).
The Kurdish Spring: A New Map of the Middle East is an insightful account of the Kurds’ ongoing journey into statehood. The book traces how Kurds were divided into four countries, Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq, after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in the late 19th century. It then explains their various struggles for human rights, cultural rights, semi-autonomy, independence, and statehood. The author David L. Phillips takes a sympathetic position; he explicates subjugation of and state-led violence towards Kurds, and also argues for their right for an independent state. Thanks to the author’s years of experience in the region and sound scholarship, the book provides ample information to build a fair and critical perspective regarding the quite complex dynamics for a possible Kurdish state in the context of four countries. However, this focus on statehood does not leave adequate space for the crucial questions of de-militarisation and how to foster a culture of human rights within Kurdish society, which could perhaps be the topic of a follow up project.
The Kurdish Spring is divided into four self-explanatory sections. In the first part, “Betrayal”, Phillips summarises the period from Sykes-Picot to Lausanne Treaties when Kurdistan was divided into four territories. In a brief historical account, he argues that the drawing of the borders in the Middle East and formation of new nation states were contingent upon the colonial interests of Britain and France. Even though Kurds lacked “good leadership and national vision”, the author maintains that they had equal rights to establish their own state.
The second section, “Abuse”, follows Kurdish history as it unfolded in four states, Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran. In Iraq, Mustafa Barzani’s struggles and the Anfal campaign; in Turkey, Sheikh Said and the Dersim massacres, emergence of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and the state terror during 1990s; in Syria struggles of the Xoybun movement, the Kurdish Democratic Party of Syria (KDPS) and the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the establishment of Emergency Law, and the recent uprooting of masses; in Iran the short-lived Mahabad Republic, Komala’s and the Free Life Party’s (PJAK) struggles constitute the highlights of Phillip’s account of the Kurdish history in the 20th century. This account of the intensity, continuity, and cost of the violence Kurds have been subjected to is striking and informative. Yet, Kurds do not come out of this narrative as “absolute victims” mainly thanks to the author’s meticulous analysis of ups and downs of various Kurdish movements. Thereby we also see the limits of Kurds’ agency in the context of complex international politics.
The third section, “Progress”, chronicles more recent episodes of Kurdish struggles for statehood. The progress in Iraq is explained as the constitution of unity and stronger will for self-rule starting with the first elections for Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) and Kurdish National Assembly (KNA) in 1992. In Turkey, Phillips emphasises the Imrali peace process as progress, which became possible due to Turkey’s European Union accession processes, Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) strategies to build its hegemony, and mainly the major transformation in the Kurdish movement. Here he cites the articulation of “democratic autonomy”, change of PKK’s position from “offense” to “defense”, and the struggles to participate in the national legal political systems, i.e. parliament and local governances. In Syria, Kurds’ lives changed radically after the Day of Rage in 2011 and especially with the “Rojava Revolution” that established an autonomous region within a dissolving Syria. The author does a good job to craft a fair and clear analysis of the Kurds’ relationship with the Assad regime and oppositional Syrian National Council (SNC). Finally, in Iran, the author refers to Rouhani’s presidential term as a “Second Revolution” but accepts that Kurds’ lives have not significantly altered in that period. Instead he argues that Kurds suffered from “factionalism” (p. 178), and their failure to unite has impeded to take up the opportunities in the new period.
Before moving to the last sections, it needs to be stated that the part on “Progress” could benefit from two additional dimensions. First, it could integrate the sources of aspirations other than state building, i.e. gender equality, democratisation of the respective countries, and ecological concerns. According to Phillips the main drive in the Kurdish movement is building independence, however that neglects serious critical discussions about the ideology of statehood that take place especially among Kurds in Turkey. One of my human rights activist friends said in Diyarbakır: “Well, if the Kurdish security forces will beat me up when we have a state, I would prefer the Turkish security forces rather than seeing Kurds beating up each other”. Second, and as a complementary point, Phillips is right to point out several times throughout the book that the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL) in Iraq renewed hopes for statehood among all Kurds in the region and this leads him to praise KRG as a leading power in that respect. However, this is questionable given the mutually pragmatic relations between the Turkish state and the KRG and the tension between the latter and the PKK. Instead, the Rojava Revolution seems to have stirred stronger excitement and sense of unity among Kurds; almost all of the political activists I talked to in Diyarbakır during my research had been to Suruç (Turkey) border in summer of 2014 to protect and oversee the border with their bodies in order to provide their support to the Kobani (Syria) resistance. While the KRG has the power to develop a real state apparatus that would nominally become an internationally recognised state, Rojava is emotionally and ideologically a better example of what some of the Kurds expect from a “state”.
The Kurdish Spring concludes with “Peril and Opportunity”, a section that is composed of three parts on the very recent developments in the region. In “the End of Iraq”, he explains the fall of Iraq after the US invasion and how in that context Iraqi Kurds talk more openly about “self-determination”. The author, supporting this position, situates IS and Iraqi Kurds as opposing forces in terms of civilisation, democracy and human rights. The next section “International Response” delineates several countries’ (USA, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iran, Lebanon, and Israel) positions vis-à-vis a possible Kurdish state. In the final section, “Path to Independence”, Phillips criticises US policies of initial non-involvement in the IS issue and therefore allowing the strengthening of the terrorist organisation in the region. While he depicts KRG’s willingness to remain in a united Iraq, he also sees them justified in their search for independence given the IS threats and Iraqi state’s inability to foster a more inclusive governance. At that point, he finds US’s insistence on Iraqi unity as irrelevant and another form of betrayal of the Kurds.
The last sections definitely address the nation-states in which Kurds reside as well as the US audiences. In order to eliminate the fears of dissolution and chaos, he states, “Like letting steam out of the kettle, practical cooperation in the Kurdish neighborhood would diminish threats to territorial integrity rather than exacerbate differences between states where Kurds reside. Democratic development of Iraqi Kurdistan would serve as an inspiration to Kurds in the region, as well as a model for states” (p. 234). Additionally, for those who question the relevance of another nation-state, he argues, “Independence is not just a political state. It is a state of being. Independence would right a historical injustice, manifesting the pride of Kurds and fulfilling their destiny as a people. Kurds believe that independence is the only credible guarantor of security. Only Kurds can protect Kurds” (p. 227).
To wrap up, I would like to iterate that The Kurdish Spring is a rich and detailed guide for those who want to introduce themselves to the Kurdish struggles and who want an update on the very fast developments in the region. Furthermore, the book also presents a thorough analytical perspective grounded in adequate historical knowledge to help comprehend the current stakes and actors. The author references historical documents, newspaper articles, a few academic accounts and his own observations; thus his text stands somewhere between an academic work and an investigative journalistic account. The book focuses on the issue of independence and statehood at the expense of giving further insights on the bottom up, critical, and democratic movements, yet as indicated above, this could be the focus of a follow up project. Clearly written from a human rights perspective, The Kurdish Spring stands as a most-needed and refreshing guide for anybody politically and academically interested in this precarious moment for Kurds, peoples of the Middle East, and elsewhere.