Hawraman Village, Kurdistan of Iran.
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Tom Barrack’s Dangerous Idea of Unity |
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An American envoy’s faith in centralized rule puts Middle Eastern minorities at risk.
When America’s remaining troops left Iraq on September 30, their departure raised an urgent question for the country’s Kurds: who will deter the next drone or missile attack? For Christians, Yazidis and others who have sought refuge in the Kurdistan Region, the anxiety is equally acute. If Kurdish autonomy is weakened, they ask, who will protect them?
Recent statements by Tom Barrack, America’s ambassador to Turkey and envoy for Syria and Iraq, offer little reassurance. Mr. Barrack seems to view federalism and the decentralization of power as the root of the country's ills, yet he fails to provide a compelling case for the alternative. Instead, he peddles a motto of “one nation, one people, one military,” a dusty relic of 20th-century Arab nationalism that nonetheless continues to generate headlines in the country.
The flaw in the ambassador’s centralizing obsession is glaring. Concentrating power in a capital provides no guarantee that those who wield it will protect everyone under their jurisdiction. In states where armed factions routinely capture state institutions or operate entirely beyond their control, dismantling local safeguards does not build a unified nation. It merely leaves minorities at the mercy of predators.
The consequences of this approach are already visible in Syria. Under American pressure, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which fought the Islamic State with vital American support, were compelled to announce their dissolution as an independent force on August 25, merging into the Syrian army. Promises to protect Kurdish rights have proved hollow. A school system built around the Kurdish mother tongue over 15 years now faces a forced shift to an Arabic curriculum. Worse, a U.N. inquiry into massacres on the Syrian coast in March 2025 documented attacks on Alawite civilians by government-affiliated factions, while another inquiry found that state forces and tribal fighters had attacked Druze civilians in Suwayda that July. Sovereignty carries a duty to protect; it cannot justify placing minorities at the mercy of unaccountable armed forces.
Across the border in Iraq, the constitution explicitly embraces federalism as the foundation of the state. It recognizes Kurdistan as a federal region with powers of self-government and its own internal security forces, the Peshmerga. This autonomy is the very bargain that keeps Iraq intact. Treating it as a threat to sovereignty risks unravelling the country.
If Washington genuinely wishes to restore Iraqi sovereignty, it should focus on the Iran-backed militias that draw government salaries while attacking American interests and partners. Unless Baghdad reins in factions that form part of its defense apparatus but ignore official military command, the country will continue to sleepwalk toward regional war. Instead, the ambassador's blanket dismissal of federalism lends legitimacy to hardliners. In August, groups including Kata'ib Hezbollah made the disarmament of the Peshmerga a condition for discussing their own arsenals. Blurring the distinction between constitutional regional forces and rogue militias serves only the latter.
Mr. Barrack’s rhetoric is already being weaponized. When he declared that America deals only with "nation-states," some Shia observers seized on it as a "historic opportunity" to "remove the cancer" they claim has afflicted Iraq since the 1970s. Mr. Barrack need not endorse violence for his words to embolden those who portray ethnic cleansing as national rescue. History offers grim warnings: calling a political institution a disease makes its destruction sound like a cure.
For Kurds, the limits on Baghdad’s power are rooted in dark experience. In the 1980s, a centralized Iraqi state provided the bureaucratic machinery for genocide. During the Anfal campaign, the army killed an estimated 180,000 Kurds and deployed chemical weapons more than 100 times. Federalism offers a safeguard against a repeat of such atrocities. It has also provided a sanctuary for others. Christians, Yazidis, Shabaks and Turkmen fleeing sectarian bloodletting have found refuge in Kurdistan. When Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako had his authority over the Chaldean Church's endowments revoked by Baghdad in 2023, he sought safety in Erbil until the decree was reversed a year later.
To be sure, federalism has not cured Iraq’s endemic corruption, nor has it ended the Kurdish parties’ stifling grip on local public life. And on September 24, Mr. Barrack offered a welcome clarification, insisting that Washington would not abandon the Kurds and rightly distinguishing the Peshmerga from rogue militias.
But that distinction now requires practical backing. With American air defenses gone, Washington must explicitly underwrite Iraq’s constitutional guarantees for Kurdistan. Mr. Barrack imagines that stronger capitals will draw the Middle East together. He should reckon with the opposite risk: words that weaken constitutional safeguards could help tear apart the countries he believes he is weaving together!
Yerevan Saeed,
Barzani Scholar-in-Residence
Director of the Global Kurdish Initiative for Peace
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Director Yerevan Saeed discussed the U.N. General Assembly, Iraqi militias, regional conflicts and developments in the Strait of Hormuz on VOA Kurdish. On BBC World, he assessed the security implications of reduced U.S. support for Kurdish forces. He also took part in a roundtable at the Atlantic Council with U.S. Ambassador Tom Barrack.
The Kurdish Political Studies Program at the University of Central Florida (UCF) invited Saeed to give a lecture on the Middle East after the U.S. on October 6. Saeed also invited Mehmet Gurses, who holds UCF’s Najmaldin Karim & Jalal Talabani Chair of Kurdish Political Studies, to American University. The proposed exchange aims to strengthen academic ties between the two programs and support further work on Kurdish and regional affairs.
