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California, Oct 13, 2005
Although a “Yes” vote to Iraqi constitution might be
a temporary bandage to cover a deep wound, a “No”
vote bring Kurdish dream closer to its fulfillment.
With all due respect to all of those Iraqi leaders
for their continuous effort to find a pragmatic
solution to the very complex Kurdish and Iraqi
situation and to modify their draft constitution,
they seem to be moving backward by voting “Yes” to
it this time.
The draft still contains elements that are not
consistent with values of contemporary civilized and
modern world or with the assurance that Kurds will
be able to determine their destiny by themselves.
The draft still contains elements of mixture of
religion and state and approves superiority of one
religion over others; it supports the idea of Iraq
to be a part of the bigger Arab nation that has 22
countries, but prevents ! the Kurds to have a
national identity and a country of their own.
As I understand, one of the cultural prides of
neighboring Arabs has been their faith and its
influence on the state to unite various rival tribes
under the banner of Islam.. Their faith might have
given hope to many disadvantaged people who had
questioned the existence of humanity and justice
without religion. For that reason, it is
understandable that they still think Islamic law is
the answer to what Saddam and alike have brought to
them. However, for non-Arabs, Islam, despite its
humanistic elements common to all religions, has not
been a liberating faith but rather a captivating
one. Because of the influence of Islam, the Kurdish
identity, culture, and heritage have been almost
lost.
The pride of the Kurds might not be a single
unifying faith such as Islam, but rather the
diversity of faiths in their land and the idea that
spirituality and believe in a higher power is
separate from world a! ffairs that are very much
prone to corruption and abuse. With this in mind,
imposing Islam or any other religion to become a
prescribed foundation for Kurdish life is an insult
to their free spirit. In addition, to expect them to
be part of the bigger Arab nation is even more
insulting; many Kurds have lost their live to assure
that their people have an own identity and become
equal with their neighbors.
I am wondering who determined that Kurdish dignity
is not as important as the dignity of other ethnic
groups? Who determined that Kurdish life, language,
and culture are of less value? Who assigned the
Kurds to be and remain a subordinated group of their
neighbors! If the Kurds determined this attitude
themselves, let’s mark them as subhuman and
encourage them to assimilate completely to become
Arabs, Persians, and Turks. However, it does not
seem to be the case, as evidenced by constant
uprisings of Kurdish people in all parts of their
divided land, despite being assassinated, displaced,
bombed, and gassed.
Now the time has come to put an end to this
humiliation at least in Southern part of Kurdistan.
Considering that there is now a stronger force in
the region that could prevent further destruction of
Kurdish lives, cities, and villages by their
suppressors, no time should be wasted by accepting a
constitution that is not consistent with Kurdish
culture, philosophy and way of life. Despite sincere
success for Iraqi Arabs to make their part of Iraq a
model Arabic and Islamic country, I hope Kurds in
Southern Kurdistan show their determination for a
free and independent Kurdistan by saying “NO” to the
Iraqi constitution on October 15th 2005.
Kamal Artin
Dr. Artin is a member of Kurdish American
Education Society, however, his views are not
necessarily reflective of all of the KAES members’
views.
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