I do not believe that Mr. Barzani caused the crisis in Kurdistan

I do not believe that Mr. Barzani has created the current crisis in Kurdistan — Iraqi Kurdistan region president Massoud Barzani. Photo: AFP

Rizgar Khoshnaw | Exclusive to iKurd.net

I recently read the article titled, “This crises is spelled BARZANI,” written by Mr. Kani Xulam and I find it a little disturbing, as well as illogical, in some ways.

On many occasions, I have attended gatherings and meetings held by Mr. Xulam in the Washington, DC area and I find him very patriotic, professional, experienced and knowledgeable when it comes to Kurdistan issues.

I hold high respect/regards for him and I have been in agreement with him and his analysis in the past, but this time, I must disagree with him when he says that Barzani is the person responsible for the current crises in Kurdistan. I am very certain that Mr. Xulam means well and has no ill-intention toward Mr. Barzani, but still I want to give my thought and opinions regarding his article.

To make it clear, and I have mentioned this in the past, I am neither a KDP member nor am I advocating for Mr. Masoud Barzani in any shape or way. As a matter of fact, I have in many articles on iKurd News site made it very clear in the past that I did not support Mr. Barzani and make it known of my displeasure of what has been going in Kurdistan, especially when it comes to corruption.

But, since Kurdistan is now experiencing very hardship and facing many problems in all fronts, this is not the time to argue or fight each other. Furthermore, I do not place the whole blame on Mr. Barzani for Kurdistan troubles, but some of his corrupt personnel around him that he needs to remove.

At this very sensitive and critical time, we need to pull together and speak with one voice or we all lose. I think having Mr. Barzani stay in power for two more years should not be a problem no matter what “technicalities” other Kurdish politicians are using to remove Mr. Barzani from power. And, as I had written, and asked in the past, who is qualified to take Barzani’s place anyway? And if Barzani indeed remained in power for two more years, who will be hurt by it?

When Mr. Xulam says, “The majority of Kurdish deputies in the Kurdistan Parliament don’t share his point of view,” I do not know why he is placing so much faith on the parliament that can not seem to agree on anything and absolutely useless? I have spent the last 18 years traveling/working/living in Kurdistan and in my view, this parliament is an absolute joke! We now have a bunch of kids as parliament members (MPs) that have neither the experience nor proper education while other MPs are making “noise” to make a name for themselves! I think it would be very sad day to see some of those unqualified and unprofessional kids (MPs) be in a position to remove someone like Masoud Barzani from power and politics!

We have a very tiny nation and yet we have way too many voices trying to override/control politics in Kurdistan and disagree on the simplest issue. The way Kurdistan is currently functioning, we will never succeed unless some serious changes are make and made immediately.

And, when Mr. Xulam says, “I will add this: Go to the valley of Barzan, your ancestral land, and grow watermelons! You told me you love outdoors; the farm work will invigorate your old age!

Retirement will also give you time to write your memoirs about the unique foxholes of Kurdish politics.” I think this statement is not proper. To suggest that Barzani go and become a farmer in a village, and he is old, is showing hardly any respect toward a man that has devoted his life to our Kurdish cause and Barzani should never leave politics and throw a way his decades of experience no matter what.

Mr. Barzani should remain a major player in Kurdish politics and that is what he deserve for all the sacrifices that he and his family have made in the past. My only hope that once Kurdistan situation improves, and is back to normal, he would “clean house” and remove the corrupt and unqualified personnel within the Kurdish government.

In my honest opinion, the crises that we are now facing in Kurdistan is not because of Mr. BARZANI, as Mr. Xulam suggests, but rather, we have way too many Kurdish “politicians” trying to implement their own agendas. As the famous American proverb goes, “We have too many chiefs, but too few Indians!” We need to “retire” some of those useless and expired politicians, or as we say in Kurdish “Masools” and have few well-experienced, energetic and knowledgeable politicians administer the government.

This is the only way that we can succeed and move forward for a better Kurdistan. Only time will tell if indeed Mr. Barzani would finally begin to remove the unqualified and corrupt individuals around him.

Rizgar Xoshnaw, a senior Kurdish writer based in Washington, a longtime contributing writer and columnist for iKurd.net.

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.