Position paper of the

Delegate of the Russian Federaion

To the United Nations

On

The Kurdish Conflict

Before the

Security Council

MasterMUN 2018 – DHAKA

9th August, 2018 – 11th August, 2018

Agenda: The Kurdish Conflict

Country: Russian Federation

Committee: United Nations Security Council

Delegate Name: Ahmed Sidratul Muntaha

“The Kurds have no friends but the mountains.” - This age old expression has regained such value among
the Kurds lately that it is worth noticing where it comes from, why it persists, and why the Kurds now have
the West primarily in mind when they say it. The last time the Middle East was in a dismay comparable to
the current mayhem was during the unruly aftermath of the First World War and the collapse of the Ottoman
Empire. In the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres, which was to establish the borders of Syria and Iraq, the Kurds were
offered their own country. The promise of an autonomous and self-governing Kurdistan was then broken by
the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. What followed was a ghoulish evolution of persecution, ethnic cleansing, and
wars of extinction waged to frequent and varying degrees, sometimes consecutively and sometimes
concurrently, by some of the nations where the Kurds ended up as incarcerated inhabitants.

As it happens, though, Kurds have a long and vibrant memory of the many betrayals their people have
writhed throughout history. Starting with the Treaty of Sèvres, then the American invasion of Iraq and
lastly Operation Olive branch where USA basically gave Turkey a free hand to slaughter them. Betrayals
left, right and center. But now the time has come for them to secure their long-term security, prosperity
and solidity. On September 25, 2017, Iraq Kurds held a referendum on political liberation from Baghdad,
which 92.3% of the population supported. Russia respects the national ambitions of the Kurds but we also
simultaneously encourage dialogue between Erbil and Baghdad. Russia was the only major power that did
not call on the Iraqi Kurds to terminate the referendum. In the 1960s, Moscow led international efforts at
the United Nations indicting Iraq with conducting a genocidal war against the Kurds. The Russian
Federation has for many years spoken of a Kurdish manifestation in peace talks and called upon the entire
international community which dealt with the Syrian problem, to take the Kurdish issue into account. We
did it in very tangible terms in multilateral forums and during talks with the Turkish, American, Middle
eastern colleagues, with everyone. Russia’s suggestion to include Kurds in Geneva Syrian talks was vetoed
by the UN Security Council’s Western members. This contradicts UN resolutions on Syrian reconciliation
and ignores calls for inclusive talks. Russia is the only major power that regularly negotiates with all
representatives, including those in Syrian Kurdistan regions and have hosted the leader of the Democratic
Union Party (PYD), Salih Muslim in Moscow several times. Russia even proposed a draft constitution
which included Kurdish autonomy. More recently, Moscow decided to invite the Democratic Union Party
the political section of the YPG to a assembly of Syrian ethnic groups in Sochi, and announced the party
would be involved in the Astana talks. Russia evidently says that in any future democratic Syria, the rights
of all the different ethnic and religious groups must be enshrined without discrimination and this is our
transparent policy.

If the Security Council can find a solution for the Kurdish conflict, involving multiple parties of Kurdish
population groups and the stakeholder countries, it could serve as a outline for the solution of many other
territorial disputes around the world and bring the world one step closer towards a peaceful cohabitation of
people.