Abstract
This paper examines water as a site of colonial power, political control, and Kurdish resistance. Across the stateless region of Kurdistan, nations have weaponized and privatized water while exploiting Kurdish lands, disrupting agriculture, and waging a genocide against their culture, sovereignty, and lives. In response, Kurdish environmental movements challenge the state-centered systems that treat water and land as commodities, instead advancing Democratic Confederalism’s vision of ecological sustainability, decentralized self-governance, and collective liberation. Ultimately, this paper argues that environmental struggle is inseparable from Kurdish self-determination: reclaiming control over water and land is not simply an environmental project, but a fundamental challenge to the political and economic systems that have dispossessed Kurdish communities.
Keywords: Kurdistan, water sovereignty, environmental justice, Democratic Confederalism
In 1923, The British and Ottoman Empires mutilated Kurdistan in the construction of nation-states in the Middle East, leaving a stateless people divided among various nation-states that disregard the wellbeing of these citizens. (BBC News, 2014) Kurdistan, situated in a region of rich diversity and natural wealth, has historically been mismanaged and plundered by neighboring and occupying forces that sought and continue to seek control over its natural resources through the development of ethnic prejudices against Kurds in order to commit systematic genocide on the population. (BBC News, 2014) In the face of extreme violence from multiple nations, Kurds are radicalizing their government to center Democratic Confederalist principles of “direct democracy against the state, alongside the struggle for ecological sustainability, and the struggle for gender emancipation” (Hammy & Miley, 2022, p. 2). However, such initiatives are impeded and de-prioritized due to genocide which makes resistance a life-and-death concern. Looking at the Kurdish struggle for self-determination, armed resistance against genocidal nations restricts efforts to achieve democratic independence, resource independence, and sustainability in the face of foreign weaponization of water availability and the looming climate crisis.
It is the denial of independent sovereignty over established Kurdish boundaries that makes the Kurdish people particularly susceptible to the whims of other nations and as a consequence, they have been systematically persecuted both culturally and materially. Situated across modern-day Turkey, Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Armenia, Kurdistan has experienced violence from its neighbors and sovereign leaders ranging from discrimination against Kurdish customs to genocide and massacres of thousands of villages. In response to Kurdish insurrections in the 1920s and 1930s, Turkey enacted a ban on Kurdish language, costumes, and names, resettled many Kurdish communities, and denied the existence of a Kurdish ethnic identity by renaming the people “Mountain Turks”. (BBC News, 2014) In 1977, the political theorist and revolutionary Abdullah Öcalan established the PPK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) and led a resistance against Turkey seeking the construction of an independent Kurdish state and recognition of Kurdish identities– a resistance that has continued to the present day and since caused the death of 40,000 people. (BBC News, 2014) In both Iran and Iraq, the government instituted violent campaigns to control Kurdish populations and to eradicate peshmergas (guerrilla fighters) in their prospective regions while, somewhat ironically, supporting Kurdish resistance in each others’ states. This physical violence is accompanied by economic blockades intended to wound guerrilla groups but causes particular damage to civilian populations. (Ufheil-Somers, 2016) One earlier example of the brutality of the Iraqi government is the massacre of the Barzini tribe: From 1932 to 1934, the Iraqi Army and Royal Air Force destroyed 74 villages in the Barzan area, displacing 2382 families. A subsequent attack in the same area in 1945 destroyed 35 villages, killed hundreds of innocent civilians, and left 15,000 women and children homeless. (Ihsan, 2016) Such massacres were not uncommon in Kurdistan and thousands of Kurdish villages suffered similar fates (BBC, 2014).
While resisting the extermination of their people by neighboring and sovereign nations, Kurdistan faces and resists the occupation of ISIS and ISIL in the region. While Kurdistan was able to gain control of regions of Iraq due to the state’s preoccupation with ISIS, the Peshmerga have lost 1,200 men and women in resistance to Islamic State, and the Kurdish government is strained by the 1.6 million refugees from Syria and the rest of Iraq. (Stephens, 2015) Violence in all of the above crises commands the attention and resources of Kurdistan and this immiseration leaves the Kurds without the capacity to tackle societal issues. “The Kurdish movement is anti-militarist, but in this context of life or death, saying you are non-violent is a privilege”; the Kurds do not have the privilege to lay down their arms and turn their attention to restructuring their society and fostering sustainability as surrendering determines the death of Kurdistan (Ata in Daudén, 2016, p. 243).
