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Middle East

© Adem Altan, AFP | Kurds celebrate Nowruz on March 22, 2015 in Ankara

Text by Sarah LEDUC

Latest update : 2015-07-30

Turkey has launched strikes on the Kurdish PKK - which has fought for an independent state within Turkey for decades - as part of a crackdown on "terrorists", including the IS group. But is Ankara using regional unrest to take on the Kurds?

The Kurds have emerged as the West's most effective partner in the war against the Islamic State (IS) group in both Syria and Iraq, and, in doing so, they have forced the Kurdish issue back into the international spotlight.
Who are the Kurds?
The fierce battle for Kobane in Syria became a symbol of anti-IS resistance as well a symbol of the Kurds' aspirations to transnational unity. Kurdish fighters from three countries fought together for the first time when the Syrian Kurdish militia, the YPG, was joined by a small contingent of heavily armed Peshmerga fighters (the armed forces of the Iraqi Kurdistan government) as well as fighters from the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) from Turkey. Bolstered by US-led air strikes, they eventually prevailed and expelled jihadist forces from Kobane in January 2015.

Turkey's decision on July 24 to bomb both the IS group and the PKK - which are bitterly opposed to each other - indicated that Ankara will not miss an opportunity to strike the Kurdish separatist militants that it has spent decades struggling to contain.
How many are there?
But this doesn't mean that Ankara is at war with all Kurds. And it needn't worry, for despite the common goal of independent statehood, the Kurdish people have long been divided between rival factions.

The Kurdish people are an ethnic group from the Middle East, sharing the same language and cultural identity. They are culturally and linguistically related to the Iranians. The Kurds inhabit a contiguous 500,000-square-kilometre area spanning four different countries - southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq, northern Syria and northwestern Iran. There are significant Kurdish diaspora communities in Europe, the US, Canada and the former USSR. The Kurds are the world's largest nation without a state.
What is their religion?

There is no ethnic census on the Kurds by country, but estimates indicate that they form a population of between 20 and 40 million. There are 15 million Kurds in Turkey, 7 to 8 million in Iran and 1 to 2 million in Syria. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), a semi-autonomous region in Iraq, claims 5.3 million inhabitants, but Baghdad says there are only 4.3 million.
Is there an actual Kurdistan?
The largest Kurdish diaspora community is in Europe. According to the Paris Kurdish Institute, there are between 1.5 and 1.7 million Kurds in Western Europe, including 800,000 in Germany. Some 80% of the Kurds living in Western Europe originally come from Turkey. Another 50,000 Kurds live in the US and more than 25,000 in Canada.

"Kurdish identity is not based on religion, but on language and culture," Kendal Nezan, head of the Paris Kurdish Institute, told the French daily Le Monde. The vast majority of Kurds, between 70% and 90%, are Sunni Muslims. But there is also a minority of Kurds who are Shiite Muslims in Iran and southern Iraq, where an estimated 20,000 returned after the fall of Saddam Hussein. In Turkey, there are Kurds who are Alevis, which is considered a branch of Shiite Islam with elements of Sufism.

Other religions practiced among Kurdish communities include Christianity (Catholics, Assyrians, Chaldeans and Syriac), Judaism (some 25,000 Jewish Kurds migrated to the US and Israel in the 1950s), as well as Yazidism in Iraq.
Kurdish parties divided

Kurdistan, which literally means "Country of the Kurds", often appears as a country on world maps used by Kurdish militants. However, there is no such state recognised by international law.

The closest thing Kurds have to an independent state is the KRG, which administers semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan. The president of the KRG, Massoud Barzani, is the commander-in-chief of the Peshmerga armed forces, which number some 190,000 fighters.

Iraqi Kurdistan serves as a model for the Syrian Kurds, who hope to establish a similar autonomous province of "Rojava" that would include the Kurdish enclaves of Afrin, Kobane and Qamishli.
Turkey at war with the Kurds?
The Kurds have never lived under centralised Kurdish state control and there are dozens of political factions divided between Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey.
Are all Kurds fighting against the IS group?
In Syria alone there are 17 Kurdish parties. The main one is the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which is a branch of the PKK in Turkey. Founded by Abdullah Ocalan in 1978, the PKK took up arms against Ankara in 1984 to demand an independent state and has had an uneasy relationship with Turkey ever since. The group is characterised by its Marxist ideology and has been listed as a terrorist organisation by both the US and the European Union. The PKK remains Ankara's arch-nemesis despite a ceasefire established in March 2013.

Two Kurdish parties with a deeply entrenched rivalry share power in Iraqi Kurdistan. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (PDK), headed by Barzani, controls the northern part of Iraqi Kurdistan and its capital, Erbil. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), based in the city of Sulaymaniyah, is dominant in the southern part.

