By Vestnik Kavkaza
A trial has begun in Germany over a supposed participant in the terrorist group Islamic State (IS). According to the German mass media, last year the 20-year-old citizen of Germany, a native of Kosovo, swore allegiance to IS and later fought for the Islamists, but when he came back he was arrested in Frankfurt. Now he could be sent to 10 years in prison for belonging to a foreign terrorist organization. Meanwhile, in Paris the international conference on Iraq began. Its main topic is the struggle with IS. US Secretary of State John Kerry has already stated his intention to establish a coalition against the organization, while the President of France Francois Hollande urged the international community to unite against extremists. Thus, the international community has finally realized the threat of IS.
Alexander Kuznetsov, the head of the Center for Forecasting and Regulating Conflicts, thinks that expansion by IS “was unexpected only for people who know the region poorly. This is a result of the destructive policies which were provided in the region during the last 10 years after the American invasion of Iraq. When the Americans deliberately destroyed the political system of Iraq and all the institutions, the army, trying to improve their military and economic presence, they started a war between various communities in Iraq, pitting them against each other. In 2005 the parliamentary elections took place, the coalition of the Shiah majority came to office, and cleansing began in Iraq, repressions against the Sunnis, they were fired from state services. Actually a civil war took place; the Americans didn’t participate in it, being present on Iraqi territory, they let the Sunnis and the Shiahs kill each other.”
Another reason for intensification of the IS, according to Kuznetsov, was “sabotage and aggressive activity by the West, Turkey, and the countries of the Persian Gulf against Syria. To stir up a movement against the government in Syria, they welcomed any forces, including extremists who cooperated with al-Qaeda. It was a favorable situation for the extremists, and a great number of unemployed, aggressive, indignant, and hungry young people joined the jihadists. It was clear that someday these people would take up arms and go somewhere, following the extremists’ will. So there was no surprise in the summer events, in IS’s blitzkrieg, the occupation of Mosul in Iraq.”
Kuznetsov compares the cruelty of IS with the regime of Pol Pot in Cambodia in the 1970s: “Genocide is deliberately committed; people who show little resistance to the terrorists’ policy are being killed. Not only Christians are suffering, not only Kurds, but also Muslims.”
The situation over Iraqi Kurdistan became tense as a result of the August attack by IS terrorists. The Kurds were taken by surprise by the rapid advance of the jihadists. Farkhat Patiyev, the chairman of the Board of the All-Russian Social Organization “Federal National Cultural Autonomy of the Kurds of the RF,” thinks that IS is an ideological rival to the Kurdish forces in the region. “The Kurds support a secular lifestyle, while IS supports radical Islam. Even though the majority of the Kurds in the region are Muslims, it doesn’t stop IS terrorists from murdering Kurds. According to recent evidence by prisoners, the terrorists of IS state that the Kurds cannot be Muslims and should be eliminated as a nation from the Middle East… IS has a target to destroy the Kurdish people.”
According to Patiyev, “the Kurds have always stood against violent integration of nations into foreign cultures, traditions, and forms of governance; they have their own model of governance. You can see it in Syrian Kurdistan, where three cantons were established (Jizre, Kobani and Afrin). The model operates without interference from other forces.”
Patiyev states that IS threatens not only the Kurds, but the whole of European civilization: “Terrorists from European countries, the U.S. and Canada are fighting for IS. But if we think that the physical elimination of the terrorists will bring success, we will make a mistake; and the Americans have been making this mistake for all these years in Iraq. It is not enough.”
Patiyev suggests that the model of Syrian Kurdistan where not only the Kurds, but also representatives of other nationalities living in Syrian Kurdistan participate, could be a preventive model: “It will be the best model for governing the society without forced Arabization, Kurdization, Turkmenization, and so on. The region of the Middle East is multinational historically, and in building a new model of power in the Syrian state, the Iraqi state should consider the multinational character of these countries. Otherwise, the problem won’t be solved.”
Alexander Kuznetsov thinks that it is impossible to solve the problem of IS quickly: “To establish an effective security system in the regions, which would prevent the appearance of jihadist and extremist groups, it is necessary to hold regional conferences; the major regional actors – Iran and Saudi Arabia – should agree with each other and stop their rivalry. I think American interference will play a negative role, as the Americans couldn’t offer anything positive to the region over 15 years. Political forces inside the Iraqi regions should agree with each other, a coalition government is needed, as well as a redistribution of power in favor of the regions. Iraq should be preserved as a united state, but problems should be solved fairly with the participation of all ethnic, religious and clan groups. Without it there is no guarantee that some other extremist group won’t appear, even if IS is destroyed by military means.”
