Kurdish questions.
Michael Radu argues vigorously against a Kurdish state, a Kurdistan, Kurdish autononmy within Iraq, and even against a “federal” Iraq. (*) Radu notes that the unity of the Kurdish people is lacking some pieces. There are at least two mutually incomprehensible Kurdish languages, for example. Furthermore, both of the Kurdish autonomous areas in northern Iraq, led by the PUK and the KDP (political parties) have tolerated the presence of approximately 7,000 members of the terrorist, Stalinist group known as the PKK. The PKK has carried out numerous acts of terrorism against Turkey. (†) The Iraq-based terrorist group Ansar al-Islam is primarily Kurdish. Ansar al-Islam was linked to Al Qaeda, and prior to the war was imposing Taliban-like sharia on several villages in Iraq. (‡)
The time is not right for an independent Kurdistan. As for whether Iraq should be a federated state, that is a matter for Iraqis to decide. This onlooker’s opinion is that such a federation should be approached with caution. A “federation” that means a Kurdish region and a separate Arab region in Iraq, as Kurdish groups formerly proposed (§), would be a profoundly unhelpful change. It would be inconducive to the peaceful resolution of disputes between the diverse peoples of Iraq. Provincial boundaries should be politically drawn, not ethnically guided. Furthermore, a federation that allowed the provinces to have their own international relations would not be a federation, but at best a confederation. The foreign policy of Iraq should be the exclusive domain of the central government if the important objective of securing Iraq’s territorial integrity is to be achieved.