Kurds of Iraq want to vote for their independence

Dr. Kamal Sido | Exclusive to iKurd.net

In the beginning of June 2017 the Kurdish parties met in the regional capital Erbil and determined to hold a referendum regarding the establishment of a sovereign state on the 25th September. The presidential administration of the autonomous region of Kurdistan in Northern Iraq confirmed the date of the referendum.

The central government in Baghdad reacted with rejection to the referendum. The neighboring countries Iran and Turkey also affirmed their disapproval concerning the referendum. There are large Kurdish minorities living in both countries that are striving for more national rights. Since 2012 Northern Syria as well has a Kurdish self-government.

Concerning their language and culture the Kurds of Northern Iraq feel autonomous compared to the rest of the country that is mainly inhabited by Arabic-speaking Shiites and Sunnis.

In social media Facebook-profiles are decorated with Kurdish flags and colours. One can read a famous Kurdish saying from the 80s of the 20th century on many profiles. The saying originally comes from the leader of the Vietnamese war of independence Ho Chi Minh: „Ji serxwebûn û azadiyê birûmetir tiştek nîn e.” In English: “There is nothing more precious than independence and freedom.” Even if most Kurds in Iraq and other regions support the independence of Kurdistan, the question of independence is discussed controversially in Kurdish groups.

Respectable Kurdish politicians and analysts draw attention to existing problems in Iraqi Kurdistan and suggest that the Kurdish parties already look for solutions. A “concealment” of the existing problems or the “adjournment” of solutions into a time after the independence could have terrible consequences for a young Kurdish state.

At the latest after the awful civil war in South Sudan, just after the independence, the Iraqi Kurds should take their problems more seriously and seek more actively for solutions. The Kurds, who are surrounded by regional enemies, cannot risk another civil war.

Therefore critics of the process of independence should be taken more seriously. Instead of accusing the critics of “betrayal of Kurdish matters” the Kurds should gather and try to solve as many internal and external (regarding the Iraqi Kurds) problems as possible.

In the following I will highlight some of the issues Kurds in Iraq are dealing with:

1. The conflict with the central government of Baghdad concerning the belonging of the so called disputed territory. This includes mainly the northern Iraqi oil-rich region of Kirkuk, but also other regions in the Kurdish north like Sinjar, Khanaqin and Mandali. While the Kurds want to include Kirkuk into the autonomous region of Kurdistan, Turkmen and Arabic people living in Kirkuk want to stop that movement.

After the US-invasion in Iraq radical Shiites, Sunnis and pro-Turkish Turkmen tried to stop an annexation of Kirkuk by Kurdistan with all means. Additionally the politically dispute between the Democratic Party Kurdistan (DPK [KDP]) of Massoud Barzani and the Patriotic Union Kurdistan (PUK) of Jalal Talabani complicate a solution of the “Question of Kirkuk”. The central Iraqi government as well stopped the solution of this discussion. It should have long started the implementation of article 140 of the constitution.

This article states that Iraqi government takes the necessary measures to remove all the traces of the practiced oppression in certain areas as in Kirkuk by the old government, which have been pulled through to change the population structure of the past. Proposed are: compensation, reparation but as well repatriation. The borders of the northern Iraqi districts, that have been changed arbitrarily by the regime of Saddam Hussein are ought to be thoroughly reviewed.

A solution should be found in three steps: A first phase is supposed to obtain a normalization of the situation, in which the settlers can voluntarily return to their homes. In a second phase the displaced Kurds, Turkmen and others should get back their property and the old administrative borders are ought to be retrieved. In addition to that a population census is also intended. Finally a decision about the belonging of the region is ought to be pulled through by a referendum.

An own committee has been established for this approach to give recommendations about the detailed implementation of the different phases to the governments. In the event of a disagreement the UN Secretary-General is ought to nominate a person to take over this task as a final alternative. According to article 136 of the Iraqi constitution the whole process should have been finished on the 31. December 2007.

2. The solution of the “Question of Sinjar”. After the mass killings and displacements of the Yazidis by the “Islamic State” in their key area Sinjar in August 2014 many Yazidis have lost their trust in the police, the army (Peschmerga) in Iraqi Kurdistan and especially to forces that are connected to the DPK. On the day of the mass killings the Peschmerga of the DPK moved back leaving the Yazidis to themselves.

“The general of the Peshmerga and spokesman of the ministry of Peshmerga, Halgurd Hekmat, states that the Peshmerga escaped the situation. That is a shame and the reason why most claim untruthfully that there has been an order of their withdrawal – everyone responsible was ought to be punished. Even the Kurdish president Barzani announced a punishment of the responsibles, however yet it has not taken place.”i Now many Yazidis demand an “autonomous region and international protection”.

It is in the interests of the DPK and other Kurdish parties to thoroughly understand the “events” of August 2014 and punish everyone who contributed to the genocide of the Yazidis, to compensate all the Yazidi victims, to stop or contain the “Process of Islamisation” in Kurdistan, especially in areas where mostly members of Yazidi communities and other minorities live such as Assyrians/Chaldeans/Arameans, Shabak, Armenians and Kakai/ Ahle Hagg.

The radical Islam, the Kurdish as well, is a death threat to Yazidis and all Non-Muslims in Kurdistan. A fulfilment of these and other demands of the Yazidis could lead into a new trust of Yazidi to their Muslim and Kurdish neighbours. Then there would be good chances for an autonomy of Sinjar within Kurdistan.