Democratic Confederalism is an ideology that defines hierarchy as the primary form of domination in human society that underpins the destructive exploitation of the natural world, and necessitates the deconstruction of that hierarchy in order to attain a sustainable and reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. (Hunt, 2017) This ideology was constructed by Abdullah Öcalan, mentioned above for his role in the resistance against Turkey, who expanded on concepts formulated by theorists such as American social ecologist Murray Bookchin who highlighted the inherent connection between domination within society and the environment (Hammy & Miley, 2022) and German social ecofeminist Maria Mies who emphasized the connection between Bookchin’s theory and the necessity to liberate women in the pursuit of an equitable society (Picardi, 2021). The development of democratic confederalism in society requires the construction of governance outside of the state; Ayla Akat Ata – an ex-parliament member, activist, writer, and representative from Turkish Kurdistan– reaffirms: “We are victims of states that have been imposed on us, but creating another state is not the solution. […] We are fighting against strong cooperation between the nation-state, capitalism and patriarchy and we will never be able to disconnect one from the other”(Ata in Daudén, 2016, p. 241). In this statement, Ata asserts that states are unable to construct and sustain equitable, just, and viable societies which necessitates the organization of societies outside of this design. In practice, democratic confederalism presents as the decentralization of power through the construction of an interconnected network of communes that manage local governance and are therefore better suited to care for the specific concerns of their region (Hammy & Miley, 2022). The implementation of regional representatives elected by free and equal confederal citizens deconstructs a hegemonic government based on controlling resources for economic gain rather than universally providing for the needs of their citizens and ensuring sustainable practices.
Accumulation is the basis of capitalism and diminishes the importance of communality in favor of competition and exploitation which creates a rift between humans and nature. Öcalan explains that “when the economy stopped being a social fabric, it marked the beginning of a terrible break with nature”; the atomization of humanity precipitates the ruination of the natural world and subsequently denies any profound relationships between self and the other (Piccardi, 2021). As such, the climate crisis is not only a scarcity of natural resources, but primarily regards the construction of a global governance that engages political ecology with gravity. David Harvey observes that to “declare a state of ecoscarcity is in effect to say that we have not the will, wit or capacity to change our state of knowledge, our social goals, cultural modes, and technological mixes, or our form of economy, and that we are powerless to modify either our material practices or”nature" according to human requirements" (Selby, 2005, p. 332). Hence, in theory, humanity is capable of adapting to the changing climate of the earth and international politics if they cease to blame scarcity instead of structural failure to represent human interests and deconstruct unsustainable environmental activities, gender disparities, and governments that prioritize economic gain over the prosperity of their citizens. The dismantling of accumulation demarks a process of decolonization that allows for the revitalization of communal and matricentric ancestral tradition and harmonious habitation of the earth in place of the destructive occupation currently in praxis. (Piccardi, 2021)
As an essential resource in society, water accessibility and management is paramount to continued life. Globally, countries are experiencing increasing pressures to reform consumption and conservation of resources such as water due to the intensification of the climate crisis, pollution and inter- and intra- conflicts. Kurdistan is situated in a region of rich natural resources but experiences the compounded repercussions of the contexts mentioned previously; nations desperate to profit from Kurdish resources war against the region through the synthesis of a cultural denial of Kurdish identity and unrestrained genocides. (BBC News, 2014) One writer from the Chya environmental NGO, Anwar Rewshen, expounds “as a repressed and deprived nation, nature is our only capital” (Hassaniyan, 2021, p. 942). For this reason, the environmental crisis is central to the liberation and sustenance of Kurdistan. “Seldom are struggles over water only about water. They often also revolve around other resources, legitimacy and power” (Boelens et al in Conde, 2016, p. 47).
