The following is from an interview with Ms. Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman the Kurdistan Regional Governments (KRG) representative to the U.S.<\/p>\n Abdul Rahman started the interview by stating she had to take us back to 1991 \u2013 1992 for background information on the KRG. \u201cAfter Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, about six months later the U.S. led coalition in early 91 liberated Kuwait from Saddam and Saddam’s forces were defeated. Also, at the same time the Iraqi people were encouraged by the United States to rise up against Saddam. Of course they did both in Kurdistan and the Shia south of Iraq. This was in the spring of 91. So, that uprising actually lead to Saddam brutally crushing the revolt. Even though he had been defeated by the United States and the coalition, he was allowed to use his helicopter gunships and his weapons. This was only a few years after Saddam had killed 5,000 people by using chemical weapons against civilians in Halabja<\/a>. Of, course everybody fled (in 1991). Up to two million people fled Kurdistan and went to the mountains on the boarder of Iran and Iraq. It was a very cold spring, it was much more like a very deep winter and many people died of starvation and exposure. As a result the United States, Britain and some other countries launched Operation Provide Comfort<\/a>. But, really the US and the UK were at the forefront. Operation Provide Comfort was a military \/ humanitarian operation; it provided food<\/p>\n and very basic shelter to the millions who had fled. And then created a safe haven so they could return to Iraqi Kurdistan and to their homes. So, the safe haven is created and people go back home and then the United States establishes a no fly zone over Kurdistan, this protection, continued until 2003 when Iraq was actually liberated completely from Saddam.\u201d<\/p>\n In protected Iraqi Kurdistan \u201cwe were able to create the Kurdistan Regional Government.\u201d The protection allowed the Kurds to hold elections in 1992. This election formed the KRG and the democratic parliament. The KRG now controls 60% of Iraqi Kurdistan; the other 40% is disputed territory that the KRG hopes to add to Iraqi Kurdistan.<\/p>\n Who are the Kurds? \u201cWell the Kurds are a people who geographically live in an area of the Middle East where the countries of Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria meet.\u201d The number of Kurds in that area is difficult to determine because \u201cthe countries where they live want to reduce the number, the real number of Kurdish people there.\u201d She pointed out Who are the Peshmerga? The Peshmerga is the armed forces of the KRG; they are presently doing battle against the Islamic State along a 650 mile front.<\/p>\n Is the YPG part of the Peshmerga? \u201cThe YPG is the armed wing of a political party in Syria (the PYD), in Kurdistan of Syria. So they are Kurds, and they are fighting ISIS (the Islamic State) very bravely, but they are not part of the Iraqi Kurdistan Peshmerga forces.\u201d Even though they are not part of the same group \u201call of the Kurdish parties across those four countries, they are always in dialog, always in contact.\u201d The Peshmerga has supplied the YPG with weapons to assist them in their fight against the Islamic State.<\/p>\n Does the KRG have relations with the Turkish government? \u201cYes we do, we have official and formal relations with the Turkish government\u2026..we have an economic and diplomatic relationship with Turkey\u201d There are economic ties between the two governments including a pipeline going through Turkey to the Mediterranean allowing Iraqi Kurdistan to export oil. They are also hoping to export gas to Turkey in the near future.<\/p>\n How do you view the future of the Kurds in Turkey? \u201cWhat\u2019s happening right now in Turkey is very sad and deeply disturbing.\u201d When Recep Tayyip Erdogan was Prime Minister \u201cthe Turkish government made huge progress in its attitude towards the Kurdish population.\u201d Before that time the Kurdish language had been band, activists were arrested and Kurdish newspapers were closed among other things. \u201cUnfortunately in the last six month maybe a year the situation has deteriorated rapidly in Turkey. And there\u2019s a great deal of violence going on right now and it\u2019s very disturbing to us. We have said to both sides repeatedly that an armed conflict is not going to \u2026 solve the problems.\u201d The armed conflict has been going on for thirty years.<\/p>\n Can you tell us about the female Peshmerga units? \u201cWe have a tradition of having female Peshmerga; this is not something new \u2026 Going back decades there have been women fighting against the Iraqi government, the Iraqi regime.\u201d Regarding women\u2019s rights in general there is The Council for Women\u2019s Issues. \u201cIt is there to monitor equal opportunities for women, equal rights, access to justice and so on.\u201d The YPG also has many \u201cwomen among their ranks in Syria, also the PKK, they have many women in their ranks.\u201d The units made up of women \u201care also engaged in full combat, they are not held up behind the lines.\u201d<\/p>\n Is the PKK a terrorist organization? \u201cWell, you know, one man\u2019s terrorist is another man\u2019s freedom fighter\u2026\u2026. I don\u2019t want to get into the debate on whether they are terrorists or not, what is really more important for us is that the Kurds in Turkey have legitimate rights.\u201d But, she made clear that those rights should be achieved through dialog and not \u201csome armed struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"gas](\"http:\/\/blogs.cuchicago.edu\/spectator\/files\/2016\/06\/gas-attack-1988-300x209.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Iraq-no-fly-zone-map](\"http:\/\/blogs.cuchicago.edu\/spectator\/files\/2016\/06\/Iraq-no-fly-zone-map-from-adst.org_-300x269.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Kurdistan](\"http:\/\/blogs.cuchicago.edu\/spectator\/files\/2016\/06\/Kurdistan-CIA-map-300x168.gif\")
<\/a>that estimates say about 40 million Kurds live in all of Kurdistan.<\/p>\n