00:00:01
- Up in the Zagros Mountains
00:00:03
have long lived a people called the Kurds.
00:00:06
There are people with a
centuries long history
00:00:08
of fighting back against invaders
00:00:10
who have crossed through their lands,
00:00:12
resisting conquest in
the name of defending
00:00:14
their shared cultural identity.
00:00:16
Some living as nomads,
00:00:18
a people with no friends,
but these mountains.
00:00:21
(suspenseful music)
00:00:23
Eventually the Ottoman Empire
00:00:24
did take over all of this
territory, but even then,
00:00:27
the Kurds maintained
large amounts of autonomy
00:00:30
and freedom in their land.
00:00:32
Then came World War I
00:00:33
when the European powers
defeated the Ottoman Empire
00:00:37
and conquered all of this.
00:00:40
The winners got together and discussed
00:00:42
how they would carve it up between them.
00:00:44
If you look back at old European maps,
00:00:47
you'll see that all of this
area would be labeled Kurdistan,
00:00:50
an area where the Kurdish people lived
00:00:52
and had some self-rule.
00:00:54
So while drawing these lines,
00:00:56
the British wanted to mark all
of this as Kurdish territory,
00:01:00
paving away for an independent
country for the Kurds,
00:01:03
but the new leader of
Turkey opposed this plan.
00:01:05
He didn't wanna give all this land
00:01:07
and resources to the Kurds.
00:01:09
So he pushed the European
forces out of Turkey.
00:01:13
They gave up on this plan to
give the Kurds their own land.
00:01:17
And in the end, instead of
drawing borders around the Kurds,
00:01:21
the Europeans drew borders through them.
00:01:24
(suspenseful music)
00:01:29
What could have been Kurdistan
00:01:31
was now five different territories,
00:01:34
the Kurds split between them.
00:01:36
But at first these were
just lines on a map
00:01:38
and the Kurds continued to
move through this region.
00:01:41
Eventually the Europeans left,
00:01:43
and these became independent countries
00:01:45
with leaders who wanted to
consolidate and centralize power.
00:01:49
So these lines hardened,
restricting the Kurds' movement
00:01:52
and their livelihood in this region.
00:01:54
But even still, across this region,
00:01:56
the Kurds didn't give up on their idea
00:01:58
of someday gaining
independence, self-rule,
00:02:02
or maybe even a country of their own.
00:02:04
(foreboding music)
00:02:07
I don't like the feeling
of being spied on,
00:02:09
but we all are kind of spied
on, some of us by governments,
00:02:13
but almost all of us are
spied on by corporations
00:02:16
who collect our information,
00:02:17
put it on these data broker lists,
00:02:19
and sell it on an open market
00:02:21
to people who wanna make money off of us.
00:02:23
And that brings me to the sponsor
of today's video, Incogni,
00:02:27
which is a personal
information removal service.
00:02:29
What you do is you sign up for Incogni
00:02:31
and you give them permission
to go out on your behalf
00:02:33
and to take you off of all of these lists.
00:02:36
They audit, like, how many lists
you're on, they go find it,
00:02:39
and they show you on this dashboard,
00:02:40
like, you are on hundreds of
different information lists.
00:02:44
And then they go through
the process of requesting
00:02:47
that you be taken off that list.
00:02:48
And if anyone pushes back,
like one of the corporations,
00:02:50
like, makes it harder,
00:02:51
Incogni follows through with the process
00:02:53
to make sure that you get
off of all of these lists.
00:02:55
The people who want this
information aren't just marketers
00:02:58
who wanna sell you,
like, new tennis shoes,
00:03:00
but it's, like, people search sites,
00:03:02
which are becoming a
thing that use this data
00:03:04
to, like, put you on
these people search sites
00:03:06
so people can find your information.
00:03:08
Health insurance companies
00:03:09
will sometimes buy some of this data
00:03:11
so that they can use, like,
your web browsing history
00:03:13
to, like, jack up your
health insurance bill.
00:03:16
Luckily, Incogni exists,
00:03:18
and I am genuinely grateful for that,
00:03:20
like, unrelated to the fact
00:03:21
that they're sponsoring today's video,
00:03:23
which, like, I'm very
grateful for that too.
00:03:24
So if you wanna get in
on Incogni at a discount,
00:03:26
there's a link in my description.
00:03:28
It's incogni.com/johnnyharris.
00:03:30
When you click the link, it
helps support the channel
00:03:32
and it gets you 60% off their annual plan.
00:03:35
Use the code JOHNNYHARRIS
in the checkout box
00:03:37
and you'll get a discount.
00:03:38
Thank you, Incogni, for
sponsoring our journalism.
00:03:41
And now it's time to dive
into this mapping story.
