Kardo Bokani,
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki whose country’s sovereignty has been seriously damaged by the Iranian shelling and Turkish constant air raids has recently warned to send troops to Qendil Mountains, ostensibly, to drive out the Kurdish guerrillas.
Under the pressure of Iranian and Turkish government Maliki might have gone that far but his main intention is to weaken the position of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), signalling that South Kurdistan is run and ruled by the Iraqi central government which is not the case. To the dismay of Mr Maliki, the Kurdish people in South Kurdistan enjoy de-facto independence, having their own parliament, their own flag and their own army to defend their national values once attacked.
Maliki’s dysfunctional government, however, was expected to make serious efforts to bring the relentless bombardments of his country to a halt instead of threatening to assault Qendil Mountains. Both Iran and Turkey are violating Iraqi’s sovereignty by regular shelling and constant aerial attacks. Very recently the Iranian Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) convened some of their most experienced war veterans and launched an all-out offensive against the Qendil Mountains, but they were routed by the guerrillas of the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK). Would not that be a good lesson for Maliki? Could not he learn something from it?
Not only Iran, Turkey were also routed by the guerrillas of PKK (Kurdistan Worker Party) in both of Zap and Zele’s historic battles. If Iran and Turkey could not undertake the task, how on earth a feeble and dysfunctional government of al-Maliki incapable of controlling his own capital city would be able to invade and conquer the Rocky Mountains of Qendil, the locus of Kurdish resistance movements throughout the history?
The answer to this question seems to be quite straightforward that can’t be hidden from al-Maliki. He has witnessed defeats of both Turkish army and the Iranian Revolution Guards Corps at the hands of the Kurdish guerrillas. This is a gigantic and undoable task not only for the Iraqi government but for all the occupying powers of Kurdistan. They can’t conquer a single inch of Qendil Mountains controlled by the guerrillas who value freedom and national rights far higher than their lives. The problem with the colonialist mentality of the occupying powers of Kurdistan is that they have failed to realise the fact that this is not the power of the arms or the advance weaponries that wins the war, but the power of the soil the Kurdish guerrillas are endowed with.
Instead of planning for war or formulating polices based on violence and hostility, this is time for the regional colonialism to rethink their approaches toward the Kurdish issue and try to find a solution to it. Their policies of denial, assimilation, and eradication have all failed. The Kurds will not be annihilated as they have not been. Invading or planning to invade would not work as it has not. But if you want to invade Qendil Mountains, first you have to secure the streets of your own capital city, Baghdad, and then think of sending in troops!