(De)securitizing Kurdish Politics in Iraq? The Kurds in the Post-1991 Political Context

• Authors: Juan Carlos Castillo Quiñones , Nohemi Echeverria Vicente

Abstracts

EN

Research on the security interdependencies between Turkey, Iraq, and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) tends to conclude that the Kurdish question in Iraq has been gradually normalized since 1991. Despite the growing number of studies focusing on the KRG, to our knowledge, none have examined the KRG’s complex web of security interdependencies involving Turkey and the Iraqi central government from a desecuritizing approach. Using a revisionist interpretation of the Copenhagen School’s model of securitization, this paper empirically examines (de)securitizing moves as applied by Iraq and Turkey to Iraqi Kurdistan. We refer to (de)securitization as the synchronous enactment of desecuritization alongside securitization discourses and practices that, in fact, might introduce more violence into politics and exacerbate protracted conflicts. The discursive evidence shows that Iraq and Turkey have normalized substantial dimensions of their security interactions with the KRG. However, other dimensions of the Kurdish question in Iraq have remained securitized. We use the figure of splitting speech acts to show the simultaneity of securitizing and desecuritizing discourses/practices towards Iraqi Kurdistan. We conclude that these synchronous movements have artificially divided the Kurdish territory, its leadership, and population. We end by discussing how desecuritization, as a selective process, has introduced more violence into Iraqi Kurdish politics and the implications for scholarship interested in the Kurdish question.

Keywords

EN

securitization; desecuritization; Kurdistan Regional Government; Kurdish question; Iraq; Turkey

• Publisher: Fundacja Instytut Nauki o Polityce
• Journal: Polish Journal of Political Science
• Year: 2024
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 44-67

