Uneasy unity between Kurds against ISIS, says report

While the repercussions of the withdrawal of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) from Kobani are still palpable in Kurdish politics as well as in elements involved in Turkish, Syrian, Iraqi and Iranian politics, a report titled "Regional Kurdish Politics in the Post-ISIS Period" has been issued by Al-Jazeera Center for Studies.

Claiming that ISIS constitutes a menace, but is at the same time a unifying force for all Kurdish political actors, Galip Dalay, a senior associate fellow of Turkish-Kurdish affairs at Al-Jazeera Center for Studies, said: "The fight between Kurds and ISIS has engendered some new trends in Kurdish politics in the Near East. These trends are likely to have an impact on the course of Kurdish politics in the upcoming years."

However, Dalay also pointed out that intra-Kurdish reconciliation may be somewhat fragile considering past experiences and the brittle nature of Kurdish politics after engaging ISIS. Suggesting that the improvement in the relationship between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and PKK provided the psychological condition for the long-delayed Kurdish National Congress, he said: "One should be careful not to become too sanguine in this regard, because there is still ample cause for friction between the parties."

Despite the Islamist nature of ISIS triggering Kurdish political actors to emphasize the significance of secular politics by featuring female fighters and non-religious people in the ranks of the party organization, Dalay asserted that this secular rhetoric is "clouded with the language of Islam" aimed at domestic constituencies. "In the end, the language of Islam adopted by its adversaries resonates with a segment of its constituency. As a response, Kurdish political groups have shown a willingness to play the Islamic card as well, and have adopted, at least partially, the language of Islam as a discursive shield."

Regarding the fact that the staggering of peshmerga forces during the first phases in the fight with ISIS portrayed them in a bad light, Dalay foresees the urgency of security sector reform and the need to do away with fragmentation in command structure. He said: "The fragmented nature of the Kurdish peshmerga force's command structure along partisan lines, divided loyalties of its constituent parts and lack of national imagination of its members can be cited as structural factors that crippled the peshmerga forces' ability to become a formidable fighting force. Both sets of factors point to the same urgent need of security sector reform."