Mustafa Ekici
The most fundamental political stance that will bring the Kurds onto the stage of history is to overthrow the decayed imperialist invasion in the region, which uses Jews as a battering ram. Just as Saladin destroyed the Crusader invasion and just as Idris-i Bitlisi ended the Persian occupation with his unity. In this sense, any policy produced based on the crimes and sins of the intermediary regimes that torment Muslims of almost every ethnic background in Türkiye, Iraq, and Syria is inadequate and incomplete. In the 21st century, the destiny of the Kurds, as in past centuries, is to act in unity with the Muslim nation.
Since its establishment, Israel has followed a Periphery Doctrine. According to this doctrine, an isolated Israel, surrounded by the vast Sunni Arab world, lacks the strategic depth necessary for military defense.[1] The way to eliminate this existential threat is either to sign ‘peace’ agreements with all its neighbors or to ensure that these states are fragmented and weakened. The first option appears unfeasible in the medium and long term due to Israel’s expansionist and occupation policies based on Torah myths. However, the second option remains on Israel’s strategic agenda as a viable policy set for the medium and long term.
The doctrine, designed in the form of near and far rings, is primarily based on the non-Muslim minorities in the immediate vicinity and the Muslim non-Arab minorities, as well as the non-Arab states located deep within the neighboring Arab states. In this sense, Ethiopia, Iran, Sudan, Türkiye, and even Morocco have been considered states that could provide Israel with the strategic depth necessary to break its isolation. Indeed, in the past, these countries maintained extensive and deep relations with Israel. However, geopolitical shifts since the 1970s have exposed the fragility of these distant alliances. The fall of the Shah regime in Iran, the overthrow of Haile Selassie in Ethiopia, Egypt’s shift under Anwar Sadat to sign a peace agreement, developments in Sudan, and Türkiye’s changing political orientation have all led to significant adjustments in Israel’s strategy. The only relatively stable alliance in the regional equation has been the ‘covert’ partnership with Jordan. However, Jordan’s Palestinian-majority demographics and limited state capacity, especially in light of developments following the October 7 Al-Aqsa Flood Operation, raise significant doubts about the future of this relationship.
Additionally, minorities who perceive their ethnic or religious identities to be under existential threat within the vast sea of the Muslims have also been considered part of the doctrine’s strategic inner circle. Maronite Christians, Druzes, and the Kurds of Iraq and Syria fall into this category.
The Druze and Maronites have been the most closely studied groups within this doctrine. The background of the Lebanese Civil War, which began in 1975 and led to over 230,000 deaths and the near-collapse of the state, includes Israel’s attempt to establish a Maronite-based state in Lebanon. After the failure of the Maronite Christian state project, Mossad reports noted that the capabilities of the Maronites had been miscalculated. A similar situation applies to the Druze. The competition between three Druze tribes living in Israel was instrumentalized, leading to their integration into the Israeli army under the myth of ‘blood brotherhood.’ However, the expected support from the Druze in Lebanon and Syria never materialized.[2] As a result, neither the Maronite nor the Druze minorities provided Israel with the strategic depth it sought.
Similarly, the Kurds of Syria and Iraq have been evaluated as a minority group within the inner circle. Unlike the Maronites and Druze who live in isolation from the Islamic nation, the Kurds, who are Muslim and Sunni, have been the most difficult equation in Israel’s environmental doctrine. Although they face oppression, denial and assimilation in the states where they live, Kurds are not peripheral minorities like the Druze and Maronites, but a people who have played central roles in the formation of the Sunni Islamic faith and culture and have personally embraced it. Due to this unique characteristic of Kurdish society, Israel’s relations with Kurdish organizations have remained almost entirely within the secretive world of intelligence agencies, and no one has dared to expose these ties publicly.
A significant Jewish population from Iraq resides in Israel, and many of them are from the Kurdistan region of Iraq. This group, which has influence in nearly all fields—ranging from the military general staff to government ministries, from media and academia to business—has played a crucial role in shaping Israel’s relations with Kurdish organizations.[3] By its very nature, this relationship has been strategically conducted on a ‘covert’ basis, much like Israel’s relationship with Jordan. With the influence of Jewish lobbies, the U.S. has also invested significantly in the YPG/PYD, making it a critically important project for Israel’s Periphery Doctrine. However, developments in Syria over the past year have forced Israel and the YPG/PYD to bring their ‘covert’ relationship into the open, effectively creating conditions for a premature exposure of their alliance. The collapse of the sectarian Assad dictatorship, that was ‘comfortable enemy’ of Israel and hegemon of the PYD/YPG, at the end of 2024, at a time when Assad was re-admitted to the Arab League and the world was embarking on the path of normalization with the argument that ‘Assad won’, was truly an unexpected development. This event has compelled both Israel and the YPG/PYD to publicly declare their engagements and move forward within this new strategic framework.[4]
After the defeat and withdrawal of Russia and Iran from Syria, Israel launched perhaps the most extensive airstrikes in history, destroying Syria’s defensive infrastructure. It hoped to trigger a process in which the YPG/PYD would gain influence within the Syrian administration. However, measures taken by both the new Syrian government and Türkiye, which played a crucial role in the revolution and its aftermath, appear to have dashed this hope.
