Nationalistic Senses and Kurdish Politics in the Last Century

Abstract

The Sykes-Picot Agreement, agreed privately by France and Britain and subsequentlyextended to include Russia, was eventually revealed or publicized asdrawing boundaries in the Middle-East for the 20th century. The land in whichKurds were living was object of this division.One of the reason why the Kurds did not fight for their own interests was theweakness of nationalistic feelings among them, whilethe other was lack of concensus among their leaders(emirs and pashas), which continued even after WorldWar I and leading to the Kurds’ exclusion from internationalagreements. Consequently, four distinct Kurdishsocieties emerged in four different “nation-states”.Nationalism is bound to the idea of a ‘land’ at first,and the people living in the same land are emotionallyclose to each other even though they do not know eachother, which is determined as ‘imagined community’by Benedict Anderson.In this article the current situation of the Kurdish politicsand their “nationalism” are going to be discussedby comparing them to the situation in which Sykes-Picot agreement occurred with the recent happeningssuch as “postponing national congreess”, “liberatingShingal”, and “Kobane” fighting.

Özet

Peymana Sykes-Picot ya veşartî ku Frensî û Ingilîz li ser li hev hatibûn, û dûv re Rûsjî tevlî bûbûn bi awayekî li ser parvekirina xaka Rojhilata Navîn derketibû meydanê.Di vir de axa ku Kurd li ser dijîn jî mijara vê parvekirinê bû.Sedemeke ku çima Kurd ji bo mafê xwe şer nekirin zeîfbûna hestên netewî bû,ligel ku ya din jî tunebûna lihevkirinekê di nav rêberên wan de (emîr û paşa) bû,ku piştî şerê cîhanê yê yekemîn jî dewam kir û bû sedema lidervemayîna Kurdandi peymanên navnetewî de. Di encamê de, di nav çar “netewe-dewlet”an de çarcivakên Kurdan peyda bûn.Netewebûn, berî her tiştî bi fikra ‘ax’ê ve girêdayî ye û kesên li ser vê axê dijîn herçiqasî hevdu nasnekin jî bi heman hestan nêzîkî hev dibin ku Benedict Anderson jivê yekê re dibêje “cemaatên xeyalkirî”.Di vê gotarê de rewşa siyaseta Kurdan û “netewperwerî” ya wan, ligel berawerdkirinabi rewşa ku peymana Sykes-Picot derketiye, bi mînakên dawî wek “paşxistinakongreya netewî”, “azadkirina Şengalê”, û “şerê Kobanê” dê were niqaşkirin.