The Impact of the Arab Uprisings on the Kurds

Abstract

After unexpectedly breaking out in the last days of 2010, the Arab uprisings — or Arab Spring to use the more optimistic label — continue to have unforeseeable consequences. The effects of the first incidents moved across borders throughout the Middle East, with waves of revolt rapidly spreading out beyond the region. Tunisia was the birthplace of the Arab Spring¹ when Mohammed Bouazizi, a local vendor, set himself on fire to protest the humiliating treatment he had received at the hands of the police just because he was accused of lacking any official permit to sell his fruit. His tragic reaction sparked countrywide protests in December 2010,² with the main target of the protestors being the corruption and repressive policies of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who fled the country on January 2011 after Tunisia’s armed forces refused to intervene in the protests.³ It quickly became clear that the flames of these protests were permeating the Middle East, giving birth to sudden, unexpected consequences. The people of all Arab countries, who had fallen into the hands of despotic dictatorships in the postcolonial era, made strong demands for a better life in every sense. Shortly after the Tunisian upheaval, popular protests took place in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Jordan, Algeria, Lebanon, Morocco and later Syria. These encouraging developments implicitly inspired all those subjects of North Africa and the Middle East who were struggling for a fairer, democratic society.