Many of the rivers in the Middle East flow down from the Mountains of Kurdistan: Tigris, Euphrates, Khabur, Tharthar, Ceyhan, Araxes, Kura, Safidrud, and Karkha, as well their major tributaries. (Izady, 2015) These rivers foster rich natural diversity and resources in the region. Despite the historical abundance of this natural resource, Kurdistan is threatened by an extreme water shortage. (Arif, 2023) Situated to its north, Turkey maintains control over water flow into Kurdistan and has abused this position to construct numerous hydroelectric power stations and dams that limit water flow into southern regions; since the 1970s, Turkey has reduced downstream river flow by 40-45%. (Shamout & Lahn, 2015) In 2019, Turkey invaded and occupied North East Syria (NES) and took control of a key water pumping station, gaining the ability to sever water flow to millions of citizens elsewhere in NES, which it utilized 15 separate times in 2020 and continued to utilize in 2021. (Broomfield, 2021) International law that states a nation must provide for the water needs of regions under its control, Turkey’s militarized control over water access, to force and threaten Kurdistan and other riparian neighbors, noticeably during war, ignores the simultaneous legality and morality of denying millions of citizens access to basic sustenance. (Broomfield, 2021) In defiance of this Turkish regime, Kurdish opposition aims to define water as a fundamental human right against neoliberal theory that characterizes water as a commodity and permits a dichotomous disparity of water access between haves and have-nots. (Conde, 2016)
Such inter- and intra-national concerns exacerbate the impacts of climate change on the region; Kurdistan is particularly vulnerable to rising temperatures, reduced rainfall, and increasing desertification. In July of 2021, Kurdistan reached unprecedented temperatures that draw moisture out of the earth and intensify already catastrophic droughts in the region: temperatures reached 47°C in Erbil, 45°C in Duhok, 46°C in Sulaymaniyah, and 52°C in Khanaqin (Arif, 2023). High temperatures are coupled with progressively more unpredictable and intense seasons where prolonged droughts are followed by extreme rainfall that causes flash floods when the rain hits dry hot earth that is unable to absorb the large quantity of water quickly. These catastrophic weather events have an unequal burden on individuals based on their climate resilience which is determined by social class and an urban-rural divide of resources. It is important to note that the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are projected to experience the most extreme impacts of climate change despite having negligible environmental impacts themselves. (Arif, 2023) Due to the immense disparity between the first and third world in terms of their impact on climate change, it is inconceivable and unattainable to expect those who contributed to climate change the least to experience the brunt of climate change devastation and for these countries to contribute to the solution when they have been exploited and lack the resources to make the necessary changes. (Our World in Data, 2021)
As the birthplace of farming, Kurdistan –in historical Mesopotamia– has a history of rich soil and plentiful water that is threatened; “Our land is fertile, and our earth is like gold” (Shamout & Lahn, 2015) (Muhamad in Khidhir, 2022). In 2022, the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture announced that desertification encroaches on more than 50% of available farmland in the country. Changes to agricultural practices serve as a form of mitigation against desertification and diminishing water supplies. The continuation of agriculture is valuable for the region as it allows citizens to provide for themselves, and their neighbors, and create a profit. Another Iraqi farmer laments “Back in time, I used to sell my own produce and make an income from that,” today, the little we grow barely covers our needs" (Bajec, 2022). Implementing modern technology such as drip watering, planting drought-resistant crops, and implementing crop diversity allow farmers to increase their resilience to water shortages. (Bajec, 2022) One local Iraqi farmer, through social media, promotes such mitigations, encouraging practices such as planting trees closer to one another to shade the soil from the strong sun. Additionally, he notes that such shade is optimal for protecting other plants that cannot withstand the heat and direct sunlight. Governmental policy could alleviate regional hardship by subsidizing poor crops and increasing water allocations where the government has failed (Bajec, 2022).
Although the Iranian government permitted the creation of NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) in the 1990s, they have since viewed activist actions as a threat against the nation and counterinsurgent, with environmental activists persecuted through executions and imprisonments. Despite this overwhelming violence, 500 NGOs focused environmental action in their organization and many still work towards this objective. The participation of women in these NGOs makes them unique and highlights the connection between feminist concerns in the environmental movement as women fight both the patriarchy and unsustainable societal practices. The Chya Environmental Association, named after the Kurdish word for “mountain”, is the most prominent NGO in the Iranian Kurdish region Rojhelat, well known for its environmental action in the spheres of preservation, mitigation, education, and gender equality. The organization centers “environmentalism from below” to define a bottom-up practice, in-line with democratic confederalism, which begins with the formation of communal action that spreads into the larger region. The existence of Chya serves to exemplify the importance of coalitions that inspire collective action that responds to local needs that are not prioritized by larger governing systems. For example, in the face of state inaction, Chya created a local non-governmental fire brigade to combat disasters such as the 886 wildfires that Chya monitored from July to December of 2010. (Hassaniyan, 2021) According to UK-based journalist and political activist Madeh Ahmadi, “[while] regime institutions are involved in distributing [recreational] drugs among Kurds, environmental activists are running awareness campaigns, planting trees and spreading a culture of coexistence of human beings and nature” (Hassaniyan, 2021). In this context, it is evident that collective action and local governance are best equipped to face environmental and social concerns.
Kurdistan is uniquely positioned in the sphere of environmental action due to its radical ideology and praxis in combination with its struggle for sovereignty against surrounding and ruling nations. The constant and consistent threat of annihilation significantly obstructed progress toward the Kurdish construction of “econationalism”: “a synthesis of environmentalism, national identity, and the struggle for justice” (Hassaniyan, 2021). According to the Kurds, such an “econation” requires an intersectional approach that encompasses direct democracy, gender equality, and environmentalism. Julian Agyeman asserts that “structural inequalities that sustain the domination of political and economic elites often simultaneously result in environmental degradation, injustice, and discrimination against subaltern communities” (Hassaniyan, 2021). It is Kurdish resistance to nations that seek to destroy their very existence and their persistence in forming a society that tackles diverse and pressing concerns that defines the movement as a global example in dismantling destructive authorities and practices in pursuit of greater harmony between nations and with nature.
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