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SULAYMANIAH,
Kurdistan (Iraq) – Washington's plan was to use
democracy as the glue to unify Iraq's disparate
ethnic and religious groups, but in practice, Iraqis
say democracy could actually be splitting their
nation apart.
Violence spiked again this week amid accusations of
fraud by Sunni Muslim politicians angry over voters'
approval of a new constitution in an Oct. 15
referendum. The constitution grants broad new
federal powers to the Arab Shiite south and Kurdish
north, and both regions appear to be using their new
powers to distance themselves further from the
central government in Baghdad.
Ethnic Kurds say they view the constitutional
process not as a tool for unification but as a means
of achieving their ultimate goal: breaking away from
Iraq entirely to form a Kurdish state.
Theirs is just one of the ways in which Iraqis, from
this northern provincial capital all the way to the
southern port city of Basra, are using the
democratic process in unplanned and potentially
war-provoking ways.
Shiites in southern Iraq have interpreted democracy
as the right to elect hard-line Shiite clerics into
the government, put militias in control of the
police and tightly regulate people's behavior
through sharia, or Islamic law. The new
constitution, at their insistence, lists sharia as a
reference point for Iraqi law.
Kurds interpret democracy as self-determination and
the right to seek independence. Aside from the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Middle East analysts
say, no other issue has greater potential to provoke
regional war than that of Kurdish independence.
'Like a time bomb'
An estimated 25 million to 30 million Kurds live in
Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Syria, and each of those
nations has deployed military forces to squash
Kurdish independence movements.
"Those countries have done everything in their power
to keep the Kurds from reuniting. Our problem was
never solved properly. It is like a time bomb that
can explode at any moment," said Barzam Abdulmusawar,
a history professor at the University of Sulaymania.
The Kurds constitute the largest ethnic group in the
world without a country of their own. But now armed
with Iraqi constitutional guarantees, large
government resources, two satellite television
networks and 250,000 Kurdish soldiers, Iraqi Kurds
say conditions are ripe for independence.
"It is a simple fact that the Kurds will never rest
until we have our own country," said Baset
Hamagharib, a magazine editor and independence
activist. "If this is a real democracy, then the
Kurds should have their right to decide for
themselves whether they want unity or independence."
No more potent symbol of their aspirations exists
than the yellow, green and red flag of Kurdistan,
which flies all over northern Iraq. Banned in
neighboring countries, the flag is the only one
allowed in the northeastern part of Iraq that
borders Syria and Turkey. The area is controlled by
the Kurdish Democratic Party, one of two dominant
parties whose leader, Massoud Barzani, holds the
title of regional president of Iraqi Kurdistan.
"We do not allow the Iraqi flag to fly anywhere in
the area controlled by the KDP," said Izzedine
Barwari, a member of the party's 15-seat politburo,
who called the Iraqi flag a symbol of ousted
dictator Saddam Hussein's brutal rule. "Under that
flag, 182,000 Kurds were killed." Unless the Iraqi
flag is redesigned, he added, the ban will remain in
effect.
Waving the Kurdish flag
In the half of Kurdistan dominated by the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan, whose leader, Jalal Talabani, is
interim president of Iraq, only a modified version
of the Iraqi flag is permitted. But in the vast
majority of cases, it is the Kurdish flag that
dominates the skyline.
"We are neither Iraqi, nor Syrian, nor Turk nor
Iranian. We were compelled to accept their
nationalities against our will," said Sherjaafar
Sheikh Mustafa, who heads the general command of the
Kurdish military, or Pesh Murga, in Sulaymania
province.
"Certainly, our neighbors see us as a threat. All of
the changes occurring in Iraq are a threat to them,"
he added. "At the moment, Kurdistan has the biggest
and strongest military force in all of Iraq. Simply
and easily, we could liberate all of Kurdistan and
reunify it. But we don't want to reach our goals
through force. We vote in Iraqi elections because we
want to achieve our goals through democratic means."
With democratic procedures firmly established after
two national elections – one in January to elect an
interim government and one Oct. 15 to approve or
reject a draft constitution – Kurds believe they
have never been closer to their dream of nationhood.
"We want to thank President Bush for making this
possible," said Miriam Mirza, an 80-year-old Kurdish
woman who carried the Kurdish flag into the voting
booth Oct. 15 when she supported a draft
constitution granting broad powers of
self-government to the Kurds. She said the vote
takes the Kurds "one step closer" to independence.
"My vote is for my nation – my Kurdish nation," said
Magid Karim Ahmed, a peasant farmer, after he cast
his ballot.
When the U.S. led the invasion of Iraq in March
2003, Mr. Hamagharib said he sensed a rare
opportunity for Kurds to renew their demands for an
independent country.
"History shows that when the Ottoman Empire
collapsed after World War I, our homeland was split
apart without anyone asking the Kurds what we
wanted," he explained. "The truth is that, after the
2003 invasion, Iraq as a country had ceased to
exist. So all we were asking of the Americans was:
Please don't do this again. Do not return Kurdistan
to Iraq without first asking us what we want."
He founded the Referendum Movement in July 2003.
Within three months, the group had collected 1.7
million signatures on a petition, which asked the
Americans and U.N. for a binding, regionwide vote on
Kurdish self-determination. The petition weighed
more than two tons. Despite presentations to the
American and British governments, the U.N. and
European Parliament, the initiative went nowhere.
Ready to secede?
In January, when Iraqis held their first democratic
election in six decades to elect a constitutional
assembly, Mr. Hamagharib's group set up separate,
unofficial voting booths outside polling stations
throughout northern Iraq. On the ballot was one
question: Do you choose to remain with Iraq or not?
Out of 1.85 million people who voted, more than 95
percent said they did not want to remain, Mr.
Hamagharib said.
He and other Kurdish intellectuals say they bear no
illusions that independence is just around the
corner. But many say the referendum had a major
influence on the wording of the draft constitution
and may have helped get Mr. Talabani selected as
interim president.
"We've been ignored. We've been oppressed. We've
been mistreated," said Ala Talabani, a women's
rights activist and niece of the president. She
noted that Kurds voted overwhelmingly in favor of
the constitution on Oct. 15 and believes the draft
was a tacit signal that Kurds accept Iraq as their
country.
"Definitely, the Kurds have a dream of an
independent Kurdistan. But I know the dream is
different from the reality," she said.
Because of the constitutional vote, "there's no
chance of asking for an independent Kurdish
country," Ms. Talabani said. "I'm not saying never,
but it's not going to happen now and not anytime in
the near future. Let's face it. We're not
Palestine."
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