By Arian Mufid:

If it wasn’t for Churchill’s UK election defeat in 1945, Indian independence would not have been realised two years later. As it was, at midnight on 14-15 August 1947, India gained its freedom and “the Union Jack, emblazoned with the Star of India, began its final journey down the flagstaff”*. If it wasn’t for the defeat of Saddam’s forces in 1991 in Kuwait at the hands of the world community, and the destruction of his million-man army, Kurds would not today have their de-facto state of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). In each passing century there are a few defining moments which, if truly taken advantage of, we can say were times when a people’s history was made. Following ISIS’s recent offensives, for the south of Kurdistan there are several critical factors to consider.

First, we are in a new period following the lightening advance of that most brutal and barbarian group showing us that Kurds are still vulnerable because we have suffered genocide at the hands of Saddam and we could face the same again if we do not pursue the right strategy. Second, for the last ten years the central government’s attitude towards Kurds has in no way been based on trustworthy relations. The Kurds in Iraq don’t have a true partner and they are on their own. We don’t want to live next to a paranoid schizophrenic neighbour such as ISIS. It comprises the forces of darkness and backwardness and nobody wants to work with them. Kurdish forces have taken over the areas that were abandoned by the Iraqi army and, as always, the Kurds have been helping out Arabs during their bad times. But Baghdad’s false accusations will motivate Kurds more than ever to declare their own homeland. Third, the Iraqi central government has proven that it will not defend you in the face of a catastrophe such as happened during the ISIS war. The defence of all the Kurdish and disputed areas was abandoned by the Iraqi Army and the Kurdish Peshmarga forces had to move in to protect Kurdish people in cities and towns such as Kirkuk, Kanaqin, etc. This means we now have an opportunity, but we must not squander it as has happened over the centuries.