Ankara views Turkey's PKK militants as an adversary but not the Kurdish people. "Turkey is mostly going after the PKK. [Turkish President Recep Tayyip ] Erdogan has good relations with Iraqi Kurds. Erbil has been collaborating with Ankara and Iran since the early 2000s against this communist faction of the Kurdish rebellion," said Wassim Nasr, FRANCE 24's expert on jihadist movements.

Kurdish forces such as the PKK and the Syrian YPG have been on the front lines in the battle against the IS group in both Syria and Iraq. However, Nasr said that there are also prominent Kurdish fighters in the ranks of the IS group, most of them from Kurdish regions in Turkey, Iraq (notably Halabja) or Iran. The few Syrian Kurds who have joined the IS group come from Amouda and Kahtania, two towns located near the Turkey-Syria border.

The jihadist group is keen on showing its Kurdish fighters that its war effort is a religious struggle. The IS military commander during the battle of Kobane was a Kurd from Halabja.

"Their objective is to say that their fight is not against the Kurds as an ethnic group, but against the secular and the democrats among them," said Nasr.

This article was adapted from the

Date created : 2015-07-30

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Turkey has launched strikes on the Kurdish PKK - which has fought for an independent state within Turkey for decades - as part of a crackdown on "terrorists", including the IS group. But is Ankara using regional unrest to take on the Kurds?

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On October 1, the Spanish region of Catalonia held a controversial referendum on independence. Before the vote took place, the Spanish Constitutional Court ruled the vote illegal and sent in the national guard to stop it from happening. Despite government opposition, the vote was held, and clashes between voters and police ensued.

Ninety percent of the participants voted in favor of independence, but public surveys say that current support for independence in Catalonia is only 41 percent.

Despite the contested referendum results, Catalonia has declared independence unilaterally. In response, Spain is moving to dissolve the Catalan regional government, remove its leaders from office, and hold regional elections. The political tension is mirrored in the streets. Separatist, anti-independence, and even pro-dialogue demonstrations have filled Barcelona since the referendum was held.

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The "frozen" Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is still simmering in the Caucasus, disrupting the lives of thousands of people. The BBC's Rayhan Demytrie reports from Azerbaijan on hardship near the front line.

Gulay likes to play outside, like any other seven-year-old. She rocks back and forth on a wooden swing. Playtime ought to be safe, but she lives in a conflict zone.

Gulay's home lies on the edge of the Azeri village of Gazyan, close to the line of contact with Armenian forces.

Shooting incidents are common here.

Her father Zomig Ahundov points to a thick brick wall built by the Red Cross to help shield his home from bullets.

"We still can't use the second floor of our house - it's too dangerous. We are a family of five people and we all live in one room downstairs because it's safer," Zomig says.

Walk into any house in this village and people will show cracks in their buildings which, they say, come from nearby explosions of Armenian ordnance, or bullet holes in their walls.

Arch-enemies

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a war over the disputed, mountainous territory of Nagorno-Karabakh in the 1990s.

The autonomous republic within Azerbaijan - created during Soviet rule - was populated mainly by ethnic Armenians. They wanted union with Armenia when the Soviet Union broke up.

As many as 30,000 people were killed in the war. Azerbaijan lost the territory as well as seven adjacent regions. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced.

For centuries there was rivalry in the region between Christian Armenians and Turkic Muslims.

Little progress has been made towards a lasting settlement for Nagorno-Karabakh since a ceasefire deal reached in 1994.

It is often referred to as a "frozen" conflict, but military and civilian casualties are frequently reported.

Tensions escalated last summer, with skirmishes and casualties on both sides. In November, Azeri forces downed an Armenian helicopter. Three servicemen were killed.

Armenian authorities said they were on an unarmed mission, and vowed to retaliate.

Armenia's defence ministry spokesman, Artsrun Hovhannisyan, warned of consequences "that will be very painful for the Azerbaijani side and will remain on the conscience of the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan".

But Azerbaijan takes a different view.

"Two enemy helicopters attacked our positions. As a result one of the helicopters was shot down," says Azerbaijan's Deputy Defence Minister, Lt Gen Kerim Veliyev.

"We've sent our message that if such air actions continue, any enemy target will be destroyed. We are not eliminating the military option. If the enemy rejects a peaceful solution we can free our territories militarily. We are ready for that."

Peace deal?

Azerbaijan's leadership has repeatedly threatened to take back the lost lands. Last August, President Ilham Aliyev tweeted that "the flag of Azerbaijan will fly in all the occupied territories".

Peace negotiations mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by Russia, France and the United States, have seen little progress. Meanwhile, oil-rich Azerbaijan has been spending heavily to boost its military capability.

The country's annual defence budget stands at $3.7bn (£2.5bn). Armenia's defence budget was $447m in 2013.