00:03:44
Throughout the 1900s,
00:03:45
the Kurds in each of these new countries
00:03:47
took different approaches
00:03:48
to fight for an independent Kurdish state.
00:03:51
Some Kurds would use politics,
others would use violence.
00:03:55
The early uprisings were
crushed by the leaders
00:03:58
of these new countries who
saw the Kurds as a threat
00:04:01
to their efforts to unify their country
00:04:03
around a common language and culture.
00:04:06
Like in Iran, where the Kurds
had some political rights,
00:04:10
but they fought for more.
00:04:11
They wanted autonomy and independence.
00:04:13
The government of Iran
wouldn't have any of this.
00:04:15
They would crack down with
violence on the Kurds,
00:04:18
often supported by Western powers.
00:04:20
By the 1970s, Iran was
going through a revolution
00:04:23
and the Kurds tried again to rise up,
00:04:25
but this new regime had no tolerance
00:04:28
for a group that would
challenge the leadership
00:04:30
of the ruling religious leader.
00:04:33
So once again, they were put down.
00:04:38
Over in Iraq, Kurdish fighters fought hard
00:04:41
against the government
throughout the 20th century,
00:04:43
until the 1970s, when
this new regime came in
00:04:47
and made a deal with the Kurds,
00:04:49
saying that they would be
recognized as an ethnic group
00:04:51
and would be guaranteed
political representation.
00:04:54
It seemed like a huge deal for the Kurds,
00:04:56
but it turned out to be a false promise.
00:04:59
The Iraqi regime now led by Saddam Hussein
00:05:01
would continue to repress the Kurds,
00:05:04
eventually dropping
deadly chemical weapons
00:05:06
on Kurdish towns in Iraq,
systematically killing thousands
00:05:09
of Kurdish civilians
in a genocide supported
00:05:12
by American made supplies
that were sold to Saddam.
00:05:17
Over in Syria, the Kurds
were treated decently
00:05:20
under the French controlled government.
00:05:23
They were citizens and had some rights.
00:05:27
But after the French left in the 40s,
00:05:29
the regimes that came
after oppressed the Kurds,
00:05:32
and by the 1970s, the Syrian
government was arresting
00:05:36
and deporting them, taking their land
00:05:38
and giving it to Arabs.
00:05:39
In total, the Syrian government
00:05:41
would remove 140,000
Kurds from the country.
00:05:46
Decades later, Syria and the United States
00:05:48
would both find the Kurds in Syria useful
00:05:51
for their political goals.
00:05:55
But first, let's talk about Turkey.
00:05:58
There's more Kurdish people
here than in any other country.
00:06:02
The same government that had fought
00:06:03
against a Kurdish state early on
00:06:06
continued to oppress the Kurds,
00:06:08
denying them citizenship,
outlawing their language,
00:06:11
and keeping them out of politics,
00:06:13
all with the goal of wiping
out their culture from Turkey
00:06:16
as a part of this Turkification campaign,
00:06:19
which tried to unify
Turkey under one culture,
00:06:22
targeting the Kurds and
other ethnic minorities.
00:06:25
Some Kurds fought back against
this in the early years,
00:06:28
but were quickly crushed
by the Turkish state,
00:06:32
leading to the creation of
an armed insurgent group
00:06:34
with communist ideology.
00:06:36
They're called the Kurdish
Workers Party, or PKK,
00:06:39
and it would become one of the biggest
00:06:41
Turkish resistance movements.
00:06:43
The PKK would use violence
like suicide bombings
00:06:46
and improvised explosives,
00:06:48
as well as youth militia fighters
00:06:50
against the Turkish government,
00:06:52
tactics that they say are the only way
00:06:54
to fight back against such oppression.
00:06:56
And as a result, Turkey
and most Western powers
00:06:59
consider the PKK a terrorist group.
00:07:04
So that's how the Kurds
in these four countries
00:07:06
became locked in a conflict
with their governments.
00:07:10
They all have different struggles,
00:07:12
but they're all unified by the dream
00:07:14
of some version of Kurdish independence.
00:07:18
But it doesn't take long for these regimes
00:07:20
to see that they could use the
Kurds as a tool, as a weapon.
00:07:25
One of the earliest examples of this
00:07:26
happens at the end of World War II
00:07:28
when the Soviet Union sees
an opportunity to gain land
00:07:31
and access to oil by supplying
and arming the Kurds in Iran,
00:07:36
allowing them to rise up
against the government
00:07:38
and declare their own country
supported by the Soviet Union.
00:07:42
But it didn't work.
00:07:44
The US pressures the Soviets to leave,
00:07:46
and now without support,
the government of Iran,
00:07:49
which is backed by the US and UK,
00:07:51
go on to crush this movement
of Kurds in their country.