3. An Agreement between Kurds and Christian Assyrians/ Arameans/ Chaldeans about the future of the Nineveh plain needs to be achieved. An autonomous solution for the regions north and east of Mosul could encourage the majority of the Christians as well, who are a big minority in those regions, to decide to join Kurdistan with their regions.

4. Forming of a unified police force, army, security service, justice and all the other public authorities. There must not be parallel administrations in the territory of the DPK and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). Since the beginning of the 90s of the 20th century yet two administrations exist that are acting independently of one another and are even competing with each other.

A warrant of arrest issued in the territory of the PUK has no validity in the territory of the DPK. A unified government needs to be formed for Kurdistan. By doing so the influence of the parties, especially of the DPK and PUK, on the administration work needs to be limited.

5. Reestablishment of the parliament of Kurdistan. Since 2015 the president of the parliament, who belongs to the opposition party “Goran”, no longer has access to the regional capital. Previously the Goran-Party had refused to extend the term of office of president Barzani. It ended in August 2015, but he yet remains in power. [ii]

6. The solution of the crisis regarding the presidency of Kurdistan. The Kurdish parties urgently need to find a solution, which form of government Kurdistan is ought to have: presidential, semi-presidential or parliamentary system. Maybe even a monarchy. An adjournment of the solution of the question can have devastating consequences. The experiences of South Sudan are already noted before.

7. Reinforcement of the status of provincial council. For hundreds of years Kurds have been demanding the governments of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria for autonomous and federal structures for the areas in which they are making up the majority of the population. Therefore Kurdistan cannot be a strictly centralistic state. Kurdistan has always been a multiethnic, multireligious, multilingual and multicultural region.

Therefore the future form of government should be federal. Only federal and autonomous structures can prevent the concentration of state power and wealth of the country in the hands of one person, one ethnic group, one party or one region. Federalism could be a guarantor for a Kurdistan without conflicts and civil wars amongst Kurds in the long-term.

8. Complete freedom for all ethnics and religious communities. In no circumstances should it be tolerated that one language, one religion, one ethnic group, one flag, one party, one person or one clan is dictating everything in Kurdistan.

9. The “process of islamisation” in Kurdistan needs to be contained. A clear separation between state and religion in Kurdistan is urgently necessary. In a Kurdistan, in which more Mosques than schools and hospitals are built, the minorities will not have a future. The influence of the Turkish party AKP of Erdogan, the Muslim Brotherhood as well as Iran-loyal Shiite groups needs to be limited. A society, in which conservative and reactionary forms of the Islam are predominant, generally cannot evolve.

10. The solution of the “question of women” in Kurdistan. In future Kurdistan equal rights of men and women should be fully achieved. A society, which locks up half of its inhabitants has no future.

11. The balance of power in Kurdistan needs to change: the authority of the courts as well as the state police needs to be more powerful than the force of the tribes and clans.

12. The armed presence of the PKK as well as the armed presence of Iranian and Kurdish Parties in the mountains of Kurdistan needs to end. The presence of these fighters will lead into more conflicts with the neighbouring states Turkey and Iran.

13. The presence of many Turkish troops and military bases in Iraqi Kurdistan need to end too. The mere presence of Turkish troops in Kurdistan leads to dissatisfaction amongst Kurds in Iraq. The neighbouring state of Iran as well could take the Turkish military presence as a reason to interfere more into the internal affairs of Kurdistan.

14. The relations between the DPK and the governing party PYD of the north of Syria (Rojava/ Syrian Kurdistan) need to return to normal. This unsolved inner-Kurdish conflict has the potential to develop into a serious conflict. An onset of a conflict between Iraqi Kurdistan and Syrian Kurdistan could lead into an escalation between Kurdish parties and organisations.

I am realistic enough to know, that a solution to all problems mentioned above will not be pulled through before a declaration of independence or needs to be pulled through. The Kurds in Iraq are well advised to put a strong effort into solving the consisting problems and conflicts. The independent state Kurdistan will have enough problems which we cannot foresee yet. Therefore the maxim should be: Problems that can be solved today, need to be solved today.

Finally it needs to be stated that a large majority of the Kurds independent of their party-related disputes, favor an independence of Kurdistan, because for more than one hundred years the Iraqi Kurds are fighting against the foreign rule in Iraq. Kurdistan has always been attacked by different Iraqi governments even with the usage of weapons prohibited by International law such as poisonous gas. In the 70s and 80s Kurds have been victims of a genocide. At least 500,000 Kurds and members of other ethnics have lost their lifes in that time. The People of Iraqi Kurdistan have a right to autonomy.

(i) Otmar Oehring, „Christen und Jesiden im Irak: Aktuelle Lage und Perspektiven.“ A Publication of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung 2017, S. 21-22. http://de.reuters.com/article/irak-deutschland-kurden-gabriel-idDEKBN17M1WO

Dr. Kamal Sido, a prominent Syrian Kurdish intellectual. Advisor ethnic, religious, linguistic Minorities and Nationalities. He is a Middle East Consultant of the German Society for Threatened Peoples (STP).
Society for Threatened Peoples, Geiststraße 7 – 37073 Göttingen – Germany.

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