According to the latest Global Militarisation Index, published by the German think tank Bonn International Centre for Conversion (BICC), Armenia and Azerbaijan are among the top 10 most militarised nations in the world.

Both countries buy their weapons from Russia. But while there is a risk of renewed conflict, Russia's involvement makes the military option less likely, according to political analyst Arastun Orujlu of the East-West Research Centre in Baku.

"I don't think the Azerbaijani government is preparing for a military resolution of the Karabakh conflict. They are quite realistic. Armenia is a military ally of Russia at least for the next 48 years. It has two Russian bases on its territory," he said, referring to the long leases agreed for the bases.

However, Mr Orujlu says the Azeri authorities are watching the instability in Ukraine closely.

"Azerbaijan sometimes feels itself alone on an international level," he says.

"For supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine, Russia is getting strong [Western] sanctions. And Azeris are asking, 'Why doesn't Armenia get the same reaction from the international community?' That's what makes the Karabakh conflict more significant today."

New homes

On the outskirts of the capital Baku, new housing complexes are appearing for thousands of families displaced by the conflict.

Azerbaijan has one of the highest rates of internally displaced people (IDPs) in the world.

After years of people living in rundown Soviet-era buildings and tent cities lacking running water, the government launched a state programme to rehouse IDPs.

New apartment blocks give a sense of permanence to the status quo. But anyone in the street will tell you that they still dream of going home.

"The houses are really nice but we want to go back to our land as soon as possible," says Naringul Guliyeva, walking her grandson to a nearby newly built school.

There, the children learn to recite the names of the seven regions occupied by Armenia.

They are taught about their right to return - even if it will take war, or another generation of waiting, to achieve it.

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There are increasing tensions between Israelis and Palestinians in Jerusalem, the fate of which is one of the most contentious issues in the Israel-Arab conflict.

The BBC's Erica Chernofsky takes a closer look at why this city is so important to Christianity, Islam and Judaism, the three religions which trace their shared origins back to the biblical figure of Abraham.

Jerusalem - its name resonates in the hearts of Christians, Jews and Muslims alike and echoes through centuries of shared and disputed history.

Known in Hebrew as Yerushalayim and in Arabic as al-Quds, it is one of the oldest cities in the world. It has been conquered, destroyed and rebuilt time and again, and every layer of its earth reveals a different piece of the past.

While it has often been the focus of stories of division and conflict among people of different religions, they are united in their reverence for this holy ground.

At its core is the Old City, a maze of narrow alleyways and historic architecture that characterises its four quarters - Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Armenian. It is surrounded by a fortress-like stone wall and home to some of the holiest sites in the world.

Each quarter represents its own population. The Christians have two, because Armenians are also Christians, and their quarter, the smallest of the four, is one of the oldest Armenian centres in the world.

It is unique in that their community has preserved its own particular culture and civilisation inside the St James Church and monastery, which comprises most of their section.

The church

Inside the Christian Quarter is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a significant focus for Christians all over the world. It is located on a site which is central to the story of Jesus, his death, crucifixion and resurrection.

According to most Christian traditions, Jesus was crucified there, on Golgotha, or the hill of Calvary, his tomb is located inside the sepulchre and this was also the site of his resurrection.

The church is managed jointly by representatives of different Christian denominations, mainly the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, Franciscan friars from the Roman Catholic Church and the Armenian Patriarchate, but also by the Ethiopians, Coptics and Syrian Orthodox Church.

It is one of the main pilgrimage destinations for millions of Christians worldwide who visit the empty tomb of Jesus and seek solace and redemption in prayer at the site.

The mosque

The Muslim Quarter is the largest of the four and contains the shrine of the Dome of Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque on a plateau known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary.

The mosque is the third holiest site in Islam and is under the administration of an Islamic trust called the Waqf.

Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad travelled here from Mecca during his night journey and prayed with the souls of all the prophets. A few steps away, the shrine of the Dome of the Rock holds the foundation stone, where Muslims believe Muhammad then ascended to heaven.

Muslims visit the holy site all year round, but every Friday during the holy month of Ramadan, hundreds of thousands of Muslims come to pray at the mosque.

The wall

The Jewish Quarter is home to the Kotel, or the Western Wall, a remnant of the retaining wall of the mount on which the Holy Temple once stood.

Inside the temple was the Holy of Holies, the most sacred site in Judaism.

Jews believe that this was the location of the foundation stone from which the world was created, and where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac. Many Jews believe the Dome of the Rock is the site of the Holy of Holies.

Today, the Western Wall is the closest place Jews can pray to the Holy of Holies.

It is managed by the Rabbi of the Western Wall and every year hosts millions of visitors. Jewish people from all over the world visit this place to pray and connect to their heritage, especially during the High Holidays.
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