“They are ahead in literature. They are active politicians and are experienced in business matters. But they are splintered and never get along with each other. They will disappear from sight if they continue the way they are now,” said Saga Boström, adding, “No diaspora in Europe is as splintered as the Kurds.”
The Swedish writer and researcher is pessimistic about the future of the Kurdish diaspora in Europe. “This nation will vanish in Europe and will wipe out their indigenous attributes. They will no longer remain as a distinct social makeup in Europe in the future. They will melt,” Boström told Rudaw.
The ‘melting’ of any social group in Europe is usually considered to be a success – integrating into the host community. The Kurds have been very successful in this, according to Boström and other Swedes. But there are negative consequences to blending into the dominant culture of adopted homelands. “The Kurds have the most impoverished cultural lobby,” Boström said.
The Kurdish diaspora in Northern Europe grew as a result of regional events in the mid and late 20th century. There are now 6 Kurdish MPs within the Swedish Parliament, but they are polarized. “The Arabs are doing Arabization and Islamization, the Turks pursue nationalist politics, but one feels that the Kurds feel their Kurdishness only on their ethnic occasions,” Boström detailed.
Kurds have built strong political ties in Sweden and this could bode well for the future, argued a Swedish researcher and previous advisor to the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Professor Ove Bring.
“There are good relations between the Kurds and the Swedish government and politicians. There are successful Kurdish diplomats and strong Kurdish cadres within Swedish parties,” Bring said.
Bring thinks that the existence of these Kurds within the Swedish political parties is in favor of the Kurdish question. “These Kurds have had effect on the policies practiced by the Swedish parties with regard to the Kurdish cause,” he detailed.
But their influence may be limited if Kurds have lost contact with their roots.
“Unfortunately most Kurds within these political parties have forgotten their Kurdish identity under the guise of their engagement in human rights and campaigns against racism,” said Ismael Kamel, former Swedish MP with the Liberal Party.
The existence of the Kurdistan Network in Sweden, an official committee within the Swedish Parliament, indicates that the Kurds have been successful in lobbying abroad for Kurdistan.
However, “The splintering of the Kurdish diaspora in Europe is undeniable and is on the rise,” Kamel added. He is also a founding member of the Kurdistan Network.
“Defending the national question is a political duty which the Kurds working with the Swedish parities should shoulder,” he added. “It is complementary to the protection of human rights. Most colleagues have got this wrong. They deny their Kurdish identity.”
This is unusual among the various diaspora in Sweden.
“I don’t understand why the Kurds distance themselves from each other and conceal their Kurdish identity among themselves,” said Anna Sophia Larsson, a Swedish sociologist. “In schools, the Arabs, Persians, Turks, Afghans, Africans, and Swedes, they all form groups, except for the Kurds who do not disclose themselves to one another.”
“Most other diaspora get excited and happy when they run into a fellow compatriot in town. But the Kurds do not reveal themselves to one another, answering one another in Swedish when their fellow compatriots happen to have to talk to them. They run away from one another in markets and discos,” she explained.
“There are predominantly Arab, Persian, and Somali neighborhoods. But you will never see a predominantly Kurdish neighborhood in Sweden or anywhere else in Europe. You will never see two Kurdish shops or restaurants in one neighborhood,” she added.
Though the Kurds are fractured in Sweden, they have a lot of popular support in that country.
The famous Swedish writer Breta Oscbreng said, “The Kurds are the emblem of human rights and the embodiment of countering injustice.” He has decided not to visit Turkey until it changes its stance on the Kurdish question.
Support from Swedish writers and public figures is increasing. Last week, five well-known Swedes directed a letter to the Turkish president, asking him “to free the Kurdish leaders.” They were writers Jan Guillou, Sven Walter, Jonas Gardell, Kurdo Baksi, and the world-famous artist Lisa Nelson.
Boström thinks that Sweden is a good place to start an international lobby for the Kurds. “What was done in Sweden for the Halabja and Anfal is now being done by politicians for the Kurds. This shows the close relations between the Kurds and the Swedes,” Boström detailed.
“The Kurds have created the stance taken by the Swedes towards the Kurds. But the Kurds should remain as an active nation in Sweden rather than becoming Swedish,” Boström added.
from Rudaw http://ift.tt/2hCgwXM
via Defense News
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