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KRG Nordic Representative -
First published in the Swedish magazine Liberal
Debatt
If you’ve been to Iraqi Kurdistan lately you’ll know
that in Kurdistan they’re building like never
before. They’re building on roads, buildings,
schools, factories, airports, hospitals, mobile
networks, universities; in short, they’re building
everything, and they’re building everywhere. But
above all, they’re building on democracy.
The faith in democracy and federalism as the sole
rescue from the previously unsustainable political
situation in Iraq has engendered an astounding
belief in the future and an optimism regarding
Kurdistan’s never ending possibilities and
potentials. It is now imperative that the
international community does not turn its back on
Kurdistan’s achievements in the political process in
Iraq, but rather takes part in the new economic
prospects that Kurdistan has fashioned as a stable
democratic enclave in an otherwise faltering region.
Democratic process
For in Kurdistan, we are not only building on a
democratic Kurdistan and a democratic process in
Iraq, we are contributing to a new Middle East.
During the constitutional negotiations for Iraq’s
new permanent constitution, Kurdistan’s voice stood
for the democratic voice in Iraq. The Kurdistan
Alliance, consisting of a coalition of Kurdish,
Turkmen and Christian parties carried out a
persistent struggle against factions determined to
create an extremist, fundamentalist, Islamic and
undemocratic Iraq.
Kurdistan’s leadership has since the fall of the
Ba’ath regime executed a meticulously calculated act
of political balancing within Iraq. A balancing act
between, on the one hand, the will of the Kurdish
people so unmistakably expressed in the Kurdish
referendum movement; and on the other hand, the
demands of the international community for a united
Iraq.
During the January 2005 parliamentary elections in
Iraq, there was a politically independent referendum
movement that illustrated the strong determination
among Kurds to fight for an independent state. In an
unofficial vote conducted by the referendum movement
during the January parliamentary elections, 98% of
the population in Kurdistan demanded the right for
the opportunity to vote for an independent Kurdistan
or a Kurdistan within Iraq. In the Iraqi elections
the Kurdistan Alliance received over 25% of the
votes and as a result gained 75 seats of the 275
seats in the parliament of Iraq. Despite the
blatancy of the popular will, the population and
leadership in Kurdistan have remained committed to
the political process in Iraq; a political process
which has so often included concessions to
Kurdistan’s interests.
Kurdistan’s political demands in the new Iraq have
remained federalism, protection of the existing
Kurdistan region, the acknowledgement of Kurdish as
an official language, strongly rooted democratic and
human rights as well as the implementation of
mechanisms towards the solution to Kirkuk and other
arabised areas.
The constitutional negotiations resulted in a new
constitution for Iraq which was ratified in the 15
October elections when 63% of the population in Iraq
cast their vote. The new constitution was approved
by a roaring 78% majority vote. Now a federal and
decentralised Iraq, in which the democratic and
human rights of citizens are protected, is
guaranteed. It is also a constitution that
officially recognises the national, ethnic,
religious, and regional diversity in an Iraq where
for the first time the Kurdistan region is fully
acknowledged. The Saddam regime did however leave a
problematic inheritance filled with issues that
demand urgent attention.
Kirkuk
Kirkuk is one such issue in need of a solution. The
city holds a symbolic significance for how the
federal government in Baghdad will deal with the
crimes committed by the former regime. The solution
to Kirkuk’s current demographic makeup, a
consequence of the politics of arabisation, will
test the political will of the leadership as well as
their genuine intentions to remedy and reconcile
with the Kurds. Hundreds of thousands Kurds have
been driven from their homes and replaced with
Arabic families with the purpose of altering the
demographic boundaries of the region. According to
the new permanent constitution of Iraq, disputed
areas such as Kirkuk will be normalised in a legal
and democratic manner before 31 December 2007.
During this time period a referendum must be held to
determine the final boundaries of the Kurdish
region.
Kurdistan in Iraq now constitutionally possesses a
de jure recognised status as a regional government
with control over an independent budged. It has
access to a rightful share of the natural resources
in Iraq, control over all new extraction of natural
resources in Kurdistan, as well as control over the
regional defence the peshmerga. Furthermore,
according to the new constitution, all formal
decisions taken by the Kurdistan Regional Government
(KRG) since 1992 will be constitutionally respected.
This sends a strong signal to the population in
Kurdistan and to the rest of the world that the
successes achieved so far in the Kurdistan region
are secured.
The internal recognition of the KRG in the permanent
constitution of Iraq has also resulted in an
international recognition of the Kurdistan
government. The past month the president of the
Kurdistan region, Masoud Barzani, visited a number
of capitals in the world on official state visit
from Kurdistan. He was received in his capacity as
the president of Kurdistan by the American President
George Bush at the White House, the British Prime
Minister Tony Blair, the Austrian President Heinz
Fischer, the new German Chancellor Angela Merkel,
and by the Pope Benedict XVI.
Brutal history
Despite the many Kurdish achievements we will never
forget our brutal history and the tragedies that the
Kurdish people suffered under Saddam Hussein and his
Ba’ath regime. Two days before the opening of the
trial against Saddam Hussein a state ceremony was
held in the Kurdish capital Hawler (Erbil) for the
2000 Kurdish victims whose remains were found in a
mass grave by the Iraqi border to Saudi Arabia.
