Kurdistan: A Land of Blood and Hope: The Security Council

Kurdistan: A Land of Blood and Hope
Delegates, the Chair gives you a warm welcome to is Security Council committee. We Sebastin
Lpez and Juan Felipe Mora, will be your presidents. For this year, we expect you to enjoy and
learn from this exciting experience... But for this to happen we will be expecting very good
preparation from the delegates. This will ensure that we can have an interesting and passionate
debate in which we will find the possibility of growing in both, academic, and in personal aspects.
Me and Sebastin will always be available for any question that may arise during this process... feel
free to write me to my e-mail juan.felipe.mora@sgs.edu.co or to Sebastin's e-mail
sebastian.lopez@sgs.edu.co. We finally wish everyone of you the best of luck and we hope you will
enjoy this SGSMUN edition.
The Security Council

The Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and
security. The committee consist of 10 members and 5 permanent-members (Republic of France, The
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Peoples Republic of China, Russian
Federation and The United States of America), so in total 15 delegations participate. Every year, the
10 members of the committee change.
For this 2016-2017 period the members will be Angola, Egypt, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand,
Senegal, Spain, Ukraine, Uruguay and Venezuela. In addition to this members, the SGSMUN
Security Council committee will also count with delegations of Kurdistan, Turkey, Iran, Iraq and
Syria.
The vote of every delegation counts as 1 vote (except for Kurdistan, Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria
which have voice but not vote as they are not members of the committee for the 2016-2017 period).
However, permanent-members of the council count with the right of veto, which means that they
can cancel any decision taken which they do not support. All Member States are obligated to
comply with Council decisions.
The Security Council takes the lead in determining the existence of a threat to the peace or act of
aggression. It calls upon the parties to a dispute to settle it by peaceful means and recommends
methods of adjustment or terms of settlement. In some cases, the Security Council can resort to
imposing sanctions or even authorize the use of force to maintain or restore international peace and
security.
The Security Council also recommends to the General Assembly the appointment of the Secretary-
General and the admission of new Members to the United Nations. And, together with the General
Assembly, it elects the judges of the International Court of Justice.
Presidency: The presidency of the Council is held by each of the members in turn for one month,
following the English alphabetical order of the Member States names. (United Nations, 2016)
Taken from: http://www.un.org/en/sc/
The Kurds: Are they a nation?
Introduction
Kurdistan is a land of problems. There is not only one obstacle that needs to be surpassed. There are
many things that does not let the conflict arrive to an end. DAESH (auto-denominated Islamic
"State"), the Syrian civil war, Sunni-Shia (islamic division) tensions and sovereignety of land leads
to a massive unstable region, difficult to manage. And yet thanks to this tension, a Kurdish state
dream has never been so close to reality... but is this truly what the region needs? Some might argue
that this will lead to more tensions and conflicts, but some others will defend that this can return
stability to the Middle East. And both statements might be true and, in fact, your job as delegates is
to try to determine and argue why the statement you hold is true and convince other nations to join
to the movement...
What is Kurdistan/Who are the Kurds ?

This is one of the thoughest questions to answer, mainly because it rather depends on who is asked.
Some countries, scholars and of course Kurds, affirm that Kurdistan is a nation, others say that they
are not a country and many others will just stand in between this 2 statements... but when this
question is asked to a common pedestrian in the street, the most probable outcome someone can get
is an irritaded "I don't know". The most accurate definition of who the Kurds are is the ethnic
group which inhabits the Mesopotamian plain and the Iranian and Anatolian plateaux. They share
the same culture and customs but they do not count with a clear dialect, even though all the
languages are from the same family and are relative to each other. David McDowall's forward to
his book, A Modern History of the Kurds, affirms that information available about Kurds is
extremely modest. He says this happens because of one reason that appears to be obvious: "The
Kurds inhabit a marginal zone between the powers of the Mesopotamian plain and the Iranian and
Anatolian plateaux" (more on that in the "where" question) (McDowall, 1996). But since the
beginning of the 21st century, this group of people has been growing steadily in importance... and
now it is difficult to imagine they will sink again into darkness. "They have emerged, not quite yet
as a coherent nation, nevertheless as an ethnic community that can no longer be ignored
(McDowall, 1996).
Historical context:
The Kurdish dream began in the late 19th Century, when the whole group of people living in the
Mesopotamian plain start seeing and thinking themselfs as Kurds. Do not confuse. Kurdish people
have been an identifiable group for more than two thousand years (McDowall, 1996), but it was
only until the late 19th and early 20th Centuries that they acquired a sense of a Kurd comunnity
with the essential characteristics of a nation. However, Arabs and Turks also began this process,
which meant that the Kurds would have to compete against these other emerging ethnic groups
(iran, Turkey, etc). But it was the lack of both, a civic culture and a established literature, which
ended their early dream. This lead to the other emerging countries in the Middle East to see them as
part of their territories, rather that an independant nation.
Another important attempt began in World War 1, when the Kurds fought against the Ottoman
Empire to cause division between the empire and therefore it would make it weak against the Allies.
UK and France promised Kurdistan territory to create their countryand thanks to their succesfull
participation, the Treaty of Svres (which contemplated the end of the Ottoman Empire and the new
divisions the map would have) enforced Kurdistan their promised territory to make their country.
However, in 1923, the Turkish delegates (which represented Turkey and the Kurds) leadered by
Mustafa Kemal signed the Treaty of Lusanne, which made the Trait de Svres invalid. This meant
that now the Kurdish people did not have something that guaranteed them their rights and their
nation (Institut Kurde de Paris, 2016)
This ended up being a division, mainly between the Mustafa Kemals Turkey, the British
government (Iraq) and the French government (Syria).
The Kurds right now:

