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Text of report by Roshna
Ail entitled "The participants in the Kurdistan
independence conference: An independent Kurdish
state is a legitimate demand and is not
unrealistic", published by Iraqi Kurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP) newspaper Khabat on 14
November; subheadings as published
We asked some participants in the Kurdistan
independence conference which was organized in Arbil
by the North American Kurdish National Congress "To
what extent it is appropriate to demand independence
for Kurdistan today and what is the impact of the
conference towards this aim?"
Independence is not a sin
The chair of Kurdistan independence conference Dr
Asa'd Khaylani said: "We decided to have the
conference in Arbil to show that Kurdistan does have
a capital city. The Kurdish National Congress [KNC]
of North America works for an independent Kurdistan
but at the same time it supports Kurdistan parties
and both governments in Kurdistan and we ask them to
unite as soon as possible to enable us obtain our
rights. It is a right time to demand independence.
As the president of Kurdistan region [Masud Barzani]
said it is neither a sin nor a blasphemy to ask for
Kurdistan's independence.
"In fact the referendum movement proved that the
people of Kurdistan desire independence but the
circumstances of Kurdistan require that we approach
this aim through political means.
"Although independence is the desire of every Kurd
but there are differentials such as reality and
emotion. In this context, the chair of Kurdish
community in California Mr Tahsin Atrushi said: Yes,
we must differentiate between reality and emotion
and between what we want and what we can achieve and
how we demand it. Within the current political and
regional circumstances independence is difficult to
achieve because we know that our regional neighbours
are against the aims of our nation and international
politics today does not support independence. So I
believe that independence is a legitimate ambition
to have now but it will take a long time to
achieve".
Two different obstacles
We presented the same question to the member of
Iraqi National Assembly Dr Mundhir Al-Faddhl. He
said: "The aims and wishes of Kurdish people now are
embodied in the slogan of democratic federation
within a federal, pluralistic and parliamentary
Iraq. And this approach has been decided by
Kurdistan parliament and is enshrined in Iraq's
interim Administration Law. Also the principle of
federation as a legitimate option for the Kurdish
people has been established in the new Iraqi
constitution which the people of Iraq voted for on
15 October 2005. This option also affirms the
Kurdish people's right to self-determination because
it is obvious that like any other people the Kurds
wish to set up their own independent state and this
is a legitimate demand in international law.
"The Kurdish people are an oppressed people who have
offered thousands of martyrs to achieve their aims
of independence and freedom. That is why, the aim of
conference is to explore and debate the obstacles to
achieving this aim and draw a road map and identify
right methods and tools to achieve it. Of course
there are both internal and external obstacles to
achieve independence. Internally the issue of Kirkuk
has not been sorted out yet, there are two
administrations which have failed to unite, the
Kurdish house has not been put in order.
"The external obstacles are international interests
and the situation around Kurdistan because the
regional powers do not respect human rights. In
general they are dictatorial and totalitarian
regimes. For example Syria has still not granted
nationality rights to the Kurds because they are
Kurds. But this chauvinistic mentality is outdated.
That is why, I can say that the aim of Kurdistan's
independence is an imminent one and it will be
achieved. Today Kurdistan is in practical terms a
state although it has not been formally and
constitutionally recognized as such. But in any
situation despite external and internal conditions,
the demand of Kurdish people for an independent
state is a legitimate demand and it must happen and
whenever thus happens, we offer our congratulations
to the Kurdish people".
Joint campaign for Kirkuk
The assistant of the governor of Kirkuk for
compensation and settlement affairs Mr Hasib
Qeredaghi said: "The preparation of this conference
comes at a time when the permanent Iraqi
constitution achieved great success and this
constitution includes most of the demands of the
people of Kurdistan. Many of these demands have been
fulfilled in terms that they have been agreed upon
but our struggle is to have them implemented. At
this sensitive time when we will have new elections
on 15 December 2005 we have to decide how to achieve
this aim in a very delicate way because everyone now
analyzes these issues to find a way for dealing with
them especially the Kurdish question and the
Kurdistani identity of Kirkuk and its administrative
incorporation into the Kurdistan region and the
normalization of the conditions of Kirkuk.
"Now Baghdad has a very bad role in all this and
tries to create big obstacles to the implementation
of Article 58. This entails that the Kurdish
leadership review the way they work in Kirkuk so
that they work as one voice and one spirit to pursue
a big strategic effort to ensure material and moral
support for the people of Kirkuk and other areas
which are under the control of Baghdad. I hope that
this conference will have a positive impact to make
the political parties and authorities aware of their
roles and responsibilities in relation to their
activities in Kirkuk.
Completing stages
The Secretary of Kurdish Human Rights organization
in North America Miss Parwin Qeredaqhi said: Now it
is a good time to discuss Kurdistan's independence.
The issue of [Iraqi] constitution is over and there
are new elections. In the conference the role of the
Kurds of America and Europe was discussed. What can
we do to support the Kurds in other parts of
Kurdistan such as Syria, Turkey, and Iran? How can
we adapt the model of federalism in Iraq to other
parts of Kurdistan? It is my view that it is a right
time now to debate these issues.
KNC Board of Directors member Ms Thurayya Saraj-al-Din
said: As KNC we work for independence. But we
realize that we must complete some stages before
reaching this aim and federation is one of these
stages. I hope it will be a short one. In this
conference and in the capital of Kurdistan we
conducted all the papers and discussions in Kurdish.
By this we achieved a great ambition we had to bring
the Kurds from all parts of Kurdistan together in
one conference. This in itself is a meaningful
achievement.
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