The Kurdish referendum

The countdown has started and the clock is ticking very loudly to warn the Iraqi Kurds that their referendum vote for independence, scheduled to take place on Sept. 25, is loaded with a potential disaster not only for northern Iraq but a bigger geography spanning Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran and probably beyond. 

With a romantic approach or with the "an ally is in the making" calculations of the Jewish state, the potential dangers ahead posed by such a vote might be ignored. To say the least, what is the Kurdish population of northern Iraq? What is the population of northern Syria? How many Kurds are living in Iran? And, what is the percentage of the Turkish Kurds among the overall 30 million Kurdish population spread in the four countries?

To the pundits wondering why no other country in the region - excluding Israel - or among the global powers support the Iraqi Kurdish referendum decision, the region has more than enough problems. Indeed, since the First World War the region has always been problematic this way or the other. No one should, of course, put the entire blame on the British, French, Italians or the Americans, who at varying degrees contributed to shaping the region. Particularly, no one should claim that the entire problem of the Iraqi Kurdish independence referendum is all about the American, British and Israeli security needs. It is no secret that the British and American security and intelligence networks have been buried deep in the Iraqi Kurdish independence referendum business even if officially the two states have been warning the Kurds not to go down that road that might force the Turks to open the Pandora's box.

Turkey, like Syria, Iraq and Iran, has always been against the establishment of a Kurdish state. Since 1984,...