Kurds are right now fighting against DAESH in the form of YPG (see images below), usually
referred as the auto-denominated Islamic State (DAESH is not a recognized country and/or state by
the international community) and, just as the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) affirms,
[The Kurds] are widely regarded as one of the most effective forces in the fight against IS (BBC,
2016). Kurds are fighting vehemently against Islamic State because it is the way in which they can
show the world that they still are an unsolved problema. The International Coalition has given them
the responsability of guarding the city of Kobane, an important strategical city in northern Syria,
after they recover it the 27th of June, 2015 from DAESH (Aljazeera, 2015). However, bacause of
the proximity of Kobane to the Turkish-Syrian border, Turkeys relation with the PYD (see image
below) and the YPG has grown very dangerously. In fact, Turkeys reltaions with the Kurds are
almost non-existing since the banning of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party lead by Abdullah
Ocalan (jailed)).
taken from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-33690060 The British Broadcasting Corporation.
Copyright 2016. Cosnulted firstly the 14/09/2016
Having understood more about the Kurds and the job they are performing today, the fianl thing to
say about them are some generalities that will be relevant to some delagates. The population of
Kurds is surrounding 35 million people in the world. They dont have a unique dialect but rather 2
main forms, known as the Kurmanji-Kurdish and the Sorani-Kurdish (The University of
Manchester, 2016), they are Sunni muslims (90%), thwy make the 10% of Syrias population, 18%
of Turkeys population, 15-20% of Iraqs population and 10% or irans population (CNN,2016) . To
conclude, the chair recommends the delegates to make use of this quick facts and relate them with
your nations characteristics.
Where is Kurdistan?
Kurdistan is a territory located in the Middle East, more specifically in the North-Western region.
However, it is somewhat difficult to show the exact position of the territory of Kurdistan as it is not
a recognized country and as it occupies some land of various countries. The Kurdish Project claims
the map below is the most accurate.
taken from: http://thekurdishproject.org/kurdistan-map/ The Kurdish Project. Copyright 2015.
Consulted firstly the 13/09/2016.
However, it might as well important to highlight that some historians and Kurds also affirm that the
territory extends into a little part of Armenia (this can be important for some delegates, such as the
Kurdish one). Now a relevant part in which the delegates should emphasize in is the fact that
Kurdistan is claiming that parts of Turkey, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Armenia are their territory, but these
countries obviously does not want to give their land away.
For example, the Tabriz-Ankara pipeline passes through the Ararat mountains (World Atlas, 2016)
(an area which the Kurdish are claiming). This means that part of the pipeline would end in Kurdish
control or it would certainly lead to a conflict for that resource. This is just an example of a typical
problem that could arise because of territorial problems.
And, as this example, there are many others that could arise in the other countries involved (Syria,
Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Armenia) thanks to territorial claims.
Finally, the chair would suggest to
i) Countries that would share the same territory: Find alternative solutions to this
problem based on the foreign policy of your country (remember: try to get a solution
that will benefit everyone, but that also would benefit our country). Also it would be
helpful for the delegates argumentation to research previous efforts made by their
nation. This may include offers made to Kurdish leaders or to certain Kurdish societies.
ii) Countries that does not share territory: Look for solutions that will help stabilizing the
situation in that region... always take into consideration your country's foreign policy
and its position towards the Kurds.
Why is this conflict relevant to the international community?
http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/asia/tr.htm
http://www.institutkurde.org/en/institute/who_are_the_kurds.php
David McDowall; A Modern History of The Kurds. First published in 1996 by I.B. Tauris
& Co Ltd.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-33690060
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/06/kurdish-forces-recapture-syria-kobane-isil-
150627091855899.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/18/world/kurdish-people-fast-facts/
http://thekurdishproject.org/kurdistan-map/

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Kurdistan: A Land of Blood and Hope

The Security Council

What is Kurdistan/Who are the Kurds ?

The Kurds right now:

Why is this conflict relevant to the international community?

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