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Koysinjaq : The hometown of Jalal Talabani was
the scene of rapturous celebrations after he was
named as Iraqi president.
Uniformed soldiers danced in the streets, supporters
cheered and loudspeakers boomed patriotic tunes
throughout Kurdistan following the announcement that
a Kurdish leader, Jalal Talabani, is the first
democratically elected president of Iraq.
But nowhere were the April 6 celebrations quite as
heartfelt as in Koysinjaq, the hometown of the man
they call "Mam", or Uncle, Jalal.
In Koysinjaq, more commonly known as Koya, the
streets filled with thousands of jubilant residents.
Car horns honked and children waved the Kurdish
flag.
"No one has seen democracy in Iraq before. From now
on, it will spread throughout Iraq," said Amir Baqi
Agha, 54, a veteran peshmerga or guerrilla fighter.
"As a resident of Koya, I'm very happy and proud
that a man from my town has been named Iraqi
president."
Sheikh Salah Sharaf, the governor of Erbil and a
relative of Talabani, said Koya has always been
known as a centre for intellectuals and resistance
figures and if Talabani had proved the "kingmaker"
in contemporary politics, it was as a result of this
environment.
"Every Kurdish political faction has had a branch in
Koya, even the ones based outside Iraqi Kurdistan.
Of course, being brought up in an atmosphere like
this has an impact on him," said Sharaf.
Twenty-four year-old Rekan Qadir, a teacher at the
Institute of Fine Arts in Koya, said Talabani's
success was a final reward for a population which
had persisted in the face of oppression, "I think
the dreams of the Kurdish people and the martyrs
have come true. With this step, we feel that we are
no longer second-class citizens."
Talabani was selected as president by the new Iraqi
National Assembly two months after the election. His
first responsibility will be to appoint Ibrahim al-Jaafari,
a Shia Arab, as prime minister, so that a government
can be formed.
The distribution of top posts among Iraq's various
ethnic and religious groups represents the
culmination of weeks of negotiations between the
Shia-led United Iraqi Alliance, which won the bulk
of votes in January's election, and the Kurds, whose
second place assured them a role in shaping how Iraq
is governed.
Accepting the position in a televised broadcast
watched by many Iraqis, including Talabani's old
nemesis Saddam Hussein from his Baghdad cell, the
new president spoke of his plan to create "a
democratic, free Iraq with individual and public
freedoms".
In an effort to bury the divisions of the past,
Talabani said that his would be a presidency for all
the people of Iraq. He called on members of
parliament to "realise a new Iraq free of tribal and
ethnic discrimination, repression and autocracy, and
to work towards the formation of an independent and
united Iraq on the basis of democracy, federalism,
human rights and equal citizenship for all".
Talabani was born in 1933 and brought up in the Koya
neighborhood of Bayiz Agha. He began his political
activities in the Fifties, joining the Kurdistan
Students' Union which then became affiliated with
the Kurdistan Democratic Party, KDP. It was only a
matter of time before he had risen through the ranks
to become a senior KDP party member.
Talabani was schooled in Koya until he left for
secondary school in Erbil, then Kirkuk and finally
Baghdad, where he enrolled in law school. Sheikh
Sharaf describes the young Talabani as an earnest
man, "He was always busy reading."
His politics drew the ire of the Baath regime and in
1963 the Talabani family home in Koya was burned
down by government forces.
It was a long road that looked unlikely to end in a
presidency. The Shah of Iran's alliance with Saddam
Hussein in 1974 caused the Kurdish revolt to
collapse. In 1975, Talabani formed a new group, the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, PUK, to reinvigorate
the campaign and a year later, they declared war on
the central government.
Since then, 900 people in Koya have paid with their
lives. The Anfal campaign, waged by Saddam Hussein's
regime against the Kurds in 1988, led to the
destruction of more than 170 of the surrounding
villages and the death or disappearance of 1,700
people.
The Gulf War of 1991 was closely followed by the
uprising in which the Kurds took advantage of
Saddam's weakened position to liberate their region
and establish a self-ruling region in the north.
For former peshmerga Baqi Agha, Talabani's elevation
to the presidency has made the sacrifices Kurds have
made over the decades worthwhile, "Neither my
struggle nor that of my friends has been in vain."
Despite the legacy of the past, Kurds in Koya insist
that their leader will treat all Iraqis fairly,
regardless of their background.
Huner Abdullah, a wood sculptor, said, "Talabani is
a man of justice, he won't discriminate against
people. He is not biased in a national way."
Abdullah believes the influence of Koya's son will
go beyond Iraq, "Any change here will have an impact
elsewhere. I hope Iraq will be a starting point for
radical change across the whole Middle East."
Jalal Talabani was sworn in as president on April 7,
and celebrations continued throughout the weekend.
Mariwan Hamarasheed is an IWPR translator in
Sulaimaniyah.
www.iwpr.net
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