ISSN 1829-4618

ON THE DEVELOPMENTS OF THE KURDISH QUESTION IN THE NEAR AND MIDDLE EAST IN MODERN TIMES

By: Bayburdyan Vahan, Institute of Oriental Studies of NAS RA

The “Kurdish Question” was for the first time a matter of discussions in international instances in 1919, in Paris peace conference. But in international legal practice this question was for the first time formulated in the form of a contract on August 10, 1920, in the Treaty of Sevres, which was guaranteeing a right to autonomy in Turkey for the Kurds. This autonomous formation could be turned into a sovereign state with the consent of the League of Nations after a year. But, as is known, the Treaty of Lausanne, signed in 1923, denounced the Treaty of Sevre, thus pushing the “Kurdish Question” into noneexistence. In the final stage of the WW II the “Kurdish Question” ascended again on the surface of political realities, this time by the leader of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin. The latter raised a number of issues simultaneously just after the war, which were tended to change the correlation of powers in the Near and Middle East in favor of the Soviet Union. The Great Powers and Iran, Turkey, Syria and Iraq do not show any interest on resolving the “Kurdish Question”. All this provides a ground to conclude that the creation of the Kurdish state is impossible in the visible future. On the other hand, it is reality that the “Kurdish Question” is being gradually subjected to internationalization, becoming a more serious problem in relations of the USA, European Union, Russian Federation, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria and other countries. Decidedly, the Kurds are become serious regional players on the background of events, evolving in the Near and Middle East in recent years. One can even say that they are key players in the Near Eastern policy. It is beyond doubt that the absence of the statehood always helps the Kurds to operate out of the existing legal relations. This fact as well as the fighting efficiency of the Kurds make them one of the most important players of the present-day Near East.

Download
pdf (0.15 MB)