The Kurdish hope and struggle after 100 years of the Treaty of Sevres

Exactly, today will complete one hundred years of anniversary of the Treaty of Sevres that has been signed on August 10, 1920. World War one victorious allies, mainly Britain and France, had signed the treaty with the defeated Ottoman Turkey that obliged Turkey to renounce all rights over the territories in the Middle East and North Africa.

According to the 433 clauses of the treaty, the articles (62, 63, and 64) had granted the Kurds within six months the rights for establishing the "autonomy for regions with a predominantly Kurdish population located east of Euphrates and south of the borders of Armenia". Furthermore, article 64 has guaranteed the Kurdish right of independence if the majority of the population desire that and even the main allies would not mind if " the Kurds of the Mosul Vilayet wished to join the Kurdish state" according to the treaty.

The treaty was the first official document that mentioned the Kurdish rights in Post-World War One after Ottoman Empire's defeat. Unfortunately, the winds blew counter to what the Kurdish ships of independence had desired and the Kurds were betrayed again, and they considered the weakest card in the game of political interests. The Treaty of Sevres was never implemented after the resistance of Mustafa Kamal due to the changes in the political situation and the support that his national movement had by Soviet Russia and the change of policy of some allies. Consequently, the treaty was replaced by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, which now defines Turkey’s modern borders. The Treaty of Lausanne which had supported by the United States as well, had allowed the British and French to carve off present-day Syria and Iraq, respectively, for their interests. Whereas, it made no provision for the Kurds.

After one century of the Treaty of Sevres, the Kurdish struggle still continues and the fight for self-determination and independence is the priority for all Kurds and hope to be fulfilled regarding that international recognition. A glance at the treaty, the allies' responsibility, in particular France and Britain, for implementation of the promise, should be reconsidered after 100 years of the treaty.

Arguably the treaty always reminds the Kurds across the world of the international community's long history of betrayal and what they often are saying as they have "no friends but the mountains". As a result of replacing the Treaty of Sevres by the Treaty of Lausanne, the Kurds were divided between Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. An estimated 50 million people of Kurdish ethnicity are considered the world's largest nation without a state and during their history, they were subject to repression by those authoritarian regimes.

Regrettably, the Kurds were betrayed several times and mainly by the US and Britain. The British were the main colonial power in the Middle East, so the most Kurdish betrayals were committed by the British. For example, in 1920 the British had crushed the short-lived Kurdish Kingdom of Sheikh Mahmoud Hafid Barzanji, in Iraqi Kurdistan and that had happened repeatedly and the recent one was after the Kurdistan region's referendum for an independent state in 2017.

As the British and French had signed the Treaty of Sevres hundreds of years ago, it is their responsibility to stand by the Kurdish demand and to reconsider and revive the treaty. Britain had decades of experience and relationship with the Kurds and that is why the majority of Kurds hold Great Britain more than other countries responsible for their tragic history that began from the Treaty of Lausanne to nowadays. Of course, it is the French responsibility as well as the United States who betrayed the Kurds many times despite, they were the reliable ally in the battle of defeating the so-called Islamic State and terrorism.

All Kurds across the Kurdistan and in the diaspora hope the United Kingdom with other allies such as France and the United States will understand the importance of having a Kurdistan as an independent state and hopefully will try to correct their old history mistakes.

By Zara Saleh