How is it that the Kurds survived for centuries and in the recent decades without us having any troops in Syria? Maybe the big picture is that Turkey doesn’t do itself a favor by being seen as an invader. Ultimately Turkey’s reputation in NATO is suffering . And there is the risk of suffering economic consequences with the United States. Having troops in Syria, a country which is very hostile to the United States, is an awkward positioning for us.
Not well. Tens of thousands have died at the hands of Turkey and Syria and Iraq over the years.
“How is it that the Kurds survived for centuries and in the recent decades without us having any troops in Syria? “
From their point of view they would call their situation one of “existed” but hardly one of “survived”.
Since the end of the Ottoman empire, most of the nation state history in the region has been, collectively, (1) ignoring Kurd’s interests, (2) supressing Kurd’s interests, (3) state sponsored cultural genocide of Kurd’s interests by Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria, (4) direct attacks on the Kurds to diminish their interests and force them out of areas the officials of a state wanted to repopulate with Turks, Arabs, Syrians or Iranians.
Such actions did not happen for centuries under the Ottomans because all they sought from local officials was that they allow the Ottoman’s rule to keep the peace and they not rebel against that rule. Beyond that most people had a lot of local control over their own affairs. That made the Kurds in the Ottoman’s area more free than they have been under any of the modern state’s in the area today.
From the Kurd’s point of view, their demand for their own province in Iraq, their fights inside Turkey with its rulers, their gains (regains) in Syria are all collectively about fighting for their very identity as a people, a people that are not Arabs, not Turks, not Syrian and not Iranian; regardless of how their, Kurdish, lands got divided up into those other nations today.