I scream at the top of my voice: Is there anyone to answer?

Nemat Sharif | Exclusive to iKurd.net

The drums of war have begun to beat in Kurdistan. I regret to see again after years of struggle, years of suffering and Anfal operations, and the list would be long if we listed even some of atrocities.

Despite that we have a clear, correct and legitimate path to resolve matters between the competing parties, regrettably the news are that these parties lean to take a path that bear no pride or honor.

Preparing the populace and the atmosphere for another round of infighting instead of preparing for the ballot box. This will be branded not only by history but also by the Kurdish people as treason. For a Kurd killed by his Kurdish brother or by an enemy, is a Kurd dead.

The enemy is certainly the enemy of both. Whoever is killed, the enemy is the winner. Doesn’t he wish that both of them were dead together! We all know who the enemy is, or rather enemies are. In the tense atmosphere, the one who sends drones to fly over the PUK bases, for example, cannot but be an enemy of both KDP and PUK. Undoubtedly, he is deliberately pouring oil on the fire.

Any Kurd who wants to stand on the right side of history, on the moral high grounds, must side with the Kurdish people. He should think again and take a step back to declare that he is not ready to fight with weapons, but rather take his case to the people’s court (ballot boxes). This is the first step to prove to the world that there is a sensible man in Kurdistan! Democracy does not come through the barrel of a gun. The events in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah do not bode well, but they may be the first sparks of disaster.

Escalation, even if intended for electoral gain, often brings unintended results. Winner are those who uproot sedition. Those who invite escalation through their propaganda, consciously or unconsciously, are often use challenges, offensive vocabulary and undemocratic means.

How can the Kurdish people expect a sensible democratic rule from them in order to vote for them? Those who fear the ballot boxes are certainly those who work to disrupt them by all means. The people of Kurdistan know and are fully aware of their own suffering due to internal divisions.

Let it be clear to everyone that they will prove and with full awareness that from now on they are no longer prepared to kill their brothers. Enough suffering, and those who push for infighting will lose. It does not matter who wins or loses in the battle of infighting. All sides lose the war. This is the bitter truth, whether they like it or not.

It remains to say that there is a clear and obvious fact, that those who work to disrupt the elections by igniting the first spark of civil war again are the losers. The world is now preoccupied with wars much bigger than an internal Kurdish fight.

International wars in the Middle East and Ukraine threaten the world order and may ignite a war that the world has never seen before. There is no doubt that destabilizing Kurdistan will waste yet another opportunity for the Kurds in the event of any global or regional change.

Kurdistan might even lose its current allies and with them all its gains. Hence, Kurdistan this time may return not only to square one but perhaps to square zero!

In the first civil war (1994-1998), it took the world four years and four thousand killed of the best Peshmerga from both sides to wake up to what was happening in Kurdistan, to intervene or “order” a sleaze fire and the sign a “peace agreement between brothers”! The fighting has stopped, but the hatred has never.

The past has not been forgotten. Thus, it seems that preparations are underway for a new round of fighting, but this time between as they call it, the “uncle and his nephew”.

As evidenced by social media exchanges, and a spokesman of a major party commented once with a ‘sarcastic smile‘ “We are not against the Politburo of the Party, there is nothing between us at all, but this is between the uncle and his nephew.”

I invite all Kurds and friends to raise their voices against the infighting. I call on, I shout at the top of my voice, where are the wise men of Kurdistan to defuse the bomb? I hope someone will answer!

Nemat Sharif, a political analyst, a 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.