Iraq is a joint Arab-Kurdish country, a
Kurd likewise an Arab, could be elected as president or as foreign
minister. Those who reject this clear right of Kurdish people and
deny the real identity of the country are neo-Baathists who are
against justice, equality, democracy, and federalism.
The Kingdom of Iraq was established in 1921 with its present borders
(due to desire of British empire) on wrong foundations such the
compulsory annexing of South Kurdistan to Iraq, and upon divisive
principles like privileging some groups of Arab Sunni minority and
marginalizing the role of the Shiite’s majority population in
southern Iraq.
Furthermore, the provocative ideas of “provisional constitutions” of
the various Iraqi regimes came to the power in the “Republican era”
through military coup d’états aggravated the state.
Finally, racial politics of repressive measures took by the
totalitarian Baath regime particularly against the Kurds and Shiites
in Iraq, and its aggressive politics against the neighbouring
countries resulted destructive regional wars and took the Iraq to a
tragic situation.
The main cause of distorting the reality of the identity of Iraq’s
state was the racist attitude of the “Arab nationalist groups” who
were in power during the royal and republican reign. They claimed
and are still claiming that the whole Iraqi population including the
Kurds are a part of the “Arab nation”, and they consider the whole
land of Iraq including South Kurdistan as a part of the “Arab
homeland” or as a part of the Arab national territory. It should be
kept in mind that these Arab nationalists are quite aware of the
reality that “Iraqi Kurdistan” is a part of Kurdistan which is
divided among Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria and that the Kurds in
Iraq are part of the Kurdish nation separated by borders, mines, and
conventions among these states and within their framework.
Regarding the roots of the real Iraqi identity, there are three
axiomatic facts:
First: Iraq consists of Arab Iraq and South Kurdistan. This
self-evident fact was deduced by the Fact-Finding Committee sent by
the League of Nations in 1925 to the “Wilayet” of Mosul, where South
Kurdistan constitute the major part of it. The committee mentioned
in its report that the present Iraq comprises the Arab Iraq (Arabic
part of Iraq), Jazirah, and Kurdistan and that the northern borders
of the Arabic part of Iraq does not go beyond the line which extend
from Hit on the Euphrates, Tikrit on the Tigris, until chain of
Hamrain mountains (Fadhil Hussain, The Mosul Problem / Arabic,
1977:78). The great historian Abu Bakr al-Khwarizmi also confirmed
this issue 1000 years ago (903 – 1002) in the book “Al-Rasa’il”
(p.45-46). This fact confirms that Iraq is not merely an Arab or
Kurdish country (state); rather, it is a joint Arab-Kurdish country,
inhabited also by many other national minorities Chaldeans, Turkmen,
Assyrians, Syrians, and Armenians in addition to the Arabs and the
Kurds. These minorities have rights and duties similar to those of
the Arabs and Kurds. There are also many religions and sects in
Iraq. Islam, Christianity, Ezdiis (Yazidis), Sabeans, Yarsan,
Alawites, and Judaism. All of these religions and sects have their
own rights, which must be respected and acknowledged
constitutionally and practically.
The core of the second fact: is that the Arabs of Iraq are part of
the divided Arab nation, and the Kurds of Iraq are part of the
divided Kurdish nation. Considering the Kurds and other national
minorities in Iraq as a part of the Arab nation is simply not true.
Nationalistic pride and ignoring others is a detestable racial
practice. Not only because it does not harmonize with most basic
human rights, but also because it contradicts Islamic shari'a.
God created us as peoples and nations to get to know each other, to
acknowledge each other, and to cooperate with each other, and not to
prefer one nation to dominate others and impose its national
identity upon the others, as it is the case in Turkey and Syria. A
Kurd or an Arab in Turkey is considered as a Turkish citizen; Kurds
or Assyrians in Syria are considered as Syrian Arab citizens and so
is fixed in their identity cards. This nationalistic racism
contradicts the principles of democracy and civilization, about
which the secular regime in Turkey brags. Moreover, it contradicts
the concepts of socialism and progressiveness, which the Baath
regime in Syria claims to adopt.
The term nation in its modern definition is derived from the French
word “nation”, is linked dialectically with the process of
state-building in its modern meaning. It has only two meanings in
the political science or in the political dictionary since the 19th
century:
The first meaning is directly linked to the official entity of
people living together within the framework of one country, that is
the people of a specific country which has sovereignty and approved
international borders regardless of number of ethnic groups,
religions, and sects. For example, we say the American nation, the
Canadian nation, the Swiss nation, the Indian nation, the Chinese
nation, the Egyptian nation, etc. For this reason citizenship called
in English “nationality” and in German “Nationalitaet”. The second
meaning is linked to the joint historical origin of every people or
rather to their joint language and culture. In this regard, we say
the Persian nation, the Turkish nation, the Arab nation, the Kurdish
nation, etc. Therefore, if the Arabs in Iraq are part of the Arab
nation due to the linguistics or cultural denotation, then the Kurds
according to the same reason, certainly are part of the Kurdish
nation.
The third fact: affirms that a common country or a common religion,
or a common sect, or the size of any one national group in every
country does not cancel the identity, history, and the culture of
the other national groups. It also does not justify putting all of
them in the melting pot of the larger national group or changing
their national identity.
Otherwise, the number of peoples would be equal to the number of
religions or of great peoples only. Otherwise for example, all the
Swiss people would become German, and thus Switzerland would be
considered as a German country, because the population density of
German national there would be more than 65% . However, because the
Swiss system is federal and democratic the identity of the other
national groups: the French (18%) and the Italian (10%) are equally
acknowledged exactly as the German national identity.
Switzerland is so considered a German-French-Italian country. In
this way, the true identity of Switzerland is recognized. None of
the German intellectuals or scientific researchers will argue about
the roots of this realistic identity. None of them will claim that
all of Switzerland or all the Swiss people are German although the
majority of its population is German.
In any case ,as far as Kurdistan remains as a part of an federal
Iraqi state, Iraq is a joint Arab-Kurdish country, and a Kurd has
the right to be elected, just like an Arab, as President or as
foreign minister.
Those who deny this clear right for the Kurdish people in Iraq are
definitely “neo-Baathists” and they are practically against the
unity of Iraq, then they are against peace, democracy, and
federalism.
Its already three years since the downfall of the totalitarian
racist Baath regime on 9 April 2003, the persons who were suppressed
or persecuted in Iraq in the previous era are trying - under very
difficult internal circumstances and obvious external contention -
to build the Iraq of the future, a new Iraq.
They are doing this on the basis of voluntary union, parliamentary
democracy, and civilized dialogue among all the ethnic groups and
segments of the society, based on a permanent constitution, approved
by 80% of the people of Iraq. In order to achieve justice and
equality so that peace and progress will be guaranteed to all.
* Azad Othman is a political scientist in Berlin-Germany.
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