The Perennial Playbook of Strategic Abandonment
FIRST INSTANCE: The Legacy of Sykes-Picot and Sèvres The first significant promise, and subsequent abandonment, materializes directly after World War I. The Treaty of Sèvres in 1920 explicitly included provisions for an independent Kurdistan. This diplomatic recognition, however, was short-lived. Just three years later, in 1923, the Treaty of Lausanne redrew the borders of the Middle East,
effectively liquidating the concept of a sovereign Kurdistan and partitioning the Kurdish people among Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria. This pivotal moment set the precedent: Kurdish aspirations would consistently be secondary to the geopolitical maneuvering of dominant powers (McDowall, 2004). REPETITIONS: A Cycle of Instrumentalization and Immolation The pattern solidified in the subsequent
decades. Records show: 1975 Algiers Accord: The Shah of Iran and Saddam Hussein, facilitated by US intervention, signed an agreement that saw the US-backed Iranian support for Iraqi Kurds (led by Mustafa Barzani) abruptly withdrawn. Tens of thousands of Kurds were massacred or fled to Iran after a decade of US encouragement to fight the Iraqi regime. Henry Kissinger famously remarked, "Covert
action should not be confused with missionary work." 1991 Gulf War Uprising: Following the US-led expulsion of Iraqi forces from Kuwait, President George H.W. Bush called upon the Iraqi people to rise up against Saddam Hussein. The Shia in the south and the Kurds in the north responded, believing they had US backing. When Saddam's forces retaliated with overwhelming brutality, the US stood by,