The Kurds and Self-Determination

Abstract

What the Kurds of Iraq really need is a breakthrough on political formulas. What they need is a far-reaching change in their constitutional relationship with Iraq. This does not necessarily mean that they must have a state of their own, though a state of Kurdistan in which Kurds from Iraq, Turkey, and Iran are united has often been dreamed of. The issue today is not Kurdistan in the sense of a major rescrambling of boundaries. It is the demand of Iraqi Kurds for freedom from oppression. What their leaders are demanding is genuine autonomy within Iraq, guaranteed by UN presence and enshrined in international law.