I hope that one day the Kurds and also the Bosnians will have a country of their own.

I don't think Kurds would have any problem with such a solution as long as Iraq turn into a democratic federal country based on a voluntery union. This latter principle is very significant for Kurds who have been forced into an involuntery union for the last 80 years, something that is totally rejected by Kurds now.Second, Iraqi Arabs and neighboring countries must understand the very concept of federalism which is totally different from autonomy. while autonomy is granted by an existing central government to certain region regardless of of the reasons, federalism starts from down-up.Two or more regions agree to enter into a contract where they reserve most of the powers at a time relinquishing very few to the federal government such as foreign, defense, and monetary policies.
Unfortunately, the Sunni- Shiites differences are mush deeper than some people think.Their sectarian sentiments are prevalent over their national one at least the majority on both sides. To grasp this one must go back to history to fully understand that. Kurds wish both sides the best and hope that they would resolve their differences. No doubt that the ongoing violence is impacting Kurdistan and the reonstruction process there.

All the Kurds needs now is a seat in The United Nation as they proved to the world that they are a peace loving nation and they are the hope of the brighter Middle East.

Mr. Kuttab:

Of all the contributors to this piece, I like your approach the best, because it promises a solution.

The Kurds were denied a Nation after WWI. They have fought long and hard to regain their country and they deserve to have one.

Hesbella has shown that Sunnis and Shia can get along unfortunately only to fight a common foe, but it at least it shows that they can cooperate and that give me hope.

Those who argue that we must stay the course in Iraq are just digging a deeper hole that we will all have to eventually climb out of or died in.

The way out of Iraq!

Split Iraq into two states, with an independent Kurdistan, and an Arab state. Move our troops to Kurdistan,the safest region in Iraq and the most pro American nation in the Middle East for our strategic political reasons. If the Sunnies and the Shias don't get along, which I assume, then attach the Sunnies to Jordan and a Shiastan is born!

Neither Arabic language, flag nor political Islam in South Kurdistan

By Kamal Rajab



Today the majority of Kurds are officially Muslim, belonging to the Shafi School, and to a much lesser degree, the Hannafi School , both of Sunni Islam. There is also a significant minority of Kurds that are Shiaa Muslims, primarily living in the Ilam and Kermanshah provinces of Iran and Central Iraq ("Al-Fayliah" Kurds). The Alevis are another religious minority among the Kurds, mainly found in Turkey.

According to some claims, Kurds are also thought to be a kind of angel worship that is an offshoot of Zoroastrianism. Today it is called Yezidism and is only practiced by about 700,000 Kurds worldwide. It is not strictly monotheistic, thus our Yezidis brethren have suffered terribly under fanatical Muslims. In line with its belief in people of the Book, Islam does not recognize Yezidism as a religion. Moreover, the negative view of Muslims with regard to the Angel Peacock--who in the religion of the Yezidis is second only to God--has been the cause of conflict between Muslims and Yezidis for a thousand years or more.

Many Kurdish Jews and Christians have lived (and many Christians still do live) in Kurdish areas. Historically, there have been Christian converts among Kurds since the 5th century. Nonetheless, today most insist that their ethnic identity is "Christian," not Kurdish. Pockets of Assyrian, Nestorian (Jacobite Syrian-Orthodox, Armenian, and very few Protestant Christians still live in the Kurdish areas today.

By the passage of time, Kurdistan has been exposed to a range of political, socio-religious and geographical adjustments. But there is one distinctive verity that most Kurds have in common. And that is the principle of having practiced Zoroastrianism before the spread of Islam in the 7th century CE, which is believed to be one of the oldest religions in the world. Hence, our pre-Islamic religion must be Zoroastrianism. It is easier for Kurds, the majority of whom are Muslim, to accept the belief that their pre-Islamic religion was Zoroastrianism rather than any other religious conviction.

The Islam religion started with Mohammad in the 7th century, in Saudi Arabia of today. Mohammad included in Islam the idea of jihad (holy war) to spread Islam by the use of force. Islam was spread rapidly to all the Arab nations of North Africa and the Middle East. Having fallen in to the hands of the Arab nations, Islam turned into an apparatus of Arab nationalism and xenophobia. As lucid, many Arab extremists are critical of Western influence and seek a return to the authentic roots of their own traditions. Others - and extremely small minority - are radical Islamic fundamentalists who have stepped over the line from extremist rhetoric into the world of political violence. What is an undeniable truth is that most Muslim Arabs share an intense hatred of Western nations in general, and the United States in particular. This hatred is fueled by blind religious zeal, a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam that is not accepted by the vast majority of the Muslim world, and the belief that the US and Americans prevent the emergence of pure and true Islamic society in many parts of the world. Their primary goals are to force the US to end its involvement in the Middle East and in all other Arab and Muslim nations, abandon its support of Israel, and stop its support of Arab nations they perceive as "corrupt." This is exactly in total contradiction with Kurdish civilization, philosophy and religion.

Meanwhile, many of us "hold our Islam lightly," meaning that we are not so vehement about Islam and do not identify as closely with it as the Arabs do. This is perhaps due to several factors: one being, many of us still feel some connection with the ancient Zoroastrian faith, and feel it as an original Kurdish spirituality that far predates the seventh century AD arrival of Muhammad.

