Topic: The Question of Kurdistan
Country: Cuba
Delegate Name: William Pettinger
School: Forest Hills Northern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Cuba position papers GLIMUN 2014 committees
The Kurds are a culture in the middle east. their territory is split between the countries of Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Turkey. Their culture formed in the ancient times in the center of the middle east. They were a territory in the Abbasid empire. During the medieval times they were a buffer region between the Ottoman and Safavid empires. After World War One a Kurdish state was to be established by the unratified treaty of Sevres but other nationalities fought over their territory and in the aftermath of the Treaty Lausanne they lost all their territory. The Kurds had a nominally safe territory in Iraq after the gulf war until Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons on them. After American intervention they had a safe territory until ISIS invaded Iraq and have aggressively attacked the Kurds. In Syria the Kurds have pushed back the government's forces and established a nominal government of their own that is too under threat of ISIS.
Cuba has had a significant presence in the middle east since their glorious revolution in order to undermine United States interests in Israel. They have supported many extremists in the region who oppose the existence of Israel. They also have a vested interest in training the militaries of Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon. They allegedly sold the chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein that he used to attack the Kurds.
The problem of Kurdistan should be solved by eliminating the threat ISIS poses to the Kurds. This could be accomplished by helping the Syrian government with weapons and training. When ISIS is suppressed an autonomous region should be set up in Kurdish territory. Power could be handed to the communist party of Kurdistan to help set up a stable government in the region. Once ISIS has been driven from Iraq the Kurds can continue as their autonomous region. establishing an independent state for Kurdistan is not feasible in this time as it would take away territory from Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Turkey. Those countries are unlikely to come to an agreement in the near future.
