‘US will recognize an independent Kurdistan’

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – The US former diplomat said that Kurdish statehood would never happen if the people of the Kurdistan Region await the world to grant them independence.

Peter Galbraith, former US diplomat in an exclusive interview with Kurdistan24 said that there is always obstacles towards the independent Kurdistan, but “if you wait for the world to say you can be independent, that will never happen.”

Galbraith added that if the Kurdistan Region becomes an independent state, the US and other countries will recognize an independent Kurdistan, giving the example of other countries that previously become independent and were recognized by the US.

“The US was for keeping the Soviet Union together, but when it broke up the US recognized the new countries. The US tried to keep Yugoslavia together, but later on, it recognized the independence of Croatia, Slovenia, and Bosnia.”

Galbraith said that independence “is a door that people of Kurdistan Region have to walk to because Kurdistan is much better prepared for independence than any other place that I have seen… Kurdistan is the best case and the best prepared.”

Kurdistan Region “has its own government that functions well, has its own military, it has a source of revenue and the population almost unanimously supports independence… so it’s a door that needs to be walked through,” Galbraith told Kurdistan24.

“The best way to get it [independence] is through negotiations with Baghdad in which Baghdad seems to accept that Kurdistan Region will become independent,” Galbraith stated.

Regarding what would be the position of the new US administration under the presidency of the President-elect Donald Trump, Galbraith said that “he [Trump] has been very positive about the Kurds… the current administration and Trump recognize that Kurds have been the best US ally in the Middle East.”

Kurdistan Region cannot wait for the US to say please go for independence, so they will support, that will not happen Galbraith said. “The next move is up to the people of Kurdistan.”

Galbraith explained his trip to Rojava [Syrian Kurdistan] last week and praised the role of the Kurdish fighters fighting Islamic State (IS) and what they stand for in terms of gender equality and secularism.

Peter Galbraith is an author, academic, and former United States diplomat who had served as US ambassador to Croatia from 1993 to 1998, and was the United Nations' deputy special representative for Afghanistan.

Editing by Ava Homa