DASG Blog

Dùthchannan, Nàiseanan agus Stàitean

From time to time on BBC Radio nan Gàidheal, on programmes such as ‘Aithris na Maidne’ and ‘Aithris an Fheasgair’, reference will be made to an organisation known in Gaelic as ‘na Dùthchannan Aonaichte’.  Literally, in English, ‘the United Countries’ is the meaning of this phrase; but, in English, ‘the United Nations’ is the formal title of this multinational organisation which was established in 1945.  However, the reliable translator is asked to translate concepts, ideas and words idiomatically, not literally.

 

As we know, the words ‘dùthaich’ and ‘tìr’ relate to the land rather than the people; the word ‘nation’ relates to the people; and the word ‘state’ relates to a political unit that is, was or will be established.  For example, Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales are countries; the Scots, the Irish, the English and the Welsh are nations; and the United Kingdom is a sovereign state.

 

But, with that said, what can be said about the people who live on land that is divided by borders that are recognised formally and officially in international law?  Is the land on which they live a ‘country’?  Are they a ‘nation’?  Of which ‘states’ are they citizens or free men or free women?  And what can be said about the people who live in a country which is situated entirely within the borders of a group of other countries?

 

About the Basques, for example, it is possible to say that they are a nation, although the Basque Country is divided formally and officially in international law by the border between the French Republic and the Kingdom of Spain.  Likewise, it is possible to say that the Catalans are a nation, although the land of the Catalans  –  Catalonia  –  is divided by the same border.  But, about the Kurds, who live under the control of the nations which surround them, what can be said?  Nowadays, the land of the Kurds  –  Kurdistan  –  is divided by the frontiers of four, sovereign states:  the Islamic Republic of Iran; the Republic of Iraq; the Syrian Arab Republic; and the Republic of Turkey.  For that reason, it can be said that the Kurds are a ‘stateless nation’, although every Kurdish man and every Kurdish woman will be a citizen of one of these four, sovereign states which own Kurdistan in international law.

 

When all is said and done, if fairness were to prevail, the Kurds would have their own united and sovereign state, as would the Basques and the Catalans.  And if the United Nations were to have the proper powers, it is they who would ensure that such states would be established in accordance with international law.  Unfortunately, however, this organisation does not have such powers  –  yet!