Now trending: Kurdistan

Today is referendum day in Kurdish northern Iraq. Some four million voters turned out to weigh in on whether to secede from the country and establish an independent nation. The Kurds are the fourth largest ethnic group in the Middle East (after Arabs, Persians, and Turks) and the only one out of the four without a state of their own. The referendum is non-binding and will not lead immediately to independence, but if it passes, it should give the Kurds considerable leverage to negotiate with Baghdad for their departure.

In many parts of the region, a festive atmosphere has reigned for days:

On Twitter, #Kurdistan is trending.

Just as in the west, many want to broadcast their votes:

I couldn’t tell if this voter was giving the finger to independence or to someone who voted against it. The caption wasn’t much help, but it’s nice to know that some gestures are universal.

Many wish the Kurds well:

Nevertheless, the bid for Kurdish independence has almost no support among the governments of the world, especially Turkey and Iran, who worry that their own Kurdish populations will get ideas.

Some find significance in the decision of the Turkish and Iraqi armies to begin joint exercises near the Kurdish border today:

Israel is one of the few nations that have announced support for Kurdish independence. Many welcome this,

But others see something sinister, as in this loathsome anti-Semitic cartoon:

Incidentally, despite being depicted as sitting next to Israel at the feast, the US government opposes independence.

Julian Assange, of Wikileaks fame, posted this cartoon:

It depicts the Kurdish nation, pierced by the arrows of Iraq, Turkey, ISIS, Iran, and a few others I don’t recognize. Nevertheless, the Kurds persist and climb the ladder of freedom out of the abyss and into the sunlight.

As we await the results of the vote, I hope that proves prophetic.

Michael Isenberg writes about the Muslim world, medieval and modern. His forthcoming novel, The Thread of Reason, is a murder mystery that takes place in Baghdad in the year 1092. It depicts the war for the Muslim soul between those who seek to enforce shari’a strictly, persecute Jews and Christians, and stamp out "un-Islamic" science, and those who wink at a few sins, tolerate their non-Muslim neighbors, and write science books instead of burning them.