Kurdistan and Catalonia Referendums

First off, hi everyone! I've been away due to school marching band, among other things. I'll try to be more consistent, however, I can not make any promises. Now, onto my views.

We live in a world where everyone wants to have a say in what's going on and people want to use their voice. I know I am one who does this when I believe I need to stand up. And this is what the people in Kurdistan and Catalonia did, they stood up and used their voice, however, they went about it in two completely different ways.

The Kurdistan Referendum was a legal, like minded referendum. Now, when I refer to Kurdistan, I am referring to the Kurds who reside in northern Iraq as they were the ones who held the referendum. And the Kurds are a people without a country. They have fought hard and long for their own nation and when the Syrian Civil War started, it gave them the opportunity and chance. As the Civil War drags on and is finally starting to come to an end, along with the rapid decline of ISIS holdings, the Kurds have a chance for the long desired state. The U.S., an ally of the Kurds, naturally supports this for a number of reasons. One of the reasons is that Kurds have helped the U.S. for a long time to combat extremists and have acted as an extension of the U.S. military in regards for information and as a base for Special Forces and with borders, it would the U.S. to construct bases along with other things. Second, it would stabilize the region. This is a double edged sword because for this to happen, it would have to have Turkey, Syria, and Iran to agree to the referendums that would need to take place in their nations and as of now, they oppose any and all attempts for a free Kurdistan, even the referendum in Iraq. However, it would stop the needless and religious driven persecution of the Kurds. Third, and might be the second biggest, if not first, issue, oil. The Kurds reside in an area of Iraq that contains millions of millions of gallons of oil, it's been claimed that it is a third of Iraq's oil. However, the biggest issue for the global community is that it was done illegally. Yes, the vote was done without the consent of the national government and the U.S., under the current administration, supports the Iraqis. And with this, we'll take a look at the other referendum, the Catalonian one.

The Catalonia referendum was held not too long ago, the most recent of the two. I believe that this referendum was held since the Kurdistan was not only held, but succeeded so the administration of Catalonia, an autonomous region in Spain, similar to the Kurds in Iraq, decided to hold one. However, the national government of Spain actually sent police in and shut down polling stations, with both sides claiming different numbers of how many were actually shut down. However, the referendum still went through with about a 42% turn out rate and it seems that the referendum succeeded in that Catalonia was to become an independent nation. However, this one was shot down than the Kurdistan one. The reason being is that the Kurdish referendum was not explicitly outlawed and there has been major support for this outside of the Kurdish population. However, the Catalan one was not only illegal, it was explicitly outlawed in the Spanish Constitution. Along with that, even the Catalan people are very divided on the issue as well. Many European nations and the E.U. has spoken out against this and so has Spain since Catalonia is about a fifth of Spain's economy. However, like the Kurdish, the Catalans are very different. They both speak different languages from their home regions. And they have very different views about their region as a separate entity from the state and they feel like an oppressed people.

And this idea, self-determination, is not a new one. This has been around for hundreds of years. This can be seen in the American Civil War, the Uprisings in Europe after the Napoleonic Wars, and right after The Great War when President Wilson laid out his Fourteen Points, his draft of what the Versailles Treaty should have been. This concept is not a new one, it's been around since the dawn of man. The issues, an ethnics, and the morality of such actions must be taken into account and greatly questioned. We must question whether the issues that they are putting forth is reliable, is authentic, or if they are biased or skewed. We must be careful and not to adopt a single story about these issues. We must look into the account of the Iraqis and Spaniards and deem if the Catalans and Kurdish people are in the right or wrong. However, as of now, the countries may become de facto governments, not de jure ones.