Dates

published

2024

Contributors

author

Juan Carlos Castillo Quiñones

• Centro de Estudios de Asia y África, El colegio de México

• https://orcid.org/0000000339422342

author

Nohemi Echeverria Vicente

• Vrije Universiteit Brussel

• https://orcid.org/0000000206235631

References

• ‘We have the tap’: Turkey’s Erdogan threatens oil flow from Iraq’s Kurdish area, Reuters 2017, https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL8N1M60FU/, (access 27.08.2021).
• Al S., Elite Discourses, Nationalism and Moderation: A Dialectical Analysis of Turkish and Kurdish Nationalisms, “Ethnopolitics”, 2015, Vol. 14, Issue 1, pp. 94–112, DOI: 10.1080/17449057.2014.937638.
• Altunışık M.B., Martin L.G., Making Sense of Turkish Foreign Policy in the Middle East Under AKP, “Turkish Studies”, 2011, Vol. 12, Issue 4, pp. 569–587.
• Anderson L., Stansfield G., Crisis in Kirkuk: The Ethnopolitics of Conflict and Compromise, University of Pennsylvania Press 2009.
• Aradau C., Security and the democratic scene: De-securitization and emancipation, “Journal of International Relations and Development”, 2004, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 388–413, DOI: 10.1057/palgrave.jird.1800030.
• Austin J., Beaulieu-Brossard P., (De)securitization dilemmas: Theorising the simultaneous enaction of securitization and desecuritization, “Review of International Studies”, 2018, Vol. 44, No. 2, pp. 301–323, DOI: 10.1017/S0260210517000511.
• Barzani M., Kurdistan is a Model for Iraq, The Wall Street Journal 2008, https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122645258001119425, (access 15.07.2021).
• Barzani and Erdogan Open Erbil Int'l Airport and Turkish Consulate, Iraq Business News 2011, https://www.iraq-businessnews.com/2011/03/31/barzani-and-erdogan-open-erbil-intl-airport-and-turkish-consulate/, (access 15.06.2021).
• Baser B., Toivanen M., The politics of genocide recognition: Kurdish nation-building and commemoration in the post-Saddam era, “Journal of Genocide Research”, 2017, Vol. 19, Issue 3, pp. 404–426, DOI: 10.1080/14623528.2017.1338644.
• Behneer L., Why Sunnis Don’t Support Iraq’s Constitution, Council of Foreign Relations 2005, https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/why-sunnis-dont-support-iraqs-constitution, (access 27.10.2021).
• Bengio O., The Kurds of Iraq: Building a State within a State, Lynne Rienner Publishers 2012.
• Bilgin P., Regional security in the Middle East. A critical perspective, Routledge 2005.
• Buzan B., Waever O., De Wilde J., Security: A New Framework for Analysis, Lynne Rienner Publishers 1998.
• Buzan B., Wæver O., Regions and Powers: The Structure of International Security, Cambridge University Press 2003.
• Charountaki M., State and non-state interactions in International Relations: an alternative theoretical outlook, “British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies”, 2018, Vol. 45, Issue 4, pp. 528–542, DOI: 10.1080/13530194.2018.1430530.
• Civilian casualties of Turkish and Iranian military operations in Northern Iraq 1991-2024, Community Peacemakers Teams 2024, https://cptik.org/reports-1/2024/8/12/civilian-casualties-by-turkish-and-iranian-military-operations-1991-2024, (access 15.10.2024).
• Gourlay W., Kurdayetî: Pan-Kurdish Solidarity and Cross-Border Links in Times of War and Trauma, “Middle East Critique”, 2018, Vol. 27, Issue 1, pp. 25–42, DOI: 10.1080/19436149.2017.1411110.
• Hama H.H., Iraqi Kuridistan´s 2017 Independence Referendum: the KDP’s public and private motives, “Asian Affairs”, 2020, Vol. 51, Issue 1, pp. 109–125, DOI: 10.1080/03068374.2019.1706338.
• Hama H.H., Politization of Kurdish Security in Iraq since 2003, “Jadavpur Journal of International Relations”, 2015, Vol. 19, Issue 2, pp. 137–158, DOI: 10.1177/0973598416639414.
• Hansen L., Reconstructing desecuritization: the normative-political in the Copenhagen School and directions for how to apply it, “Review of International Studies”, 2012, Vol. 38, Issue 3, pp. 525–546, DOI: 10.1017/S0260210511000581.
• International Crisis Group, Iraq and the Kurds: trouble along the trigger line, 2009, https://www.crisisgroup.org/sites/default/files/88-iraq-and-the-kurds-trouble-along-the-trigger-line.pdf, (access 10.11.2023).
• Iraqi Kurdish leader Barzani urges support for peace process in Diyarbakir rally with Turkish PM, Hurriyet Daily News 2013, http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/iraqi-kurdish-leader-barzani-urges-support-for-peace-process-in-diyarbakir-rally-with-turkish-pm-58028, (access 10.07.2021).
• Jüde J., Contesting borders? The formation of Iraqi Kurdistan’s de facto state, “International Affairs”, 2017, Vol. 93, Issue 4, pp. 847–863, DOI: 10.1093/ia/iix125.
• Jwaideh W., The Kurdish national movement: its origins and development, Syracuse University Press 2006.
• Kirkuk Belongs to Turkmens, Arab, Kurds, and All Who Live There, Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye 2017, https://www.tccb.gov.tr/en/news/542/74612/kerkuk-kurtlerindir-safsatasina-turkiye-olarak-uymuyoruz, (access 22.10.2021).
