Kurdistan Punishes Thinkers and Rewards the Loyal

Kurdish Democracy Is Just Dictatorship With a Smile

Zana Tawfiq Beg | Exclusive to iKurd.net
Translated by iKurd.net from Kurdish Awene

How Much Longer Must We Endure Injustice?!

I consider myself fortunate to have freed myself at a young age from the glorification of imaginary symbols and distorted ideologies. I quickly saw through these illusions, without taking sides with either the executioners or the victims.

In an unequal society with a corrupt political system, it is difficult to tell the oppressor from the oppressed. You cannot make full use of your abilities, and within this kind of unjust regional political system, you are unlikely to be given the opportunity to demonstrate your intellectual abilities.

Have many political forces lost their political identity because of inequality and corruption in the distribution of positions and ranks?

Some of them claim to be democratic and moderate. They claim that their institutions are built on elections and the intellectual abilities of their members. But in reality, this is not true. Political figures are appointed to government and party positions based on personal loyalty, not on their ability to think critically. This kind of practice will undoubtedly lead these political forces and their authority toward decline.

Another group of political forces follows a particular ideology and adheres to a set of centralized principles. Today, such groups are rare in democratic societies. However, in the Kurdistan Region, these ideas continue to grow and spread, giving these groups the ability to influence society. They can label an article’s author an unbeliever or even threaten to kill them simply for presenting an argument or writing a critical article against Islamist forces.

It is important to point out that all these undemocratic forces, especially those that emerged in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, originated within Eastern societies. The conditions in these societies provide fertile ground for the growth of such ideas and ideologies. This is particularly true in Kurdistan, where the Region’s geopolitical position and social circumstances favor the strengthening of an old, conservative way of thinking.

This traditional mindset views weapons as a means of communication, treats political figures as sacred, and places personal loyalty above all else. This, in turn, encourages political inequality and creates opportunities for greedy, immoral individuals within political forces. Their influence extends into government institutions and executive bodies, reaching even the leadership of political parties.

The Middle East Prays for Change Instead of Building It

Muslim Kurds prayer for rain in Erbil — Governor of Erbil, Omed Khoshnaw (4th from left), joins Muslim Kurds in a prayer for rain in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, January 2025 Photo: Rudaw

Hashem Saleh, an Arab reformist thinker, has spent more than fifty years challenging this kind of Eastern political mentality.

He argues that many of the causes lie with the people of Eastern societies themselves. Instead of using their own reasoning to improve their living conditions, they continually turn to prayer in the hope of finding solutions.

This article was originally published in the Kurdish language in Awene Newspaper on October 17, 2026.

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