Rauf Naqishbendi | Exclusive to iKurd.net
Let us keep Newroz as our national pride. Let us ask Barzanis and Talabanis how to celebrate Newroz, when Iraqi troops are fencing our borders with their solders and Iraq intend to regain control of Kurdistan, Turk’s incursion in our land is expanding, Iraq and Turkey ganging up against Kurdish freedom fighter, PKK, and Iranian Mullah’s are on our throat. It all happened because they sold their souls to our enemies and betrayed our good deeds. They robbed us of our national pride and brought national disgrace upon us.
The American invasion of Iraq presented itself as a golden opportunity for Kurds, America invested in Kurds to become a beacon of freedom. A small nation to prosper and to be democratic to justify its invasion of Iraq. America didn’t do so from goodwill for the United States has been always the United Sanke of America toward Kurds but this time it did it to right its wrongs as its invasion of Iraq was so despised by the rest of the world.
In a meantime, Kurds were hopeful and elated glorifying the situation as the spring of hope, the dawn of a new age and fulfillment of their longtime dream of liberty and national recognition. They thought heaven’s gate opened before them. People did what was right on a sight of God to work hard, do good for one another. They took it upon themselves rebuilding the ruin of their country beyond anyone’s timetable or imagination without the government’s help. As time went by, their spring of hope turned to the winter of despair, with broken dream thinking they will go to Hell. Now, they are in despair knowing what is pending on the horizon is frightening.
It all happened due to two incompetent clan leaders. They cheated the nation; they betrayed the confidence placed upon them; they helped themselves and their cronies to get rich; they looted the nation’s entitlements and proceeds from its natural resources; they forced their control on the media, police force, court houses, the army and all government posts and locked the whole nation in the grasp of their power struggle.
Barzani and Talabani divided the nation into two, not ideologically but as a consequence of a power struggle that developed around these two despicable and selfish clans. They suffocated or undermined every voice for reform and change and muted every goodwill aimed at social justice and individual’s liberty. Not only are they disinclined to do good for the masses, but they remained as obstacles standing in the way of good deeds and good initiatives.
The list of atrocities Barzani and Talabani has committed against Kurds is long, atrocious, and painful to disclose. People in Kurdistan used to be communities of people upholding the sanctity of their community and their land. They were proud of their origin and their national identity and without it they would have been liquidated like many other nations in Mesopotamia. To their consternation, Barzani and Talabani interjected a culture of greed, mistrust, and corruption. They have attempted to root out every iota of patriotism to silence national exigency, and to clear the field for themselves to exercise cronyism, nepotism, and favoritism.
Prior to their ascendancy, people lived in a society where they were taught to give and sacrifice everything for the well-being and liberty of greater commonwealth. They were encouraged to fight injustice and the enemies of humanity. They revolted and sacrificed for thousands of years. They endured suffering, destruction, bloodshed, mass slaughter, mass imprisonment and genocide.
While all that was happening, Barzani and Talabani and their families were provided protection, and they were shielded from harm’s way. They lived abroad. People sacrificed painfully and greatly while their leaders lived normal lives. Barzani and Talabani lived like kings and princes, they never rendered any personal sacrifices. They were never jailed or were persecuted. They contributed nothing from their personal coffer to assist the cause they led.
They lost nothing and gained everything. None of their members ever worked even for a day in their lives as an average person to earn a living. Sure, they haven’t been Nelson Mandela or George Washington. Now more than ever before, there is a dividing line between them and the rest of the people. While people fear return of dark days and dread another genocide, Barzani’s and Talabani’ families are comforted because they can flee the country when it happens, as they did before. They have stashed away enough money in the banks abroad where they can live comfortably for generations. They had done everything evil in the sight of God and men and they have been delighted in their work of inequity; they need to be cast down and are not able to rise.
The injustice has gone too far and needs to be corrected or the Kurds can expect reoccurrence of their past tragedies. This dark cloud created by the debilitating immorality of unethical leadership must be cleared or an impending and shocking calamity will reverberate throughout the entire Kurdistan, and what awaits on the horizon will be far more devastating than even Saddam’s genocide.
Too much has gone wrong and for too long under Talabani’s and Barzani’s reign. It’s about time for people in Kurdistan to act, to right the wrongs, and to react to the injustices visited upon them to bring sensibility, sanity, and responsibility to a corrupted social and political structure. Reform alone will not be enough. There must also be a change in leadership. The intent of reform is to correct what has been mistakenly undertaken. But here we are dealing with a wicked leadership that has been looting the nation,.wordpress-1318350-4815544.cloudwaysapps.com a leadership that betrayed the nation in the past and continues to do so now. These leaders have committed treason against an innocent nation, and they must be dealt with within the legal framework and brought to justice.
Newroz, the Kurdish New Year is upon us. Should these corrupted leaders not be set aside, then Kawa is needed. There are evil kings to be uncrowned, despots to be buried, justice to be rendered, wrongs to set right.
God Help us. Happy Newroz.
Rauf Naqishbendi is a retired software engineer in the San Francisco Bay Area. A long-time senior contributing writer for iKurd.net. His memoirs entitled “The Garden Of The Poets”, recently published. It reads as a novel depicting his experience and the subsequent 1988 bombing of his hometown with chemical and biological weapons by Saddam Hussein. It is the story of his people´s suffering, and a sneak preview of their culture and history.
The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.
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