How a string of unjust treaties shortchanged the Kurds

Nations have been made and remade by international agreements that carved empires into nation-states. Now it is time to let the ballot box define the future.

Getty

Turkey: Kurdish troops (cavalry).

How a string of unjust treaties shortchanged the Kurds

Salih Muslim

last update on 22 Jul 2023

History is peppered with treaties. Many of these international agreements have been forgotten or superseded. Some last centuries. Many leave a bad taste in the mouth.

One of the most enduring is the 1639 Shirin Palace Agreement, which divided Kurdistan between the Ottomans and the Safavids. It has a resonance that lasts to this day and has influenced much more recent agreements that have shaped and reshaped the modern world.

That should tell us something about the way the borders of the world have been defined.

The Safavid dynasty ruled Iran for 200 years from the 16th century, meaning it has long since left power. The Ottoman Empire is also defunct, although it lasted until the 20th century, before coalescing into modern-day Turkey.

Nonetheless, an agreement struck almost 400 years ago – and named after where it was reached in western Iran – somehow remains both steadfast and valid.

It was to exert a significant influence over the way in which global powers divided the territory of the Ottoman Empire – by then known as “the sick man of Europe” – among themselves, in the first decades of the 20th century.

The Sykes-Picot Treaty of 1916 was an opportunist and clandestine attempt to carve up the so-called sick man’s lands. Even then, Tsarist Russia eventually withdrew from it.

It did not end there. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, with the signing of the surrender agreement in Modulus in October 1918, the Sykes-Picot Treaty somehow remained in effect.

One of the most enduring treaties in history is the 1639 Shirin Palace Agreement, which divided Kurdistan between the Ottomans and the Safavids. It has influenced more recent agreements that have shaped the modern world.

Conferences, treaties and pain

Subsequently, the League of Nations was established to oversee a series of conferences and meetings aimed at dividing the remains of German and Ottoman territory, which resulted in even more treaties, some of which also endured.

The Paris Peace Conference — which lasted from October 1918 to 1920 — was instrumental in this process. The San Remo Conference, held in July 1920, between France and Britain, further solidified the division of territories and imposed mandates on Iraq and Syria, including certain parts of Kurdistan.

Getty — Kurds of Shaykh Sadik's 'Army'', circa 1906-1913. Kurdish men with rifles and bullet belts, Khatuna, (eastern Turkey).

The Treaty of Sèvres, signed in August 1920, stands out.

The meeting that drew it up was attended by representatives from 27 countries. Kurdish delegates, led by Sherif Pasha, were present alongside an Armenian delegation. The conference agreed in theory that Armenia and Kurdistan would eventually gain autonomy.

But its practical outcome was different. France and Britain divided portions of Kurdistan and opted for mandates. This opened the door to bilateral negotiations between France and Turkey, as well as between Britain and Turkey.

At the same time, Turkey established closer ties with Russia, a newly communist country which raised concerns for England and France. Amid these developments, two pivotal conferences shaped British policy in the region.

The Cairo Conference, held in 1921 – with the participation of British officials only – delineated British spheres of influence in the Middle East, including Kurdistan, and determined its approach towards the Turkish state, where a War of Independence had started.

The second summit included Turkish officials, at the London Conference of 1922. It led to amendments to the Treaty of Sèvres that denied any rights to the Kurds.

The Treaty of Sèvres, signed in August 1920, agreed in theory that Armenia and Kurdistan would eventually gain autonomy. But its practical outcome was different. France and Britain divided portions of Kurdistan and opted for mandates. Later amendments to the Treaty of Sèvres denied any rights to the Kurds.

Against this international backdrop, the Lausanne Conference took place following the abolition of the caliphate and the Turkish state's acceptance of the political and economic conditions imposed upon it. Attendees included Britain, France, Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia, Romania, and Japan.

Sèvres annulled

This conference resulted in a new treaty that annulled its Sèvres predecessor, disregarding its provisions over the Kurds and Armenians and their right to self-determination. Importantly, no Kurdish or Armenian delegations participated in the conference.

The political climate changed when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk outright rejected the Treaty of Sèvres. The founder of modern Turkey even dismissed all ministers and officials involved in signing it.

