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IRBIL,
Iraq -- At an hour when in Baghdad the streets
are deserted and police turn their backs on cars
rather than risk confronting insurgents, the Kurdish
city of Irbil exudes energy. It's going on midnight,
and the music blares, horns howl and people shout
and wave Kurdish flags.
Forget the thump of military helicopters and the
thud of bombs in Baghdad; this bedlam is the sound
of freedom in Kurdistan. And forgetting about
Baghdad is exactly what many Kurds would like to do.
Kurds make no secret of their thirst for
self-determination. They turned out by the millions
in Sunday's election to support a unified list of
Kurdish candidates, hoping for top roles in a
transitional Iraqi government and perhaps 30 percent
of the seats in the new National Assembly.
The questions coming out of the vote, besides the
results that are still being compiled, are how hard
the Kurds should push for power, how much autonomy
they will demand and whether everybody can keep the
Kurdish desire for independence from turning mean.
One indication of the Kurds' ambitions came Thursday
when Kurdish political leader Jalal Talabani
announced he would try to become either president or
prime minister when the new National Assembly
convenes. "We as Kurds want one of those two posts
and we will not give it up," Talabani said at a news
conference with another leading Kurd politician,
Massoud Barzani.
Though the Kurds seem content for now with their
status of autonomy and the scripted future of a
federalist Iraq, the fate of the northern city of
Kirkuk is of immediate concern.
Kurds think of Kirkuk as the heart of Kurdistan.
They want the borders changed to reflect that. But
Kirkuk is an important city even beyond its
symbolism to the Kurds; it is rich in oil, for one
thing. Finding compromise and maintaining peace
there would go a long way toward keeping Kurdistan a
calm and contributing part of Iraq.
"The majority of people in the Kirkuk region are
Kurds, and they have to run themselves," said
Mohammed Kamal of the Kurdish Democratic Party, who
ran in Sunday's balloting for the Kirkuk provincial
council. "We are going to return Kirkuk to the place
it was years ago, but we will protect the rights of
the people."
Kurds want homes back
Property rights are most in dispute. Kurds want back
their homes and lands taken away during Saddam
Hussein's Arabization drive, which expelled mostly
Kurdish and Turkmen families and replaced them with
Arabs from the south. The New Arabs, as they are
called, want to stay in homes where they have built
lives and raised families.
Besides, while Kirkuk has its share of insurgent
violence, its Arab residents find it a more secure
alternative than some other parts of Iraq where they
might be forced to relocate.
Kurdish leaders say the right things publicly. But
there is often a hint of frustration, if not malice,
in their comments about what should be done with the
New Arabs. Some Kurds make a point of emphasizing
harmony only among Turkmen, Christians and "original
Arabs." Armed Kurds have already chased some New
Arabs from their homes.
"We cannot solve a mistake with a mistake," said
Gen. Sherko Shakir, chief of police for Kirkuk
province, dismissing the idea that there will be a
wholesale uprooting of Arab families. "Even if they
have terrorists among them, it's a matter of law.
"I do not believe Kirkuk is a time bomb. On the
contrary, the diversity here is the strongest
element to maintaining security. Each group in
Kirkuk is afraid of the other groups. No one wants
to make the first move in this game."
Average Kurds embrace the official mix of caution
and determination about Kirkuk.
Aras Jaff, 55, a Halabja businessman, said there
could be no doubt that Kirkuk is Kurdish: "Like
Jerusalem is in the heart of the Arabs, Kirkuk is in
the heart of the Kurds," Jaff said.
But Jaff concluded by saying, "We will solve it with
elections and democracy, not with weapons."
Kamal, the candidate for the provincial government,
spoke confidently of creating a Kirkuk in which a
person's ethnicity or religion would not matter. But
he knew exactly how many candidates from each ethnic
and religious group were on his Brotherhood list--26
Kurds, with the three other groups splitting up the
15 other positions.
If most of Iraq's 5 million Kurds see a day when
they will have their own nation, they also express a
willingness to wait.
"It is too early to discuss separation," said Jaff,
the Halabja businessman. "We have so many friends
and relatives in the south, through marriage and our
shared history. This won't be a problem if the
neighboring countries leave us alone."
That is a big if. Turkey, Syria and Iran worry that
independence for Iraqi Kurds would embolden
separatist-minded Kurds in their own countries. The
United States is against an independent Kurdistan as
well. Just about everyone is either encouraging or
threatening the Kurds to be happy with the autonomy
they now have in the three of Iraq's 18 provinces
the Kurds control.
Independence hopes
"There is not a single Kurd who in his heart does
not want independence, but the people are very
smart. They understand the realities. They are ready
to remain part of Iraq," said Omar Fattah of the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, a senior Kurdish
official in Sulaymaniyah. "Our neighbors certainly
would not be very happy to have an independent
Kurdistan."
Given that Iraqi security forces, even with the
backing of 150,000 U.S. troops, cannot put down a
Sunni Arab insurgency, they would be hard pressed to
do anything militarily to put down a Kurdish
secession. Some of the best soldiers in the Iraqi
security forces are former Kurdish pesh merga
fighters, and there are tens of thousands more pesh
merga.
But Turkey is another matter. Turkish troops are
already deployed along the border within Iraq.
Kurds who voted Sunday characterized the election as
a blow for freedom and a step toward a Kurdish
nation. It is their time, they said.
"Everybody knows that we spent the last 35 years in
misery," said Mohammed Omer, 41, a tailor in
Sulaymaniyah. "This vote is about preventing that
from happening again."
Kurdish struggle enters new chapter
Sunday's Iraqi elections were seen by many Kurds as
an opportunity to move toward long-desired self
rule.
- Who are the Kurds?
Most Kurds live in a mountainous area of Southwest
Asia. It is estimated that there are 25 million
Kurds, including about 5 million in Iraq. Kurds are
mostly Sunni Muslims and speak Kurdish, a language
similar to Persian.
- What is Kurdistan? (area map)
The land inhabited by the Kurds is generally known
as Kurdistan, although it is not a recognized state.
The Kurdish northern part of Iraq is a
semi-autonomous region within that country.
- Why don't the Kurds have their own country?
The Kurds are the largest ethnic group in the world
without its own state. Kurdish independence
movements have been crushed in several countries. In
1988 the Iraqi military used chemical weapons to
kill thousands of Kurds. After the first gulf war,
coalition forces established a safety zone in
northern Iraq to prevent further reprisals against
the Kurds.
Sources: World Book, Kurdistan Regional Government
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