All posts by ayarata

Kurdish forced migration and displacment since1918.

Since the end of the First World War and as the reconstruction of the Middle East formally began in 1920s under the British and the French mandate the Kurds were largely marginalised. The new nation-states of Turkey, Iraq and Syria emerged and hence the Kurds feel they were cut off from the mainstream regional and international processes and the post War power houses.  As McDowall (2010) describes the Kurds have been systematically excluded and oppressed both culturally and economically for nearly a century now. The subsequent force migration and displacement of the Kurds in their millions is the topic of my research. I would like to invite contributions and comments about this subject. I have two overlapping questions about refugee protection and refugee prevention;  and I start by putting my first question to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). I, like millions other refugees have benefited from the excellent protection work of the UNHCR since it’s establishment 60 (in July 2011) years ago. Is it not the time to talk about refugee prevention now? For example, there are an estimated 100,000 Kurds who are stateless in Syria. Can UNHCR do something in order to prevent thes people becoming refugees elsewere. This is a legacy of the First World War and a moral responsiblity of the West to do some thing. What do you think?