Ataturk convinced the Kurds that the new, modern state he intended to establish would encompass both Kurdish and Turkish peoples, rallying them to his cause in the War of Independence against the French and Greeks.

Turkish forces liberated vast territories and established close ties with the newly formed Soviet Union. This raised fears among the British and French of Turkey aligning with Russia, leading them to make concessions at the expense of other peoples.

During World War I, the nationalist Turkish forces systematically targeted non-Muslim communities residing in Mesopotamia and Anatolia, committing genocide against Armenians, Syriacs, Pontic Greeks along the Black Sea coast, and the Romans in central and western Anatolia.

The demise of the Treaty of Sèvres further curtailed the rights of the Kurds and other remaining minorities.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk outright rejected the Treaty of Sèvres. He convinced the Kurds that the new Turkish state would encompass both Kurdish and Turkish peoples, rallying them to his cause in the War of Independence against the French and Greeks.

Empires fracture into nation-states

In the early 20th century, the concept of the nation-state emerged as the dominant concept for the foundation of government. People who had lived under colonialism wanted to establish their own countries, including those under Ottoman rule.

Promises were made to these people by the dominant powers, which directly conflicted with the concept of the Ottoman Empire becoming an Ottoman state.

The world's dominant powers were, in truth, more motivated by their own economic interests than a desire to liberate. They often disregarded the principles they themselves advocated, including the right of people to self-determination championed by President Woodrow Wilson of the United States.

The Armenians sought assistance from the Russians. The Syriacs and Arabs turned to the British. The Kurds caught between the rising dominant powers and the declining Ottomans, experienced varying degrees of injustice over time.

Mesopotamia was divided among four nation-states, leaving the region ravaged by killings, displacement, starvation, and assimilation into newly forged countries. An artificial Turkish nationalism was imposed upon the remnants once-Ottoman territories that were not truly Turkish.

The world's dominant powers were more motivated by their own economic interests than a desire to liberate. They often disregarded the principles they themselves advocated, including the right of people to self-determination.

Treaty of Lausanne

All of this led to the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne – on 24 July 24, 1923 – which granted legitimacy to the Turkish state within its present borders, built upon the ruins and suffering of the Armenians, Syriacs, Pontic Greeks and Kurds, with the latter rejecting and resisting the Turkish state to this day.

Other newly defined nation-states with their borders set through the Treaty of Lausanne did not hesitate to employ various methods and means to assimilate some of the peoples within their territories as they aimed to establish homogenous states with distinct Turkish, Persian, or Arab identities.

They restricted education in native languages, rewrote history to suit their agenda, enforced official religions and doctrines, and suppressed customs and traditions that preserved ethnic distinctiveness.

The ideas and principles of the nation-state that emerged during the French Revolution in the 18th century spread across Europe. As borders were redrawn, millions of people died.

All of this culminated in World War II, which claimed the lives of millions more. This cycle of violence persisted until there was a realisation of the importance of democracy, coexistence, and the freedom of all peoples and groups within a single state.

This understanding paved the way for the establishment of the European Union, which embraced diversity and differences and was designed to preserve peace in a continent so recently ravaged by wars.

Newly-defined nation-states that emerged from Lausanne restricted education in native languages, rewrote history to suit their agenda, enforced official religions and doctrines, and suppressed customs and traditions that preserved ethnic distinctiveness.

Authoritarian apparatus left behind

The Middle East followed a similar trajectory.

The region was also influenced by the ideas and principles of the nation-state in the early 20th century. The dominant world powers exploited these trends to fragment the Ottoman Empire.

But they left behind its repressive, authoritarian apparatus. And they granted legitimacy to new entities with borders drawn arbitrarily by this run of treaties and conferences, carving up the map.

This resulted in upheaval and destruction in the Middle East.

At present, the best hope for our people lies in rejecting the grip of the past and the treaties that serve the interests only of those who wield power.

By accident or design, the turbulence of treaties that caused so much havoc at home, abroad – and all around the world – in a violent and traumatic twentieth century has given us an alternative.

It offers freedom and equality and a better way of settling differences between peoples, along with a dignified and liberated life.

It is called democracy.

- Saleh Muslim is Co-chair of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party

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