00:07:55
The Kurds are backed to being
repressed by the government.
00:08:00
In the 1980s, Syria uses the Kurds
00:08:03
as a weapon against its rival
Turkey when it allows the PKK
00:08:07
to start operating within Syria,
00:08:10
giving them money and weapons
so that they can hurt Turkey.
00:08:15
Syria is doing this in
spite of having spent years
00:08:19
removing hundreds of thousands of Kurds
00:08:21
from its own country.
00:08:25
This escalates the
conflict between these two,
00:08:27
and Turkey threatens to invade Syria.
00:08:31
So Syria backs down and kicks the PKK out
00:08:35
to avoid being invaded,
00:08:37
showing once again how the
Kurds willingness to fight
00:08:39
can easily become a pawn in
the geopolitics of the region,
00:08:44
discarded once they aren't useful anymore.
00:08:47
In the 1980s, Iran and
Iraq both used the Kurds
00:08:50
at the same time as a
weapon to hurt each other,
00:08:53
even as both are cracking down on Kurds
00:08:56
in their own country.
00:08:58
Saddam Hussein funds and
arms the Kurds in Iran,
00:09:01
while Iran funds the
Kurds in northern Iraq,
00:09:05
both sides hoping to
spark a Kurdish uprising
00:09:07
that will distract and weaken their enemy.
00:09:10
In Iraq, Saddam Hussein retaliates
00:09:13
against the Kurds in his country
00:09:14
with that genocidal chemical
attack we talked about earlier
00:09:17
that killed at least 50,000 Kurdish people
00:09:20
and probably much more.
00:09:23
Once again, the Kurdish
dream of independence
00:09:25
was used by outsiders as a weapon,
00:09:28
and the Kurdish people
paid heavily for it.
00:09:31
The US would get involved when in the 90s
00:09:34
they would come to this region
00:09:35
fighting against Saddam
Hussein for the first time.
00:09:39
The US rallies the Kurds,
00:09:41
calling for them to overthrow Saddam.
00:09:43
George Bush Sr. literally
calls them to action
00:09:46
with television and radio
broadcasts throughout the country.
00:09:49
- That the Iraqi people
should put him aside,
00:09:52
and that would facilitate the resolution
00:09:56
of all these problems that exist
00:09:58
and certainly would facilitate
the acceptance of Iraq
00:10:02
back into the family of
peace-loving nations.
00:10:04
- [Johnny] And it seems to work.
00:10:06
It sparks an uprising that
looks successful at first.
00:10:09
The US had instigated this uprising,
00:10:12
and they have forces in the
region that they could send
00:10:15
to support the Kurds, but they do nothing.
00:10:18
This allows Saddam to regather his forces
00:10:21
and crush this coup and to
increase this oppression,
00:10:25
ensuring that nothing like
this ever happens again.
00:10:28
Now, the US and UK do eventually step in
00:10:30
to create this no-fly zone
00:10:32
meant to protect the Kurds in the north
00:10:34
and the Shiites in the south.
00:10:36
This gives the Kurds some
autonomy over their region
00:10:39
and protects them from further
airstrikes by the Iraqi army.
00:10:43
Soon the US is back in Iraq.
00:10:45
It's 2003, and the Bush
administration decides to invade
00:10:49
and remove Saddam from power.
00:10:51
The Kurds in Iraq hope that
the US presence in this region
00:10:54
will mean finally they
will get their own state,
00:10:58
they will be independent.
00:10:59
They join the US in
fighting against Saddam
00:11:02
and his loyalists, battling insurgents,
00:11:05
and later against ISIS.
00:11:06
(guns shooting)
00:11:09
The Kurds would even go on to hold a vote,
00:11:11
showing that 92% of the population
00:11:13
was in favor of independence,
00:11:16
but the US won't support this,
00:11:18
worried that it might
destabilize this new Iraqi state
00:11:22
that the US just propped up.
00:11:24
Even when the Kurds fight
on the side of the US
00:11:27
and their interests, US
support for their cause
00:11:30
still remains very limited.
00:11:32
They still look the other way
00:11:33
as Turkey bombs their towns
in Iraq hunting for the PKK.
00:11:39
This same pattern has
continued in recent years
00:11:42
in the country of Syria,
00:11:44
a country that descended
into civil war around 2011.
00:11:47
This chaos looked like an opportunity
00:11:49
for the Kurds in Syria, a
chance to establish real control
00:11:53
over what they see as a part of Kurdistan.
00:11:55
The PKK in Turkey helps
create a new Kurdish militia
00:11:59
called the People's
Protection Unit or YPG.