• Kirkuk is Historically a Turkmen city, Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye 2017, https://www.tccb.gov.tr/en/news/542/74615/16-nisan-is-dunyasinin-kaderini-ilgilendiren-bir-secimdir, (access 22.10.2021).
• Maliki’s coalition: Kurdish annexation of Kirkuk is a declaration of war, Middle East Monitor 2014, https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20140630-malikis-coalition-kurdish-annexation-of-kirkuk-is-a-declaration-of-war/, (access 10.07.2022).
• Masoud Barzani says won’t allow PKK to operate from Iraqi Kurdistan, Ekurd Daily 2012, http://ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2012/4/turkey3893.htm, (access 22.08.2021).
• Meier D., ‘Disputed territories’ in northern Iraq: The frontiering of in-between spaces, “Mediterranean Politics”, 2020, Vol. 25, Issue 3, pp. 351–371, DOI: 10.1080/13629395.2019.1681733.
• Natali D., The Kurdish Quasi-State: Development and Dependency in Post-Gulf War Iraq, Syracuse University Press 2010.
• President Erdogan invites KRG to Turkey to discuss Region's economic situation after “very good meeting” with President Barzani, Rudaw 2017, http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/260220172, (access 21.05.2021).
• Pusane Ö.K., Desecuritization of Turkish Foreign Policy Towards Northern Iraq: Actor, Context and Audience, Conference paper, ECPR General Conference 2017.
• Pusane Ö.K., The role of context in desecuritization: Turkish foreign policy towards Northern Iraq (2008–2017), “Turkish Studies”, 2019, Vol. 21, Issue 3, pp. 392–413, DOI: 10.1080/14683849.2019.1675047.
• Rafaat A., Kirkuk: The Central Issue of Kurdish Politics and Iraq’s Knotty Problem, “Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs”, 2008, Vol. 28, Issue 2, pp. 251–266.
• Romano D., Iraq's Descent into Civil War: A Constitutional Explanation, “Middle East Journal”, 2014, Vol. 68, Issue 4, pp. 547–566.
• Rumelili B., Çelik A.B., Ontological insecurity in asymmetric conflicts: Reflections on agonistic peace in Turkey’s Kurdish issue, “Security Dialogue”, 2017, Vol. 48, Issue 4, pp. 279–296, DOI: 10.1177/0967010617695715.
• Saeidi F., Osmanzadeh D., Colonial sovereignty and religious necropolitics: The sacred victimization of infidel Kurds in the Middle East, “Ethnicities”, 2024, Vol. 0, No. 0, DOI: 10.1177/14687968241287204.
• Soleimani K., The Kurdish image in statist historiography: the case of Simko, “Middle Eastern Studies”, 2017, Vol 53, Issue 6, pp. 949–965, DOI: 10.1080/00263206.2017.1341409.
• Sosnowski P., Path Dependence from Proxy Agent to De Facto State: A History of ‘Strategic Exploitation’ of the Kurds as a Context of the Iraqi Kurdistan Security Policy, “International Journal of Conflict and Violence”, 2022, Vol. 16, pp. 1–13, DOI: 10.11576/ijcv-5688.
• Stansfield G., Iraqi Kurdistan: Political Development and Emergent Democracy, Routledge Curzon 2003.
• Stansfield G., The unravelling of the post-First World War state system? The Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the transformation of the Middle East, “International Affairs”, 2013, Vol. 89, Issue 2, pp. 259–282, DOI: 10.1111/1468-2346.12017.
• Talabani criticized for designating Kirkuk "Jerusalem of Kurdistan", MP says it's "serious", Ekurd Daily 2011, http://ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2011/3/kirkuk666.htm, (access 05.05.2022).
• Toktamis K.F., A peace that wasn’t: friends, foes, and contentious re-entrenchment of Kurdish politics in Turkey, “Turkish Studies”, 2018, Vol. 19, Issue 5, pp. 697–722, DOI: 10.1080/14683849.2018.1500139.
• UK Government Policy on the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, UK Parliament 2014, https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmfaff/564/56409.htm#n76, (access 11.03.2021).
• Van Bruinessen M., Agha, Shaikh and State: The Social and Political Structure of Kurdistan, Zed Books 1992.
• Voller Y., The Kurdish Liberation Movement in Iraq. From insurgency to statehood, Routledge 2014.
• Wæver O., Politics, security, theory, “Security Dialogue”, 2011, Vol. 42, No. 4/5, pp. 465–480.
• Wæver O., Securitization and Desecuritization, in: On Security, ed. R. Lipschutz, Columbia University Press 1995, pp. 46–86.
• Yeğen M., The Turkish State Discourse and the Exclusion of Kurdish Identity, “Middle Eastern Studies”, 1996,Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 216–229.
• Yetkin M., Kurdish dreams might come true, through oil pipelines, Hurriyet Daily News 2013, http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/opinion/murat-yetkin/kurdish-dreams-might-come-true-through-oil-pipelines-57994, (access 10.17.2021).
• Zaman A., KRG PM: Talk of Iraqi Kurdish independence red line for Iran, but not Turkey, Al-Monitor 2016, https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2016/12/krg-iraq-kurdistan-region-nechirvan-barzani-iran-turkey.html, (access 05.11.2024).

Identifiers

DOI

10.58183/pjps.0202SI2024

Biblioteka Nauki

55992820