When the interim government in Damascus launched its assault on northeast Syria (Rojava) and Kurdish neighborhoods across northern Syria on January 6, a painful truth emerged in Washington DC: Kurdish diplomacy was not ready for the moment. As Kurdish civilians came under bombardment and the political future of an entire region hung in the balance, the Kurdish diplomatic presence in the US capital was strikingly thin, and, worse, largely ineffective.
There are two reasons for this failure. First, there are simply too few Kurdish diplomats in Washington from any of the four parts of Greater Kurdistan. For a nation of more than 50 million people spread across Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran, a nation that has endured genocide, chemical attacks, forced displacement, and decades of political repression, the absence of a robust diplomatic corps in the world’s most influential capital is more than an oversight. It is a strategic vulnerability.
Second, the few diplomats who were present during the crisis did not rise to the occasion. At a moment when Kurdish voices needed to be loud, clear, and unignorable, too many remained passive. Passivity is not neutrality; in politics, passivity is surrender. And for a stateless people fighting for survival, surrender is not an option.
If Kurds aspire to an emancipated future, a Kurdistan free from the colonial structures that have defined the Middle East for a century, then diplomacy cannot be an afterthought. In a globalized world, professional, articulate, and effective diplomats are not luxuries. They are necessities. Diplomats are the bridge between a nation’s struggle and the world’s conscience. They translate suffering into policy, urgency into action, and identity into international legitimacy.
The political authorities in Rojava (northeast Syria) and Bashur (northern Iraq), as well as Kurdish parties across all four parts of Greater Kurdistan, must recognize this reality. They must invest in diplomacy with the same seriousness they invest in security, governance, and media. That means training and elevating diplomats who are fluent in English, capable of navigating Western political systems, and empowered to advocate forcefully for Kurdish rights and freedoms. The next crisis will come, the Middle East guarantees it, and Kurds cannot afford to be unprepared again.
Yet amid this diplomatic vacuum, something remarkable happened. Kurdish journalists in Washington stepped into the void. They became, in effect, the diplomats Kurds did not have.
Reporters such as Rudaw’s Washington DC Bureau Chief Diyar Kurda effectively served as de facto diplomats.
They confronted senators, pressed members of Congress, and challenged senior US officials, including President Donald Trump. Their persistence forced the Kurdish plight onto the agenda on Capitol Hill. They turned press briefings into moments of accountability. They ensured that Kurdish suffering could not be ignored.
This was a triumph for Kurdish journalism, yet a red flag for Kurdish diplomacy. Journalists should not have to carry the diplomatic burden of an entire nation. Their courage should inspire pride, but it should also provoke introspection.
The most painful example of diplomatic absence came Kurdish areas in southeast Turkey. While Kurds in Syria faced an existential threat, too many political actors from this region remained in Ankara, speaking in Turkish and chanting slogans that reached no international audience and did little more than pacify anger among Kurds in Turkey. At a moment when Kurdish lives were at stake, their voices were needed not in the Turkish press and in the halls of Turkey’s parliament but in Washington, Paris, London, Berlin, Moscow, and Beijing.
History does not reward the passive. It rewards those who show up.
The Kurdish cause has survived because of resilience, sacrifice, and moral clarity. But survival is not enough. If Kurds want a future defined not by tragedy but by self-determination, they must build the diplomatic infrastructure worthy of their struggle.
It is not too late. But it is late enough to know that the next crisis will not wait for us to be ready.
Now is the time to invest in diplomacy before the world’s next emergency forces Kurds to learn this lesson again.
Feyzeddin Donmez is a US-based political scientist with a master’s degree in politics from New York University (NYU).
The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rudaw.