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After Sovereignty: A Diplomat's View of Kurdish Governance |
On September 29, the Global Kurdish Initiative for Peace hosted a conversation with Ambassador Joey Hood on the future of Kurdish political, economic, and social participation in the Middle East. Moderated by Yerevan Saeed, Barzani Scholar-in-Residence and Director of GKIP, the discussion examined the evolving political landscape for Kurdish communities across Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran.
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Kurdish Culture Night at the KRG Representation in the U.S. |
The Global Kurdish Initiative for Peace, in coordination with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Representation in the U.S., hosted an evening celebrating Kurdish culture, music, conversation, and community for SIS graduate students.
The program featured remarks from KRG Representative Treefa Aziz, followed by reflections from student speakers who shared their experiences and perspectives. The evening also provided an opportunity for graduate students, faculty, and members of Washington’s Kurdish community to connect and engage.
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Upcoming Event: Kurdistan: Faith, Tolerance, and Peaceful Coexistence |
The Global Kurdish Initiative for Peace at American University’s School of International Service invites you to a panel discussion on peaceful coexistence. The conversation will explore the Kurdistan Region’s role in offering refuge and protection to Christians and other religious minorities displaced by conflict and persecution in Iraq and Syria.
Moderated by Yerevan Saeed, Barzani Scholar-in-Residence and Director of GKIP, the discussion will feature Nadine Maenza, an advocate for international religious freedom and Chair of the Institute for Global Engagement, and Knox Thames, Executive Director of the Everett Center for Global Religious Freedom at Dallas Baptist University. Drawing on the experts’ experiences in international religious freedom, minority protection, and U.S. policy in the Middle East, the conversation will consider what the Kurdistan Region’s experience reveals about the role of federalism and regional autonomy in protecting religious minorities, the conditions necessary for peaceful coexistence, and how the United States and other international actors can support minority communities seeking to remain in and return to their historic homelands.
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Upcoming Event: Conflict in the Middle East: Energy Security and Diplomacy |
The Global Kurdish Initiative for Peace at American University’s School of International Service is pleased to invite you to a conversation with Amos Hochstein, moderated by Yerevan Saeed, Barzani Scholar-in-Residence and Director of GKIP.
Mr. Hochstein served as a senior advisor in President Biden's White House and as Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security. He was also a lead negotiator of the Israel–Lebanon maritime boundary agreement. The conversation will draw on his experience to examine how threats to energy supplies, infrastructure, and shipping routes affect markets and shape foreign policy choices.
With particular attention to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, the discussion will explore how Baghdad–Erbil relations, oil revenue sharing, and agreements with neighboring states shape access to global markets. It will examine the role of the Iraq–Turkey Pipeline (ITP) and the political and commercial arrangements needed to sustain reliable exports through Turkey’s port of Ceyhan.
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Art and Culture: Shorsh Saleh |
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| "My memories change over time, and so does my understanding of them. So the paintings are not just about the past; they are also about how I look at that past from where I am now."
Shorsh Saleh is a Kurdish artist from South Kurdistan. Born in the Sharazur area of Iraqi Kurdistan, he grew up amid conflict and political unrest that affected his family and community. He was displaced several times as a child, living in Slemani and camps elsewhere in the region. He later moved to Europe and has lived in the United Kingdom for more than two decades.
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Much of Saleh’s work deals with displacement and the lives of refugees. His series Refugees Forced to Flee, created for an exhibition at the Imperial War Museum, consists of five miniature paintings and two carpets based on his own experiences and major events in Kurdish history. The miniatures draw on the style of traditional manuscript illustration to tell a story through his memories. The carpets use Kurdish motifs and symbols to explore destruction, displacement, and the loss of home.
For Saleh, traditional art is a way to stay connected to Kurdish history and express present-day experiences. He also questions how the European art world labels refugee artists. Those labels can keep attention fixed on displacement, leaving the full range of an artist’s work overlooked.
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NextGen Voices: Asiye Taskin |
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"We want KCMA to be a strong and meaningful cultural center that represents Kurdish culture and music in a way that is both authentic and accessible to the wider community."
Asiye Taskin is a Kurdish community organizer in Nashville, Tennessee, where she co-founded the Kurdish Culture and Music Association (KCMA) and serves as its president. Originally from Diyarbakır, she has a background in political science and public administration and is now pursuing a master’s degree in computer science. She began her community work more than a decade ago with charities and groups working for women’s and children’s rights, first taking part as a student and later volunteering and organizing.
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Taskin and a group of Kurdish friends founded KCMA more than three years ago to share Kurdish culture, music, language, and the arts with the wider Nashville community and beyond. They started as a small group working out of a donated space. KCMA now offers classes in Kurdish language, dance, theater, music, and daf. It also has a Kurdish rhythm group and hosts cultural events.
In our conversation, Taskin talks about how KCMA has grown, why bringing together Kurds from different parts of Kurdistan matters to her, and the association’s efforts to share Kurdish culture across Tennessee and beyond. She hopes KCMA will become a home for Kurdish culture and a place where people of different generations and backgrounds can get to know one another.
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The Barzani Peace Fellowship |
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Established in honor of the Kurdish leader Mustafa Barzani, the Global Kurdish Initiative for Peace offers the Barzani Peace Fellowship, a prestigious scholarship for graduate students dedicated to Kurdish affairs. Beyond financial support, it empowers future leaders through academic excellence, professional development, and opportunities to engage directly with the program and its mission for peace.
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