Being a member of the Indo-European family of languages, we are totally distinct from the Arabs, Turks, and Persians (Iranians) of their region.

The name "Kurd" was a generic term used to denote nomads and non-Arabs in particular. In Kurdish, the name "Kurd" means "warrior" or "ferocious fighter." We are the modern descendents of the Medes, who are mentioned in the Bible. The Kurds are the descendants of the Medes, who helped Persia defeat Babylon. The Kurdish belief that they are the descendants of the biblical Medes reflects this rich background. Basing this claim on geographical, linguistic and cultural factors, this claim is ascribed more.

History well lets slip the facts that "the earliest known evidence of a unified and distinct culture (and possibly, ethnicity) by people inhabiting the Kurdish mountains dates back to the Halaf culture of 8,000 - 7,400 years ago. This was followed by the spread of the Ubaidian culture, which was a foreign introduction from Mesopotamia. In the 8th century we were conquered by the Arabs, who introduce Islam. We were also subdued by the Mongols in the 11th century and later by the Ottoman Turks, under whose rule they remained until the collapse of the Ottoman Empire following World War I".

Other than through intermarriage over the centuries, we are not ethnically and linguistically close or related to Arabs or Turks. Arabs, who form the majority in Syria and Iraq, came during the 7th century, the period of Islamic expansion, from the Saudi Arabian Peninsula.

Arabic language in South Kurdistan

Even though Arabic is a sacred religion language to Muslims around the world, Ninety percent of the world's Muslims do not speak Arabic as their native language Arabic and Islam are complementary and mutually reinforcing. Arabization and Islamization are inseparable parts of a single cultural ideal that now pervades the Arab world. Every Arab government, regardless of its political or social character, uses the symbolic power of the Arab language in its drive toward national modernization, authentication, and uniformization. All of them see the Arabization of society, particularly the educational system, as crucial to their mission. This leads, however, to an unexpected irony: because Arabs draw so close a connection between classical Arabic and the faith of Islam, Arabization invariably leads to identification with the (supranational) Islamic religious tradition. Even the most secular Arab nationalist (such as the Ba`thist variants in Syria and Iraq) must appeal to Islamic symbolism to bolster sagging legitimacy and to mobilize the masses (as Saddam Hussein did in his wars against Iran and the U.S.-led coalition). Hence, Arab nationalism has, however inadvertently, contributed to the rise of Islamism. Indeed, today's Islamist surge is the natural, perhaps inevitable consequence of the Arab nationalist policies of thirty years ago.

We must enhance our cultural and linguistic national personality; but no, we must not allow it to deprive us of the power of universal scientific knowledge. It is only extremist Islamists and extremists who are able to escape such wavering and adopt firm, unequivocal stances for or against Arabization/Islamization.

We are in need of implementing a foreign language curriculum that can further improve intellectual skills, helps our students understand the customs, culture and literature of other societies, and allows them to better trace their roots. Knowledge of a foreign language contributes to international understanding of issues and greatly increases career opportunities for our Kurdish scholars. At present, proficiency in foreign languages is much in demand in government, business, industry and research. And this is an indispensable fact having been adopted by the nations of the world.

An estimated 300-400 million people speak English as their first language. One recent estimate is that 1.9 billion people, nearly a third of the world's population, have a basic proficiency in English. English is the dominant international language in communications, science, business, aviation, entertainment, diplomacy and the Internet. It has been one of the official languages of the United Nations since its founding in 1945.

Another key language is French. French is spoken by 71 million people in France and other 24 countries which include Canada and Belgium. French is also the official language of a number of International organizations, among which EU, NATO and UN.

There is no incentive for Kurds to totally not eradicate Arabic language, culture and legacy in South Kurdistan and reinstate it with a modern and internationally recognized democratic foundation.

Some facts about the Arabization policy in South Kurdistan

Attempts to Arabize instructions in Kurdistan were one of the primary goals of previous dictator regime. The educational system of South Kurdistan has gone under qualitative and quantitative changes.

The Education system in Kurdistan, prior to 1991, was one of the most backward in the region. The Higher Education, especially the scientific and technological institutions

The majority of Kurdistan institutions of higher education were burnt, looted, or destroyed.

Kurdistan's educational system was the target of Iraqi military action, because education is the backbone of any society. Without an efficient education system, no society can function. Schools and universities were bombed and destroyed.

The previous Iraq's school curriculum was a Baathist -crafted curriculum In a callous and murderous policy termed "Baathification", thousands of Kurdish academics, scientists and prominent were executed.

Iraq strategy against Kurdistan went beyond "strictly military targets". The aim was the complete destruction of the Kurdistan society and its knowledge-based resources.

In the wake of US liberation of Iraq, Kurdistan's educational systems are expected to match with the finest in the Middle East .

After the 'Gulf War', 95 per cent of all Kurdistan school age children are attending school. Attendance at school has gone high in Kurdistan as primary education is being compulsory.

There are successful government programs under way aimed at eradicating illiteracy among Kurdish men and women.

the west need a true friend in Middle east and kurds are good friends and loyal to west! th nations whom afraid from kurds are very weak nations becouse they know if kurds have freedom they could be just like any european countries !

The kurds prive it that they are advanced not religious and if other countries in Middle-East let them they will be like Europe