OVER the last century or so, the Middle East has seen its fair share of strife between religions, sects, empires and ethnic groups.

This seemingly eternal ‘shatterbelt’ appears to lurch from crisis to crisis. The latest confrontation has put the Kurds of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region on a collision course not only with Baghdad but also with its powerful neighbours Turkey and Iran, which have their own significant Kurdish minorities.

What has sparked the stand-off is a referendum held in Iraqi Kurdistan on Sept 25 in which the region’s inhabitants voted to break away from Baghdad.

This has expectedly not gone down well with Iraq’s leadership, with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi terming the vote “unconstitutional”.

In the aftermath of the referendum, Baghdad has halted international flights to and from the region; Tehran and Ankara have also communicated their displeasure with the vote.

Read: Iraq’s Kurds have earned their right to independence

On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Erdogan met his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani in Tehran. The Kurdish question reportedly topped the agenda, with both leaders clearly opposing the break-up of Iraq. The three countries — Iraq, Iran and Turkey — have conducted military manoeuvres to send a strong message to Iraq’s Kurds.

Ankara and Tehran want to prevent their own Kurdish populations from taking steps similar to those embarked on by their brethren in northern Iraq.

It is often underscored that the Kurds have historically never had a state of their own in the Middle East; certainly, in the post-colonial make-up of the region, they have been distributed across Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria.

It is also true that they have endured much suffering, especially over the past few decades. Perhaps their darkest hour was under Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein, who was responsible for gassing the town of Halabja in 1988. However, their relations with Turkey and Iran have also been fraught.

The Kurds have fought a nearly four-decade-old separatist struggle against Ankara, while in Iran, the Kurdish population’s relations with the government in Tehran have been strained both under the Shah and the Islamic Republic.

In many instances, Kurds have been denied the freedom to use their language and promote their culture.

While their grievances are genuine, the timing of the referendum is questionable. Instead of opening a new front, Iraq’s Kurds, as well as their brethren in other states, must work with their governments to secure their rights, while countries with Kurdish populations must recognise these rights instead of indulging in sabre-rattling.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2017