For the first time, the reality of the YPG/PYD’s ties with Israel, which their officials in Syria have now boldly acknowledged, has sparked developments suggesting that this issue is also being debated within the PKK. The PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan’s directive to dissolve the organization and for “all groups” to lay down their arms was met with objections from the YPG/PYD—an opposition that appears strongly linked to Israel’s Periphery Doctrine.
In reality, an ideological hostility between the PKK and Israel has persisted for years, rooted in a blood feud that dates back to Israel’s critical role in capturing Öcalan. The June 5, 1982 attack on Arnon Castle in Lebanon, where Israel killed 11 PKK fighters, remains a frequently cited event in the organization’s collective memory.[5] It is also noteworthy that in his ‘defenses’, he frequently mentions Israel as the leading actor in the ‘conspiracy’ regarding Öcalan’s capture.[6] Consequently, despite using the PKK and Öcalan as central symbols, the YPG/PYD has openly distanced itself from them due to its connections with Israel. This suggests an Israeli attempt to create a useful actor from the Kurds—a group historically resistant to Israeli influence—by exploiting Syria’s natural resources and regional power vacuum.
However, just as Israel failed to achieve its objectives with the Maronites and Druze, it is bound to be disappointed with the Muslim Kurdish community as well. The depth of Israel’s relationships—formed in shadows, detached from sociological realities, and driven purely by strategic interests—is highly questionable. Nearly all Kurdish organizations, some designated as terrorist groups, engage with Israel based on temporary, pragmatic alliances rather than deep, intrinsic ties. Expecting these relationships to evolve into long-term sociological and ontological connections is unrealistic and will ultimately lead to disillusionment. The idea of creating an isolated Kurdish society that remains perpetually entangled in a cycle of violence under Zionist influence has no sociological foundation. History repeatedly reminds us that those who base their views on the fantasies of a handful of erratic, semi-intellectuals who have passed through Israeli institutions, certain ‘Westernized’ outcasts detached from social realities, and opportunists excited by the conditions brought about by the current conjuncture—while interpreting organizational interest relationships as ‘strategic relationships’—are in serious error.
For some Kurds, who are dreamy with the fire of a belated nationalism that is gradually turning into racism, this fantastic Zionist Kurd, or Kurdish Zionism, may seem exciting. However, even the historical figures they admire most—Saladin Ayyubi and Idris-i Bitlisi—serve as profound examples of how Kurds should take their rightful place in history. The audacity to combine the fate of the Jewish Colony in Palestine,a project implanted in the region by imperialism and with a very debatable future, with the Muslim Kurds, is nothing but a sick, disastrous shame, no matter how you look at it. Those who use the Kurdish name to act as a forward base for the Zionist project are, first and foremost, betraying the Kurdish people. The attempt to make Zionists out of the grandchildren of Saladin is an attempt to impose on the Kurds the burden of defending Zionism and fighting for the survival of the Zionist project. The Zionist colony, which is kept alive by artificial military, economic, and demographic means, exists in a state of constant fear, haunted by the nightmares of an uncertain future. In this context, Israel seeks to exploit Kurds, Druze, Maronites, and other minority groups as sources of “cheap blood”—prolonging its survival only for as long as their sacrifices allow. However, this breath will drag the Kurds, Druze and Maronites into extinction in an endless spiral of violence. In the recent past, the mandate administration established by French imperialism in Syria attempted a similar initiative and was quickly dismantled. However, their descendants have been paying the price for the chaos created by those who supported the French mandate for a century.
The most fundamental political stance that will bring the Kurds onto the stage of history is to overthrow the decayed imperialist invasion in the region, which uses Jews as a battering ram. Just as Saladin destroyed the Crusader invasion and just as Idris-i Bitlisi ended the Persian occupation through unity. In this sense, any policy produced based on the crimes and sins of the intermediary regimes that torment Muslims of almost every ethnic background in Türkiye, Iraq, and Syria is inadequate and incomplete. In the 21st century, the destiny of the Kurds, as in past centuries, is to act in unity with the Muslim nation.
References:
[1] Kahana, Ephraim & Suawed, Muhammed. Ortadoğu İstihbarat Sözlüğü, İyi Düşün Yayınları, İstanbul, 2020, s.83.
[2] Tezkan, Yılmaz, Bir Başka Açıdan İsrail, Ülke Kitapları, İstanbul, 2004, s. 97.
[3] https://www.kurdistan24.net/tr/opinion/426583
[4] İsrail Başbakanı Binyanim Netanyahu ve YPG lideri Mazlum Abdi’nin konu hakkındaki açıklamaları için bkz: https://serbestiyet.com/featured/mazlum-kobaniden-israil-destegine-yesil-isik-israil-bolgede-etkili-bir-guc-memnuniyet-duyariz-198939/, https://m.nerinaazad2.com/tr/news/regions/middleeast/netanyahu-durzilere-ve-kurtlere-elimizi-uzatacagiz-67c84bf7589c9
[5] https://rojnews.news/tr/tarihi-arnon-kalesi-direnisi-ve-filistin-davasi-icin-sehit-dusen-11-pkkli-devrimci/
[6] Öcalan, Abdullah., Sümer Rahip Devletinden Halk Cumhuriyetine Doğru Özgür İnsan Savunması, Mem Yayınları, 2001, İstanbul, c.II, s. 229-30.