Don’t speak Kurdish, that is PM Abadi’s new Democracy

Yunis Mele Reuf known as Dildar a Kurdish poet and political activist 1908-1948 — Yûnis Reuf known as Dildar, was a Kurdish poet and political activist. He was born on February 20, 1918 in the town of Koye Koi Sanjaq located in the Mosul Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire (Southern Kurdistan). Photo: Archive/SM.

Omar Sindi | Exclusive to iKurd.net

One would think that someone who got a higher education in the UK, worked, and lived in London for years would be more tolerant in respecting dissenting views, but the snub Iraqi history is repeating itself using both forces of chauvinism and religiosity to bully the Kurds again and again. The Kurds people have defended their rights, resisted Monarchy rule, and fought brutal dictators and subsequent regimes in Iraq. The dreaded man Saddam Hussein thought that by cooperating with the Shah of Iran (granting Iran half of the long disputed estuary, which goes about 120 miles from the Persian Gulf to the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers) and by joining them in the infamous 1975 Algiers Agreement, they would be able to get rid of the Kurdish liberation movements, but history has proven that both of the dreaded men were awfully wrong. If history is any lesson, why isn’t Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi learning from his predecessors?

These policy makers in the West who think that the Shia led government in Baghdad is not influenced or not in the theocratic sphere of the regime in Tehran ought to rethink their positions; despite Abadi’s recent efforts to show otherwise, like his trip to Saudi Arabia, where he sat with the King, it’s obvious that it’s a facade, because Iranian leaders from Ayatollah Khamenei, to Qassem Soleimani, put in more vigorous effort than Iraq to politically and militarily retake the Kurdish city of Kirkuk, and at the same time, they made no effort to hide Iran’s territorial ambitions, from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea!

Now the Iraqi Prime Minister and his associates in Baghdad are trying to change the Iraqi constitution to eliminate the autonomous region of Kurdistan, and turn it into a province. The Iraqi and Shia led army, and the so called Hashed Al-Shaabi are acting like occupying forces in Kurdistan, prosecuting the Kurds in Kirkuk and in the other areas, and also burning their properties, according several media outlets, just like the former Ba’athist regime.

“U.N. asks Kurdistan to respect Iraqi court ruling on territorial unity”, with respect to the Kurdish Referendum status. Iraq is a voluntary federated state. In my view, the U.N. is utilizing realpolitik at this junction. There is overwhelming empirical evidence that the Iraqi court has become the mouthpiece of the Shia led government in Baghdad. Article 140 is a part of the Iraqi constitution that tackles the disputed territory between Kurdistan and the Shia led government in Baghdad. Had Article 140 been implemented, would this crisis have been avoided? Why has the Iraqi court not questioned the government on this exigent issue?

Because of the divide and conquer rigmarole used for generations by neighboring countries, they have been able to divide the Kurdish politicians, leaders and political parties, by pitting them against each other. As for those who cooperated with Qassem Soleimani, who handed Kirkuk to the Iraqi forces because of the grudge between the two ruling parties, there is NO excuse or justification for this kind of irrational behavior and betrayal… This despicable act is comparable to the event in 1836 when Mullah Khati issued a fatwa (religious decree) in the benefit of Ottoman Empire against Mir Mohamed‘s struggles for the liberation of Kurdistan.

As for the Arab man who forcefully instructed a Kurdish man in Kirkuk to speak Arabic not Kurdish; he should read this poem by the Kurdish poet Dildar, who wrote it while he was in jail in 1938.

“Hey enemy, the Kurdish nation is alive with its language
Cannot be defeated by the weapons of any time
Let no one say Kurds are dead
Kurds are living
Kurds are living, their flag will never fall”

Omar Sindi, a senior writer, analyst and columnist for iKurd.net, Washington, United States.

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