AI generated this summary from the Hebrew recording. No human has checked it, and it may contain errors. The recording is the authoritative source.
In this episode of “This Week in the Middle East,” Boris Gorelik hosts Prof. Ofra Bengio, a senior researcher at the Moshe Dayan Center and an expert on Kurdish affairs. The conversation covers the Kurdish people, their identity, their division among four countries, and focuses on the unique and sensitive situation of the autonomous Kurdish entity in northern Syria, which recently faced an existential crisis.
Read the full episode summary
Who are the Kurds?
According to Prof. Bengio, the Kurds are the world’s largest ethnic group without a state. Their population is estimated at about 40 million people, although there is no precise data because the countries where they live avoid censuses that recognize them as a separate ethnic group. The vast majority, about 20 million, live in Turkey, where their natural growth rate is higher than that of the Turks, a fact that raises concern in the Turkish government. Other large communities live in Iran (about eight million), Iraq (about six million), and Syria (about two million). Most Kurds are Sunni Muslims, but there are also Shiites (mainly in Iran), Yazidis, and others among them.
Identity, language, and struggle
Kurdish identity is not based on religion but on ethnic and linguistic affiliation. The Kurdish language belongs to the Indo-European language family, but it is itself fragmented. Due to the political division, three different scripts have developed for it: Latin letters in Turkey and Syria, Arabic letters in Iraq and Iran, and Cyrillic letters in the territories of the former Soviet Union. This fragmentation makes it difficult to create connections and a unified national consciousness. Prof. Bengio explains that throughout history, the various states have tried to commit “linguicide” and suppressed the use of Kurdish, understanding that language is the core component of Kurdish national identity.
The Kurdish autonomy in Syria
The Kurds in Syria, the smallest group, only came to global attention after the outbreak of the civil war in 2011. Unlike the Kurds in other countries who inhabit mountainous regions that are difficult to conquer, the Kurds in Syria live in a flat area. The weakness of the Assad regime and the resulting political vacuum allowed them to establish a unique autonomous entity in the country’s northeast. According to Bengio, this was an extraordinary experiment in the Middle East: a democratic entity where women took an equal part in the military and politics, the education system was multilingual, and a strategic alliance existed with local Arab tribes within the framework of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The betrayal of allies and the collapse
The cooperation with the Arab tribes, which was supported by the United States, became a stumbling block. In recent events, those same Arab tribes turned their backs on the Kurds and attacked them. Prof. Bengio describes the collapse of the autonomy as the result of the actions of an “unholy trinity” of Turkish President Erdogan, U.S. President Trump, and the Syrian regime led by Bashar al-Assad. She emphasizes the American betrayal of the Kurds, who fought on the front lines against ISIS and lost about 11,000 male and female fighters, thereby saving the lives of American soldiers.
Dream and reality: a united Kurdistan
The historical dream of establishing a united Kurdish state still exists, but the political reality makes its realization difficult. There is no single Kurdish leadership, and a rivalry exists between leaders like Masoud Barzani in Iraqi Kurdistan and Abdullah Öcalan, who is imprisoned in Turkey. Turkey, Bengio explains, is ideologically opposed to any Kurdish entity, viewing it as an existential threat to its territorial integrity and to the concept of “Turkification” on which the state was founded.
The future of the Kurds and the role of the West
Prof. Bengio expresses cautious pessimism about the future of the Kurds in Syria. The situation depends on developments in the Assad regime, which is becoming increasingly Islamist. However, she notes that the crisis has spurred mobilization among Kurds worldwide. She criticizes Western hypocrisy, which helped establish the Christian state of South Sudan but ignores the independence aspirations of the Muslim Kurds, despite the 2017 referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan. According to her, Israel could also have helped, at least morally and diplomatically. She notes that Prime Minister Netanyahu mentioned in a speech the need to protect the Druze and Christians in Syria, but omitted the Kurds, who feel betrayed. Ultimately, the strengthening of Islamist elements in Syria at the expense of the Kurds also poses a threat to Israel.
The original episode, in Hebrew: כורדים - העם הנבגד