The Strength of Stateless Nations

Kejal Ahmed

Written by Kurdish Journalist and Poet Kejal Ahmed
Translated by Narmeen Othman Mohammad

According to a remark by the American senator Lindsey Graham, “The Kurds have proven to the world that they are among the strongest human forces and the most resilient and unified on the ground. What they achieved within a single week was a genuine miracle that astonished the entire world, east and west alike, through their capacity for combat and resistance.” He adds, “The Kurds have demonstrated that a stateless force can, at times, prevail over the power of states.”

This final observation caught my attention and prompted reflection on a simple yet profound truth: statehood is not a prerequisite for strength. Stateless peoples, through unity and mutual cooperation, can become a force capable of overcoming unjust and occupying states, and of inspiring the world through their humanity and spirit of resistance. As many are aware, Graham recently published his initiative “to save the Kurds” online and opened it to public endorsement. 

What is worrying, however, is that it has yet to garner even one million signatures, despite the Kurdish population exceeding fifty million. In my view, this shortfall reflects Kurdish mistrust towards the United States, particularly after the Kurds in Rojava were abandoned and left to face their fate alone.

I hope that everyone will sign this initiative proposed by the senior member of the Senate—if for no other reason than to demonstrate the size of the Kurdish people and the unity that binds them. It is also true that last week’s demonstrations in support of Rojava, across Kurdistan and within the diaspora, powerfully showcased Kurdishness and national identity to the world. More effectively than any census or war, they laid bare the scale of a nation that has been subjected to genocide. Yet our concern for the justice of our cause must be reflected at all times in our efforts and in the soft power we deploy to secure our rights.

Undoubtedly, we also possess an effective hard power of defence and resistance. But this, too, is neither savage nor inhumane; rather, it stands as a noble example of courageous chivalry.

Over the past week, I was part of a WhatsApp group coordinating the demonstrations in Sulaymaniyah, alongside artists, writers, and prominent, influential figures. I can attest that these activities were conducted in the spirit of the Peshmerga and the defenders. It is therefore fitting to salute a new era—one that reveals a brighter dimension of the literary and artistic creativity of well-known Kurdish writers and artists. It also introduced our own new generation, whose creativity springs from Kurdish identity and whose dignified, non-violent participation was evident in the marches, in the chanting of slogans, and even in acts of self-sacrifice on the soil of another part of our divided homeland.

May the soul of the martyr Ahmed Hêmin rest in peace—the brave and steadfast young man of Kirkuk and Kurdistan—who stood as a representative of a generation, and of a nation, defined by sacrifice and by an enduring aspiration for Kurdish unity and togetherness.