Will China support an independent Kurdistan?
Last week the Jerusalem Post featured an article entitled, “This is our 1948: Kurds kindle a close relationship with Jews and Israel.” Hussein Yazdanpana, the leader of an Iranian Kurdish party in exile in Iraqi Kurdistan that’s been fighting ISIS, spoke about the Holocaust and values that Kurds and Jews share for freedom and democracy. Relaying the sentiment throughout Kurdistan that Kurds are today living as an independent people, Yazdnanpana added they “look forward to good relations with Israel and the Jewish people in which we fight terrorism together in this region.” Given fast-moving events in northern Iraq and Syria, the prospect of an independent Kurdistan looks increasingly likely as more countries express support. In a 2014 speech to the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu asserted that Kurdistan was “worthy of statehood.” Russia has likewise championed Syria’s Kurds by allowing the Kurdish group PYD to o