In this terrible Middle East, where regimes and governments are crumbling, borders are wobbling, and minorities are trembling, we are witnessing the birth of a new player, the Kurdish player. In the past century, the game of nations was cruel to the Kurdish people. It scattered them across national borders, as minorities in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria. It dispersed them without consulting them. Geography issued its stern verdict against this people, and history endorsed the sentence with its signature. Today, the Kurdish people have grown to 35 million. A decade ago, there were those who believed that the fate of the Kurds was to forever inherit stories about their pain in the mountains, and the tragedies of Halabja and al-Anfal campaign, and swallow against their will the bitterness of unjust bids to impose Turkish and Arab identities and languages on them. Indeed, denying the rights of the Kurds was a staple item in the agendas of the governments of the four countries in question, all their claims to the contrary notwithstanding. Suddenly, the mad American adventure of the invasion of Iraq ended this longstanding game. The invasion would not have taken place were it not for the Kurdish-Shia alliance's explicit desire to topple Saddam Hussein by any means necessary. Consequently, the Shias of Iraq were awarded Baghdad, and the Kurds were awarded the Kurdistan region, pursuant to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Iraq. For the first time in their bloodstained history, the Kurdish people enjoyed an entire decade of stability. They are living under their own flag, though they have kept the Iraqi flag as well. They teach their children their own language, and sing their national songs in public. They are building roads and universities. And they are luring investors and tourists. That decade was rich in significant moments. Masoud Mustafa Barazani became the leader of the region, elected as a competent statesman, having once been a competent political and military leader of the Peshmerga. Jalal Talabani sat in Saddam Hussein's office, as president of Iraq. Hoshyar Zebari stepped up to lead Iraqi diplomacy, and begin a quest to secure Iraq's interests between the U.S.'s heavy shadow and Iranian influence. Meanwhile, there was another equally important moment when an airplane carrying a man called Recep Tayyip Erdogan landed in Erbil. In a historic message, the visitor proclaimed that day when the rights of the Kurds were trounced was forever gone. Barazani struggled to hide his joy, and decided to build on this phrase. I asked Massoud Barazani about the new page between Erdogan's Turkey and Ocalan's Kirds, and he acknowledged his role in encouraging the two sides to cut through their pains and walk the path of political solution. He said that the success of the process would be a “historic event and a major transformation in the region." He also reckoned that the start of the process indicates growing realism on both sides, as the conflict had exhausted both the Kurds and the Turks. I also asked Barazani whether the stability and prosperity in Iraqi Kurdistan entices Kurds in neighboring countries to replicate its model. He said, “It is not at all desirable for the model of the Kurdistan region to be replicated. There are different circumstances, balances, and equations. Chronic injustice must not lead to recklessness. “We are not calling for maps to be torn and borders to be altered. We do not want a clash. We want to live in peace with the Turks, Arabs and Persians. We want to be a factor of stability and prosperity. But be sure, the time for the usurpation of rights, exclusion, and marginalization has gone. The culture of not recognizing the other is a destructive culture." Barazani expressed his pain for the tragedy of neighboring Syria, and the large-scale killing and devastation there. He said that he feared prolonged division that would provide an ideal environment for extremists to take over this neighboring country. Barazani also denied any involvement by the Kurdish regional government in arming the Kurds in Syria, and hoped to see the latter living under the rule of democracy amid respect for all its communities. On the other hand, Barazani denied the dispute with Nuri al-Maliki was “personal," but admitted that the relationship with the current approach pursued by Baghdad bordered on the “point of no-return." He then stressed that the Kurds do not demand more than respect for the constitution and agreements, pointing out that the current approach had also led to a deep crisis with the Sunni Arab component. Turkey chose a different approach in dealing with its Kurdish population. When the guns fall silent in Syria, the Kurdish component will be present around the table of reconciliation. Iran's Kurds will bide their time and wait for their turn. The success of Iraqi Kurdistan has helped alter destinies. I asked Barazani about what the sons of Peshmerga fighters want, and he replied with a smile, “They want computers, technology, universities, jobs, and hospitals. But in this complicated Middle East, you have to be careful. You also have to prepare for war so that it does not take place." I then asked about the challenge of residing among Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Nuri al-Maliki, Bashar al-Assad and Recep Tayyip Erdogan at one. Barazani laughed, saying only, “We want to turn the border into opportunities for cooperation, not for fighting. We need to think of human dignity, the economy and education. There can be no turning back."
