Empire of the Ring

-Duke, how can you do this to me? Tell me why Russia is acting like a mediating country right now.

“You got me wrong. Mr. Yaniv has stepped up to convince Putin on his own because he felt sorry for Jelyan.”

-That old mafia has ruined everything for me.

Michael hastily called Youngho after hearing the news from Richard of the U.S. State Department.

“I think most of the Kurds will be moving, and it has nothing to do with U.S. interests, right? We’re going to convince even the hard-line militia members.”

-Only our intelligence service’s status has fallen to the bottom. I’m so embarrassed to carry my face around these days that I’m stuck in my office.

His voice, however, was not that dark.

The U.S. intelligence agency also seemed to have some sort of deal with Turkey.

“I’ve felt so bad for fear that you might be in trouble.”

-Oh, you’re worried about me, but you talked about weapons with Richard?

Michael must have heard it all from Richard.

“I just checked if the weapons supplied by the U.S. were expendable or not. If you feel bad, you can take it all. Then, I’m going to tell the whole world that you armed the Kurdish forces with the U.S. CIA’s budget.”

-It’s no time to be kidding. You just eliminate the force that will stop the IS from rebuilding. Likewise, Iran’s forces can’t be held back.

“There is a Kurdish government in Iraq too. If you help them, you can effectively check the IS or Iran. I want to be at the forefront, but I’m not in a position to be.”

Since the railway from Baku to the Persian Gulf passed through the Iranian section, Youngho had to maintain good relations with Iran. It would be stupid to provoke Iran at a time when it was under a high-cost railroad project.

-Why take the hard-line militia when you said you only want to take the Kurdish civilians?

“The militia is also Kurd people. Besides, I’m just saying that they will be accepted if they decided to come. How can I forcibly make them move?”

-Do you think I’m a fool?

“The Syrian Kurds are now citizens of Kazakhstan because most Kurds want to move to Kazakhstan. So it would be faster for you to find the answer in Iraq’s Kurdish Autonomous Government.”

-Helping the Iraqi Kurds is like jumping into another war. I don’t want to get involved again, but I have to think about the national interest of the U.S. This is a headache.

“I’m sure some Kurds will stay in Syria.”

-How can I form a buffer zone with only a handful of forces?

“And the arming of the Syrian Kurdish forces was on in its preparation stage. Why are you agonizing over it?”

-Do you know how much money have we spent on them? And it’s not easy to find such combat power, either.

“Then we can throw the weapons of the Syrian Kurds to the Iraqi Kurdish militia.”

-Huh?

Michael showed a great interest in Youngho’s words.

Youngho kept on adding,

“In exchange, how about providing weapons for the Kurds once they moved into Kazakhstan?”

-You’re saying it like the US CIA’s money is yours.

“If the hard-line militia comes to Kazakhstan, we will deploy them on the Chinese border. Is there any place more important in geopolitics than there?”

-Well, that place is as important as the Middle East.

“It’s a place that’s many times more important than the Middle East in terms of U.S. national interests. You’re not saying that we should keep China in check with Kazakh forces only, are you? The US CIA won’t be in trouble because you have a good reason to supply weapons.”

-Jeez…

Michael groaned in agony.

While he was in favor of the Syrian Kurds moving to Kazakhstan, he was in a position to use Kurds to influence northern Syria.

“If all the militiamen come to Kazakhstan, we will hand over their weapons to the Iraqi Kurdish forces. Then you can save your face, right? The president will even praise you for making a good decision.”

-All right. I’ll decide after seeing how many forces will stay in Syria.

“But do you think the Kurds will be able to easily give up the weapons? You know I can’t push them too far, right?”

***

Some Kurds were flocking from Syria’s Afrin to the Turkish border city of Antakya, although the migration was not yet officially declared yet. It was because they were anxious not knowing when Turkey would resume airstrikes despite Turkey’s promise. So, Kazakh officials were also sent to Antakya to look over the Kurds.

It was about 25 kilometers from Antakya to the port of Seleucia in the Mediterranean Sea, so it was the shortest route to come to Kazakhstan. Of course, there was a route to Batumi, Georgia via Turkey, but it was a very cumbersome one, as people would have to be on a bus for two full days and transfer to a vessel to sail on the Caspian Sea.

The preparation was not completed yet, but migration was already beginning, which was overwhelming.

If it was an official migration, Kazakhstan could offer buses for the Kurds, but for now, it was an illegal migration.

The Turkish government did not offer convenience to Kurds leaving Syria, except for opening the border for them to pass.

