KRG trench divides Syrian, Iraqi Kurds
The ditch dug by the Kurdistan Regional Government at Rojava, separating Syrian and Iraqi Kurds, adds another layer of complexity to the regional conflict.
Of all those who have cursed Sykes-Picot, it was no doubt the Kurds who lamented the most, as the agreement divided a Kurdistan already split between Iran and the Ottomans and turned normal relations between villages into "smuggling." Poet Ahmet Arif put it best when he moaned, “We don’t know what passports are / for which we will be killed / from now on they will be call us bandits, brigands, smugglers and robbers.”
While talks explored the best way to unite four pieces of Kurdistan known as Bakur (north), Bashur (south), Rojhilat (east) and Rojava (west) scattered in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria and the idea a "Kurdish spring" followed Rojava's declaration of autonomy, Kurdish hopes were again split, this time by a giant ditch.
