Topic: The Question of Kurdistan
Country: Bolivia
Delegate Name: Adam Gilmour
School: Flint Southwestern Classical Academy
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Bolivia position papers GLIMUN 2014 committees
The question of Kurdistan begins with the separation of the Ottoman Empire into smaller states following the conclusion of the First World War. The state of Kurdistan was founded by the signing of the treaty of Sevres. Then, with the treaty of Lausanne the Kurdish ethnic group was once again without a country. With the loss of their nation the Kurds found themselves annexed into many nations. At the present there is a large presence of Kurds in the nations of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. Only in Iraq are the Kurds permitted full citizenship. This finds its way into current affairs as a terrorist state known as ISIS (Islamic state of Iraq and Syria) has taken large portions of northern Iraq and eastern Syria. This along with civil war in Syria has displaced many Kurds from their homes. This has created the issue of Kurdistan. Should the Kurds have their own nation or do you not even recognize their rights?
Throughout the history of Bolivia our great people have exercised our right to create a nation that expresses our beliefs. The people of Kurdistan deserve to be recognized as first class citizens and should be allowed some form of self-rule. We find it distasteful that these humans are unable to speak their own language in Iran and that in other nations Kurds are not considered citizens at all. When there is this form of injustice in Bolivia our people express their opinion in the form of protest, just as the Kurds have done. We will continue to recognize Kurds in a way resembling that of how our president received the officials of Kurdistan in the International Gathering of Anti-Imperialism; when he received Kurdish officials with the respect that all proud people deserve and demand to receive.
There are many approaches to solving the issue of Kurdistan. Some may say that full independence is unwise while others believe it the only answer to this predicament. For the government and therefore people of Bolivia we take the stand that for now the Kurds must be given citizenship in their respective nations. This is a start for it will at least raise this ethnic group’s status of living to that of the rest of their nations’ population and create a starting point to solve this question in full. This is due to the simple truth that we will not know the result of our actions until the actions have been accomplished. To grant full independence could cause regional stability issues. The best way to avoid these problems is to ease into solving the question of Kurdistan with the basic human rights of citizenship and then observe the results. Once the results have been observed and fully understood the next course of action can be viewed with new clarity and this question will have been answered.