During the ceremony the remains of 512 victims were
returned to their home area of Barzan.
Today it is the Kurdish judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin
who heads the trial against Saddam Hussein; a trial
that illustrates the political transformation in
Iraq. Saddam Hussein and his accomplices will
finally be held responsible for the countless crimes
against humanity they committed during their time in
power. Just a few years ago the Ba’ath regime held
Iraq in an iron grip; most people thought the regime
would stay put at the very least for as long as
Saddam Hussein remained alive. The trial in which
the former dictator is held before a court of law
and made accountable for his crimes has great
importance for the population that was suppressed by
him for so long.
People in Iraq need to witness with their own eyes
that even the most brutal of dictators is one day
forced to face justice.
International support
In the rebuilding process that is taking place in
Kurdistan and the rest of Iraq, direct support from
the international community and the cultivation of
new contacts is indispensable. The possibilities
that have been created by the existence of
Kurdistan’s democratic enclave open up unique
opportunities for new economic relations between
Kurdistan and the outside world.
Kurdistan’s hopes for a democratic Iraq and a new
Middle East are shared by many people across the
world. Sadly, the potential role of Kurdistan in
such a process is often sidelined. Sweden can be a
part of creating the new Middle East through a new
Swedish plan for democracy in the whole region and
not merely in a limited part. A Middle East where
internal strife, war and authoritarian regimes are
exchanged for reconciliation, peace and democracy.
Kurdistan has a given role in this plan for
democracy. Not least, because Kurdistan is today
gateway to four topical countries in the Middle
East, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. And because
Iraqi Kurdistan has for the past years been the most
resolute democratic voice in the whole region. This
voice needs to be further amplified and supported in
a time when states in the region are moving in the
opposite direction.
Sweden can have a strongly progressive and
innovative role in the Middle East, and Kurdistan
can have a prominent role in a Swedish initiative of
this sort. Swedish foreign policymaking can play a
decisive role through the opening of a Swedish
consulate in Kurdistan, a suggestion also put
forward by Erik Ullenhag in his parliamentary bill
this year. Such an overture will counter the
existing consensus that stubbornly holds that the
Middle East is a region limited to one conflict and
one solution.
Swedish development assistance policy ought to
encourage the democratic aspirations that are being
nurtured in Kurdistan and not punish the region for
its achievements and consequently hinder the
positive effects that could spread to the rest of
Iraq.
Even the power, competence, and thus, potential of
Kurds who reside outside of Kurdistan, and have the
will to return and form links between Kurdistan and
the outside community, ought to be better utilised.
This force is in desperate need of support and
workable mechanisms for development. A strong effort
directed towards qualitative schooling in Kurdistan,
for example, may have a contributing effect to an
increased number of returning Kurds to Kurdistan.
Sweden can contribute with its experience, know-how
and expertise regarding the importance of education
for society. The possibilities for returning Kurds
to date have been severely hampered by the lack of
educational opportunities equivalent to European
standards.
Swedish consulate
The opening of a Swedish consulate in Hawler would
further promote the prospects for Swedish trade to
utilise opportunities to establish relations with
Kurdistan in ways that have previously been
impossible. One of the most important changes that
could enable closer contact with Kurdistan is
revision of the currently highly restrictive visa
policy in Sweden and the rest of Europe.
Kurdistan has opened its doors for international
investment, and the possibilities for development
and foreign cooperation are today endless. During
President Masoud Barzani’s press conference in
London with Tony Blair, the Prime Minister
reinforced this in his statement: “…one of the
interesting things about Kurdistan is that because
there has been the opportunity for people to live
and work in peace, it is a region that is much
stronger. It is economically stronger, it is
stronger when it comes to living standards, and it
shows what Iraq could become…”
The preconditions for economic development in
Kurdistan are beyond the ordinary. Notwithstanding
the vast amount of undeveloped oil reserves and
minerals, there are great water resources and an
abundance of rich and fertile soil. Kurdistan now
has the potential to become the world’s new centre
for organic agriculture. International investors
have the opportunity to take part in these
opportunities as the reconstruction of Kurdistan is
made according to international standards with a
primary focus on sustainable development, industries
and long lasting partnerships.
Opportunities opening
These high ambitions shine through in many contexts.
Since this fall the opportunities for contacts are
greatly facilitated by direct flights from Stockholm
and other European cities to Hawler’s new
international airport, and Kurdistan is already on
its way to becoming Iraq’s new centre for trade
thanks to the optimal conditions and high level of
security. The 15-18 September 2005 Kurdistan was
host for an international trade fair sponsored by
Motorola and organised by the Iraq-American Chamber
of Commerce and Industry. The purpose of the trade
fair was to offer the opportunity for companies in
Iraq to establish direct contact with foreign
companies with an interest in Iraq.
Economic partnership is a precondition for the
survival of Kurdistan’s newly won democracy and for
the faith in Kurdistan as a permanent home for all
those citizens who currently seek the safe haven of
democracy elsewhere in the world. There is no doubt
of Kurdistan’s potential, but its potential is in
need of various sorts of development.
In Kurdistan they’re building everything and they’re
building everywhere. General opinion misrepresents
reality in Kurdistan; it has to be witnessed first
hand to be appreciated as the true miracle it is.
www.krg.org
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