00:12:04
They seize large swaths
of land in the north
00:12:06
and they declare self-governance.
00:12:08
Around this same time,
the terrorist group ISIS
00:12:11
is taking huge swaths of
territory in the north
00:12:13
and east of the country, creating
their so-called caliphate.
00:12:18
And here comes the US once
again asking the Kurds for help,
00:12:22
hoping that they will fight against ISIS
00:12:24
on the ground for them.
00:12:26
But because this group
is allied with the PKK,
00:12:30
which they consider a terrorist group,
00:12:32
the US asks this militia
to rebrand themselves
00:12:35
to the Syrian democratic forces,
00:12:37
which obscures their
connection to the PKK.
00:12:40
The US then trains, funds,
and arms them to fight ISIS.
00:12:44
The Kurds are, once
again, the US's weapon.
00:12:48
This plan works, and with
help from US airstrikes,
00:12:51
this Kurdish militia kicks
ISIS out of more and more land.
00:12:55
But Turkey hates this.
00:12:57
All they see is a potential Kurdish state
00:12:59
right on their southern border,
a safe haven for the PKK
00:13:03
that will allow more attacks
against the Turkish military.
00:13:06
But Turkey can't attack
this branch of the Kurds
00:13:08
while they're being supported
by the United States.
00:13:11
Lucky for them, there's a new
president in the White House
00:13:14
and he's promised to pull the
US out of the war in Syria.
00:13:17
And in 2019, to the dismay of the Kurds,
00:13:20
he makes good on this promise.
00:13:22
With the US out of the
way, Turkey invades,
00:13:25
launching airstrikes and artillery
00:13:27
against the Kurds in this border region,
00:13:29
saying that their plan is to create
00:13:30
a 32 kilometer deep safe zone
right here along the border,
00:13:34
and that no Kurdish forces
are allowed to be here.
00:13:37
The plan was to then
resettle Syrian refugees
00:13:40
currently living in Turkey.
00:13:43
It's a brutal campaign that looks a lot
00:13:45
like what Syria was doing
to the Kurds in the 70s.
00:13:48
(foreboding music)
00:13:52
The US completely abandons the Kurds,
00:13:55
even after using them to
fight their enemy ISIS.
00:13:58
Turkey, a NATO and US ally,
continues to bomb them
00:14:02
using weapons from the United States.
00:14:05
They spend the next four
years sending drone strikes
00:14:08
and airstrikes into Syria and Iraq,
00:14:10
anywhere they think
the PKK has a presence.
00:14:13
This map shows all of their
attacks during this time.
00:14:19
You can see that it's not just
against the Kurds in Turkey,
00:14:23
but across this whole region.
00:14:25
(suspenseful music)
00:14:29
Today, the Kurdish groups in this region
00:14:31
vary more widely than ever,
each with different values
00:14:35
and visions for the future,
00:14:37
forged from each of their
unique struggles and traumas.
00:14:40
Kurdish groups still fight
the government in Iran
00:14:43
with the goal of creating their own state.
00:14:45
The Kurds in Iraq did gain
some autonomy from the US
00:14:48
in the new Iraqi constitution,
00:14:51
but it doesn't seem like
this autonomy will last.
00:14:53
As recently, the Iraqi army
is fighting with the Kurds
00:14:57
to maintain control over the
oil resources in this area
00:15:01
to keep the Kurds economically dependent
00:15:03
on the central government so
that they never break away.
00:15:06
Once again, the US is
not supporting the Kurds
00:15:08
in this fight.
00:15:11
Turkey continues its
offensive against the PKK
00:15:14
and other Kurdish groups in the region,
00:15:16
and they continue to crack
down on the Kurds politically,
00:15:19
arresting Kurdish
politicians and activists,
00:15:21
censoring journalists to
intimidate the Kurdish people
00:15:25
from participating in the election.
00:15:27
The Kurds in Syria face a
new and uncertain future.
00:15:31
They do have some autonomy
up here in the north,
00:15:34
but are surrounded by enemies,
00:15:36
no longer counting on
any support from the US.
00:15:39
(suspenseful music)
00:15:42
The story of the Kurds
is the story of a people
00:15:45
who are willing to fight like few others,
00:15:48
all in the name of their
culture and identity.
00:15:50
That willingness to fight
has presented a threat
00:15:53
to regional governments, bent
on control of their people
00:15:57
and the resources within their borders.
00:15:59
That willingness to fight
has also been hijacked
00:16:02
by outside powers, turning
the Kurds into a pawn
00:16:05
to fulfill geopolitical objectives,
00:16:08
each time showing how
willing these powers are
00:16:11
to use the Kurds and
then abandon their cause.
00:16:14
(suspenseful music)
