Spread over an area that includes parts of Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran, the Kurds are fighting for their independence—and in some places for their lives—while trying to benefit from the current regional rivalries and chaos. Noting how much less sympathy they’ve generated than does another stateless group in the region, Eyal Zisser fears their hopes are likely to be dashed:
[O]ne cannot ignore the fact that the Kurds do not receive the same support and attention from the international media or the same affection that “enlightened circles” across the planet generously grant to the Palestinians. The world does not stand with the Kurds, and that mainly applies to global powers that have used them to advance their own interests but abandoned them in the moment of truth. And we can assume that in the future as well, the Kurds will again be left to their fate.
Here we have a large ethnic minority which is undeniably unique in both its history and culture, and yet is supported by no one in its struggle to receive its own state. . . .
The Kurds in Syria are currently in the eye of the storm. . . . [Now they] are maintaining a dialogue with the Syrian regime and with the Russians, who want to use them to hit the Syrian rebels—Arabs supported by Turkey and Arab states. Meanwhile, Washington has also come to their aid, coldly calculating that the Kurds can be used to fight Islamic State. As usual, however, when it comes to the Obama administration, American policy is shortsighted, merely capitalizing on a tactical and perhaps cynical opportunity that could end in the abandonment of the Kurds when American interests call for appeasing Turkey, or as part of a deal with Russia and the Assad regime to end the war in Syria.
It appears the regional and global game is too big for the Kurds. When they are called to the table once the fighting ends, they are liable to discover they were invited to be part of the menu, not a fellow victor [called] to feast on the spoils of war.
Read more on Israel Hayom: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=17085