That was why Kazakh officials and Kazakh embassy staffs had to rush to get to the city.

The royal car ferry was also hurriedly dispatched to the Mediterranean Sea, as well as other car ferries from Turkey, and three new car ferries that had just been launched from the Danish Shipyard.

The urgent fire was put out with those ships, but more efforts must be put when the official migration of the Kurds began.

“Your Highness, I think we need to come up with fundamental migration measures. It takes five to six days to go back and forth from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. If you overburden the car ferry ships with a capacity of 400 people, you can have about a hundred more people on board. And if we mobilize ten of them, we can only transfer 20,000 people a month.”

Eriksson simply presented the figures and shook his head.

This meant that it would take 50 months if a million people moved. Anything could happen during the period, so more ships would have to be mobilized to shorten the migration period.

“First of all, we have to limit the number of people getting out of Syria.”

“It has to be an all-out exodus. If the people around you leave one by one, there’s a lot of anxiety among people, so it’s best to move them at once.”

“We’re going to transport some of them by land route. We need to consult with the Turkish government to figure out a way to get the train to Georgia.”

“Then the Kurds in Turkey can join the migration group too.”

Youngho felt suffocated by Eriksson’s remark because more than 15 million Kurds lived in Turkey alone.

On the one hand, however, the route through Turkey could be wide open because of the Kurds in Turkey.

“Eriksson, will the Kurds in Turkey join the Exodus?”

“Your Highness!”

Eriksson looked back at Youngho as he was dumbfounded.

“My ears can hear just fine, thank you.”

“I’m sorry if I yelled at you. I was just so surprised that I yelled without realizing it. Don’t tell me you’re going to accept the Kurds in Turkey too.”

“We can’t afford to accept them right now, but I have a hunch that they’ll come into our arms one day. Let’s first use the land route in consultation with the Turkish government. It’s a day’s journey to Baku, Azerbaijan.”

“Phew, you almost got me there.”

“Turkey fears the armed Kurdish militia with U.S. weapons, not Kurdish civilians. I’m sure there’s nothing wrong with accepting Kurds in Turkey.”

“I think some of them can join the migration, but the Turkish government will not allow the Kurds to return ever, once they left. Would the Kurds want to leave their hometown forever?”

“There won’t be many people who want to come back to Turkey since they had been in conflict for all their life. If some decided to join, we’d better accept them as well. Combined with the Syrian Kurds, it’ll be a massive blessing for us.”

“We need to see how much we can afford to receive in advance. We need to carefully examine the impact on our economy.”

Eriksson then sat down in front of a computer and started to calculate some numbers.

While Eriksson was on it, Youngho also came up with his result. He made a joke as Eriksson’s expression was brighter than before.

“Do you want me to say it first?”

“Did you also calculate in your head, too? Your face tells me you’ve reached the same conclusion as me.”

“There are more positive factors than negative ones. Right now, if the population grows, we can improve our land and boost our domestic economy a little bit.”

“Is there anything else?”

Youngho shrugged. He was not an economic expert, so he had no other ideas. Still, he could say one thing with confidence.

“I can tell you one thing. If two million people moved, I think we can increase our military force by another 20,000 soldiers, right?”

“Your Highness is right. It’s just like an expert that you limited military personnel to less than one percent of the migrants.”

“Don’t praise me for the rough answer, what is your conclusion?”

“I’ve made a big fuss about the numbers, but I don’t think there’s going to be any problem if we take up to half a million immigrants this year. After two years, we can take twice the number of immigrants.”

It would not be too late to judge whether the Kurds were well adapted to Kazakhstan, after receiving only some of Turkey’s Kurds when Syrian Kurds came this year. Turkey’s Kurds were not as desperate as those in Syria.

“Well, I guess we should accept some Kurds in Turkey. If there’s a rumor that everyone lives satisfactory lives in Kazakhstan, then the rest will automatically follow.”

“The Syrian Kurds are a humanitarian issue, but we need a national consensus to accept the Kurds of Turkey.”

“Yes, I’m sure people will be a little sensitive because they have to share what they have. If it doesn’t work, I’ll declare that the royal family will pay for the immigrants.”

“It’s beyond what the royal family can pay. It’s going to cost an astronomical amount of money.”

“You may have heard of it, but the royal gold mine can produce about 60 tons of gold bars a year. I’m sure that’ll be enough.”

“You’re thinking of giving it all up?”

“It’s a job to secure millions of people who will be the royal family’s strong background. I don’t think gold is the matter here. Also, I am planning to expand the royal territory to make it a production base for electronic appliances.”

“Oh!…”