This is most certainly so. Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the Kurds have become markedly more active. They've got a firm foothold on the poorly controlled Iraqi territory. For the umpteenth time now, one of the world's most ancient and unfortunate peoples have started dreaming again about the Great Kurdistan.
A rare nation can boast of such an ancient history as the Kurds, who are now represented in the UN. They were mentioned by the Egyptians, Babylonians, Sumerians, Assyrians, and the Urartus. The Kurds have everything - ancient roots and a carefully preserved culture. They are numerous: in different estimates, they number between 20 and 30 million. But the Kurds miss something that even a tiny Pacific island has - statehood. Some of them live in Turkey, others in Iraq, still others in Syria, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. In some places they live better than in others, but mostly they are not doing very well.
On the one hand, Turkey, Iran, and Syria, as well as other countries where Kurds live, perceive them as a permanent threat to their territorial integrity, and do not welcome them for that reason. In some places, Kurds are openly harassed. On the other hand, the modern world prefers to shut its eyes to the Kurdish problem because it is extremely explosive and practically insoluble.
When we played chess as kids, we coined a term "the indestructible pawn" to describe a situation where a pawn in the middle of the chessboard was an obstacle to maneuvers by almost all other pieces. But nobody dared touch it for fear of an unpredictable aggravation of the situation for both sides. The Kurds are playing the same role today. Many things will collapse in our fragile world if we touch this problem. At the same time, ignoring the interests of such an ancient and numerous nation means provoking it. Untreated disease will only get worse.
Europe is probably the most interested party in solving the Kurdish problem, but it does not seem to be aware of this yet. For all the reservations, Turkey is slowly moving towards membership in the European Union. It is hard to understand the logic of the European Union members, who is ready to sacrifice quality to quantity. They do not have a common Constitution yet, have quarreled over the wars in Iraq and Lebanon, and have not worked out a common stand on the Iranian nuclear file (it is enough to recall Spain's special position). Yet they are ready at accept new members to the detriment of the Union's quality. Isn't it reckless to open the door to the Turks when at one time Europe is a scene of the 'caricature scandal', at other time - of 'flames in Paris suburbs', to say nothing of acts of terror of markedly non-European origin? If the EU cannot take adequate measures to counter the flood of illegal immigrants, what will it do when they become legal?
Along with Turkey the Europeans are going to inherit the Kurdish pawn, which will continuously make their life more difficult. If the Kurds find life in Turkey too hard to bear, they will go to Europe. If they remain in Turkey and continue their struggle for independence, the politically correct Europeans will have to either shut their eyes to how the Kurds are treated in Turkish prisons, or engage in time-consuming but futile efforts to persuade the Turks to grant them large-scale autonomy.
Curiously, different sociological polls show that the Europeans are not at all happy to see Turkey as a EU member. The Austrians are adamantly against that. However, EU bureaucrats are not too worried, and for all the concerns Turkey is slowly but steadily moving towards the Union. Why?
There is a version but it is not up to me to discuss it.
