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In a mountain hamlet so small and remote that it
does not even have a name, Aisha was drawing water
from the outside standpipe which supplies her family
of eight and her neighbours in the cluster of
mud-brick houses.
The spectacular ranges which crowd the horizon were
mantled in snow.
"Of course we'll all be voting in the elections,"
she said.
"If the weather's good, we'll go by
car. If not, we'll have to walk through the snow.
We're doing it for our own good, for the future of
the Kurds."
In 10 days of travelling through Iraqi Kurdistan, I
did not meet a single person who did not intend to
go to the polls in the first Iraqi election since
the downfall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The Kurds turned out in their masses to elect their
own Kurdistan National Assembly in 1992,
demonstrating a huge hunger for democracy and
self-expression.
That same eagerness is now focused on winning the
biggest possible bloc of seats for Kurdistan in the
new Iraqi parliament in Baghdad.
'National duty'
Because of the proportional representation system
adopted, the scale of the turnout determines the
number of seats allocated to each list contesting
the polls.
This persuaded the two main Kurdish parties - the
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan (PUK) to shelve their normal
rivalry and form a United Kurdistan Coalition with
Turcoman, Assyrian, Islamic and other parties.
So in that regard, the competition is not within
Kurdistan, but between it and the rest of Iraq for
seats in the Baghdad parliament.
Most Kurds seemed to see voting for the coalition as
a national duty.
"It's very, very important, I'm so happy I can vote
in this election", said Khanda Hassan, a housewife
in the city of Sulaymanieh.
"We can choose our leaders, we can choose our
representatives in the government."
"I think it's vital for us to vote, because we have
the chance to create a federal Iraq in which we can
live and have our rights," added Hoshyar Sinjari, a
teacher.
'Fateful issue'
A powerful and cohesive Kurdish bloc in the Baghdad
parliament would be important in its own right.
But it would wield even greater influence if it
holds the balance of power between the other two
main blocs likely to emerge from the polls.
These are the United Iraqi Coalition, which includes
the big Shia Islamic factions, and the
secular-orientated Iraqi List headed by interim
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
"I think the Kurdish bloc will be the first," said
PUK leader Jalal Talabani, who is the number one
candidate on the Kurdistan list.
"It's true that there is alliance of Shias, our
brothers, but I think after the elections, they will
not be as united as the Kurdish bloc is.
"So the Kurdish bloc will play a very important role
in democratisation, in balancing between different
groups and at the same time, in trying to implement
the principle of consensus for all important Iraqi
issues."
KDP leader Masoud Barzani says the vote is "a very
precious occasion" and "the opportunity has to be
taken".
"It's a fateful issue for us. The national
parliament will draft the permanent constitution,
and there will definitely be a bitter battle over
the principles and rights to be enshrined in it."
Focus on federalism
The Kurds will be seeking to ensure that the
constitution adopts the principle of federalism that
would allow them to continue enjoying autonomy in
the north, while also benefiting from a large slice
of the national cake.
Hence they attach huge importance to gaining the
biggest possible say in the Iraqi assembly.
Most Iraqi Kurds would prefer outright independence.
Nearly two million have already endorsed a petition
calling for it.
Booths were set up outside the polling stations to
attract more support for the independence demand.
Kurdish politicians sympathise with the dream, but
rule it out for the time being.
"Independence is a natural and legitimate right for
the people of Kurdistan," Mr Barzani told the BBC.
"But in this phase, federalism is the slogan of the
day and that's what we're struggling for. It's the
option for this stage. As for the future, let's see
how things go."
Flashpoint or success story?
Kurdish leaders know that any bid for independence
for landlocked Iraqi Kurdistan would attract bitter
hostility from powerful neighbours - Turkey, Iran,
and Syria, which all have Kurdish minorities - and
from Baghdad itself.
Turkey is also watching with a vigilant eye another
problem that has been left to be resolved after the
election - the status of Kirkuk, the oil-rich
province and city which the Kurds insist should be
attached to Iraqi Kurdistan.
"Of course it must be joined, because it belongs to
Kurdistan," said Mr Barzani.
"The Kurds were definitely in Kirkuk before there
were Turcomans or Arabs there.
"The situation in the city must be normalised - the
Kurds and others driven out by Saddam Hussein must
be allowed to return - and then there should be a
referendum to determine whether it should join
Kurdistan or not."
Kurds believed the election - which includes a poll
for provincial councils in Kirkuk and elsewhere -
would prove they are a majority in a city claimed
with equal passion by Turcomans and Arabs.
Under Saddam Hussein's Arabisation policy, thousands
of Kurds, Turcomans and others were expelled, their
places taken by Arabs from the south.
"The Turcomans are the majority of the population in
Kirkuk," insists Haki Ahmad Saadi, a Turcoman
schoolteacher in Kirkuk.
"Arabs and Kurds came after that. We are the real
inhabitants. We don't accept that Kirkuk be absorbed
into Kurdistan. I expect this to lead to civil war."
So far, major communal clashes have been avoided,
though tensions in the city are high.
"Kirkuk can be a flashpoint for civil strife, or it
can be a success story, and I think that's where we
all have to help the various mechanisms that are now
in place to address the issues in 2005," said Noel
Guckian, the British consul for northern Iraq, who
lives in Kirkuk.
http://news.bbc.co.uk
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