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Federalism is Not a Crime, and Kurdistan is Not a Conspiracy (Part 2/2)
But the truth that the adversaries, whether intentionally or out of ignorance, ignore is that it is not us who have separated from the homeland, but rather the homeland has separated from us. We did not cut ties with Kurdistan; rather, we were cut off from it. We live in lands we did not choose, under flags we do not recognize, where we are granted rights conditionally, our identity is incomplete, and our belonging is questioned until proven otherwise.
The demand for federalism is not a rebellion but an attempt at restoration. It is not a retreat from belonging but an effort to reclaim it because, simply put, we are not seeking separation; we are victims of imposed separation. We are the ones disconnected from our land, our language, our collective memory, our natural borders, and sometimes even from each other.
Those who attack federalism must first acknowledge that Kurdistan is fragmented and that the Kurds have never lived under a state that represents them or recognizes them as a people. We do not demand division; rather, we demand recognition of what already exists: that there are multiple homelands within the homeland, multiple peoples within the state, and multiple memories within the official history.
The great paradox is that the Kurds, despite all that has been imposed upon them, still believe in coexistence, not out of weakness but as an essence of their culture. The Kurds have learned, while healing their wounds, to open their hearts to others. We welcome the stranger as we welcome our townsfolk; we protect the different as we protect our brother. We even call on the countries occupying Kurdistan to embrace the Kurds and other components together, so how can we be blamed if we, in return, demand a Kurdish state or a federal entity that embraces everyone, just as we ask others to embrace us?
The truth we do not hide is that the dream of every Kurd, since they learned their name, is a united Kurdistan. This is not an accusation we are ashamed of; rather, it is an honor we do not deny. However, in an age of fragmentation, we know that homelands are built gradually, and that recognizing national, ethnic, and religious differences within the state is not a political luxury, but a condition for its survival. We present federalism not as a disguise but as a principle; we want a system that guarantees everyone the right to exist, not to be swallowed up.
Those who attack the Kurdish movement for demanding federalism "as a prelude to separation" do not see the picture as it is. Federalism, at its core, is the opposite of disintegration. It grants us the ability to stay together without oppression and to live under one roof without dissolving. Kurdish federalism does not imply Kurdistan against others but Kurdistan with others, based on parity, not negation—recognition, not denial.
Therefore, our defense of this system is not an ideological luxury but a historical necessity. More than that, it is a reconciliation with oneself, with the other Kurdish identity that borders, dialects of isolation, and party agendas have separated us from. Those who attack Kurdish federalism from within, out of fear of the suspicion of separation, are inadvertently perpetuating the narrative of the occupier, which wants us as divided, distant peoples, who are more suspicious of each other than they are of the occupier itself.
When we defend federalism, we do not maneuver; we say it clearly: we want a united, free Kurdistan, one that can embrace its peoples, just as we want Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria to embrace the Kurds with dignity. Equality cannot be measured in one direction.
The real danger is not in demanding a homeland but in building homelands on the ruins of ourselves—extending a hand to the other while stabbing our brother in the back, building with the stranger what we destroy with the close. Here lies the defeat, and here precisely is where the Kurdish project intersects with the deepest meanings of a just state—to establish a being that does not cancel anyone but also does not cancel itself.
In the end, Kurdistan is not a crime but a wound; it is not a conspiracy, but a promise yet to be fulfilled. Those who think we are afraid to declare our truth should first review their history and see who separated from whom—were we from homelands that did not recognize us, or were they from their consciences when they remained silent about our division?
We are not ashamed of ambition; we are ashamed of meekness. We do not hide our goal; we refuse to be evasive about it. We are the children of Kurdistan, and we want to return to it—all of it, free, federal, and just. But at the same time, we believe in Syria as an encompassing homeland that accommodates all its components, without exclusion or preference.
We aspire to build a democratic Syrian state based on a decentralized federal system, enshrined in the constitution, that guarantees justice and equality—not through mere wishes, but through legislation and recognition.
Dr. Mahmoud Abbas
