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Iraqi Kurds Deserve Independence
27.10.2006
By Joseph Puder |
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October 27, 2006
The Kurds in Iraq appear to be marching toward
independence, albeit, they are constitutionally
autonomous at this time, and are opting for a
federalized Iraq. Should the Kurds decide to declare
their independence from Iraq, they will deserve
international (and U.S.) recognition and support.
For many years now, I have been asking myself, and
especially political figures, why is it that 5.1
million stateless Palestinian Arabs deserve
statehood, while 29,360,000 stateless Kurds have
been denied the same privilege?
Cynically speaking, it appears as if the involvement
of Jews in the conflict with the Palestinian Arabs,
pervasive anti-Semitism in Europe and elsewhere, and
the influence of oil rich Arab states on behalf of
the Palestinian Arabs has elevated the Palestinian
cause above that of the Kurds, and the Tibetans (who
continue to be occupied and oppressed by China).
Amidst the turmoil and violence Iraq has experienced
since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and his
Baathist regime, Iraqi Kurdistan seems to be a
relative island of tranquility and progress.
Fighting between the Kurdish factions of the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) led by Jalal
Talabani (currently the President of Iraq) and the
Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) led by Massoud
Barzani came to an end in the 1990s.
In January 2006, the two parties agreed to unify
their separate governments. On May 7, 2006, the
111-member National Kurdistan Council, the Kurdish
Parliament, voted unanimously in favor of a unified
government. Barzani was elected as president of the
region. Under the unification agreement, both the
president and the prime minister will be from the
KDP while their deputies and the speaker of the
parliament will be from the PUK.
It is in the areas under Kurdish control that
elements of a modern state can be observed: defined
borders, an elected parliament, a government, common
language and culture, a flag, a capital (Erbil), a
reasonably modern army with command and control,
diplomatic and consular representations by and in
Kurdistan, an international airport, a bustling
economy, and above all, Iraqi Kurdistan has a strong
sense of identity.
Unlike most other parts of Iraq or the Arab Middle
East, Kurdistan is far more democratic, secular and
moderately Islamic. Women participate in national
life, and civil society is vibrant. The Kurdish
parliament has recently outlawed polygamy - a
practice common throughout the Arab world. The
Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) has also adopted
English as its second language, after Kurdish, and
relegated Arabic to third place. Since 1991 many of
its youngsters have grown up speaking only Kurdish
and, increasingly, fewer and fewer Kurds speak
Arabic.
British and French machinations prevented the
establishment of an independent Kurdish state
following WWI and the dissolution of the Ottoman
Empire. The Treaty of Sevres in 1920, considered the
creation of a Kurdish state, however France and
Britain divided Ottoman Kurdistan between Turkey,
Iran, Iraq and Syria. It was formalized under the
Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.
The neighboring states with large Kurdish
minorities, and Turkey in particular, oppose Kurdish
independence. Turkey fears that its 15 million Kurds
might want to join an independent Iraqi Kurdistan.
Syria's 1.5 million Kurds, located in Northeastern
Syria adjacent to Iraqi Kurdistan, have been
"ethnically cleansed" by the Baathist regime of the
Assads in Damascus. Arabs have been sent by Damascus
to the Hasakeh Kurdish province after the discovery
of oil, displacing the native Kurds. Iran's 6
million Kurds are largely contiguous to Iraqi
Kurdistan, and Tehran's mullahs are not comfortable
with an independent Kurdish state; they prefer a
Shiite-led unitary government in Baghdad they can
control.
The Arab Sunni Saddamites are fiercely opposed to an
independent Kurdistan, federalized Iraq, or even an
autonomous Kurdish region, while the neighboring
Arab states (and the Arab League) fear the creation
of another non-Arab state in the region.
Considering the persecution and genocide Kurds
suffered under Saddam Hussein and the Baath party,
Iraqi Kurds have more than a legitimate claim to
independence. Saddam's gassing of the Kurdish
village of Halabja in 1988, murdering 5,000 men,
women and children immediately, and 12,000 in the
next three days, makes Kurdish demands for
separation from Arab Iraq understandable. The Bush
Sr. administration encouraged the Kurds to rebel
against Saddam, and when they did, the U.S.
abandoned them to Saddam's brutality, resulting in
the killing of thousands and the displacing of many
more thousands of Kurds. The U.S. is morally
obligated to support Kurdish choices, particularly
since the Kurds are America's best friend in Iraq.
The Kurdish Regional Government has presented its
demands to the Iraqi government, which include
adding the city Kirkuk (an oil producing city) to
its region and other areas with a Kurdish majority,
as a condition for its remaining part of Iraq. If,
however, a civil war between Sunnis and Shia in Iraq
should flare up, the Kurds have declared that they
might consider secession. Additionally, the Kurds
will bolt out of Iraq should it be dominated by an
Islamist government.
The largest obstacle to Kurdish independence is
Turkey's threat to close its border and airspace to
Iraqi Kurdistan, thus preventing the flow of trade
and commerce. It is America's role (since the U.N.
will not do it) to pressure Turkey to allow
self-determination for the Kurds, just as it has
pressured Israel to make concessions to the
Palestinians. If America is honest in its belief in
self-determination for all people, than the Kurds,
much more than the Palestinians, deserve their
independence. An independent Kurdish State and a
similar independent Shia and Sunni states in Iraq,
might be America's best exit policy for an
artificial state (Iraq) created by British colonial
and commercial ambitions.
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