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Hero Talabani: I will not live a single
day in a fundamentalist Kurdish state
9.12.2005
By Alister Bull - Kurds wary of Shi'ite Islamists in
coming election
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SULAIMANIYAH,
Kurdistan-Iraq, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Iraq's Kurds have
a lot at stake in elections next week, and one
message they are sending to rivals ahead of the vote
is that they don't want to see another government
led by Islamist Shi'ites emerge.
"I am a Kurd to my bones, and in a fundamentalist
Kurdish state I will not live a single day," said
Hero Talabani, the wife of Iraqi President Jalal
Talabani, who leads one of the two parties that
dominate the northern Kurdish region.
Persecuted for decades by Saddam Hussein, the Kurds
performed strongly in Iraq's first post-war
elections in January, securing nearly 30 percent of
the vote and eventually forming a government with
the winning Shi'ite Islamist alliance.
When the country holds elections for a new
parliament on Dec. 15, the Kurds, who make up a
fifth of the population, are hoping to at least
protect their political gains.
If they again emerge as kingmakers -- the bloc whose
support other parties need to form a government --
they will think twice about signing up with a
staunchly Islamist ally again, particularly as
religious tensions deepen by the day. |
Hero Talabani, Iraq first lady - wife of Iraqi
President Jalal Talabani
Photo: KurdSat TV |
And if anyone has any doubts about their position,
they are holding onto the threat of secession -- the
long-held Kurdish dream of separating from Iraq to
form their own country.
"If an Islamic party becomes the government in Iraq
... or if there is a civil war between the Sunnis
and Shi'ites, then we will separate," said Kasrat
Rasoul, a former prime minister of Kurdistan and a
senior figure in Talabani's PUK party.
While Rasoul's words may sound like a threat, the
Kurds know they are a powerful bloc with leverage.
And because Kurdistan has avoided much of the
violence tearing the rest of Iraq apart, they know
they have good reason at least to consider
separation.
Were they ever to do so, they also have a
well-disciplined, 250,000-strong militia force,
known as the peshmerga, to defend their territory --
a corner of northeastern Iraq where business is
booming and insurgent attacks are rare.
But at heart secession remains a dream, and for the
meantime the Kurds, long-time allies of Washington,
are sticking to the line that Iraq is united --
unless civil war forces it to collapse, or future
stability makes a secession vote possible.
"When democracy prevails and freedom is everywhere
in Iraq, then the Kurds will have the right to
decide for themselves," said Rasoul.
KINGMAKERS AGAIN?
Rasoul's and Talabani's shot across the bows on
religion would appear to play a dual purpose --
warning the Islamist Shi'ites in government that the
Kurds may not so easily become partners this time
around, and tempering any political challenge from
the Kurdish Islamic Union in Kurdistan.
The KIU, the third biggest party in Kurdistan after
the PUK and the KDP, was on the same list as its two
rivals in the last election, but has split off to
run alone in next week's vote.
Despite their wariness of the Islamists, the largely
secular Kurds have not ruled out serving in another
government that includes religious parties, as long
as democracy is paramount.
Having held top government positions for the past
year, they are not going to let any of that
influence go.
"There are two top posts in Iraq, the president and
the prime minister. And there are two main
nationalities, the Arabs and the Kurds," said Rasoul.
"The Kurds should have one and the Arabs the other."
However, the Kurdish list may not do as well next
week as it did in January. At the last election most
Sunni Arabs did not vote, but this time they are
expected to turn out strongly.
Yet if the Kurds secure at least 50 seats in the
275-member parliament after next week's vote, down
from 75 in January, it would still make them a force
to be reckoned with.
The main Shi'ite alliance's own seat tally will also
likely shrink from January, when they polled just
under half of the votes, as internal squabbling may
fragment its power.
It adds up to a strong common interest and a
powerful sense of motivation. "The future is not to
fight here but to fight in Baghdad," said Myas
Larjani, a Kurdish journalist, taking part in a
televised political debate.
Reuters
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