“We would like to see a kind of space for every nation and every component to really have an opportunity or chance to express their inspirations and their feelings,” Ahmed Atef told Rudaw’s Diyar Kurda on Wednesday.
Atef has served on Southern Transition Council (STC) for US and UN Affairs. The STC, aligned with anti-Houthi forces, has renewed calls for a separate southern state through the Yemeni civil war that began in 2014.
The UN has 193 member states; however, conflicts and war often dominate international debate and headlines, leaving an unclear path for stateless nations to achieve further recognition.
“I know that there is a lot of struggle and sacrifices from the Kurdish people to peacefully try to convince the federal government in Iraq to have representation,” said Atif.
The Kurdish people have long faced oppression and persecution. Their struggle for autonomy and recognition has been marked by severe repression, including genocidal campaigns like the Anfal in Iraq, led by Saddam Hussein, which resulted in the death of tens of thousands of Kurds.
“There should not be a force that would really dominate or have a kind of suppression against others because are different…. because if you have a different language or different historical background,” Atif asserted.
Kurds hold substantial representation in the Iraqi parliament and govern the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) oversees domestic affairs in the Kurdistan Region, managing its security, economy, and foreign relations.
The efforts of the Peshmerga forces in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) between 2014 and 2017 made international headlines. The Kurdish force, a key ally of the US-led global coalition against ISIS, was able to prevent the terror group’s advances in areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad.
The Kurdistan Region held an independence referendum on September 25, 2017, despite a ruling from an Iraqi federal court a week prior to suspend the vote. Although 93 percent of balloters voted in favor of separation from Iraq, the results were not enforced.
In a retaliatory move, the Iraqi army and Iran-backed militia groups drove Peshmerga forces out of the disputed areas they had controlled.
Atif expressed that Kurds still have friends who understand their aspirations.
“Before 1990, when we used to have a state, we used to have a lot of communication with our Kurdish friends,” Atif noted, adding that, “We support their struggle to have free and independent as much as possible.”
