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Most Kurds Favor Proposed Decentralization
for Iraq 31.8.2006
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Erbil,
Kurdistan-Iraq, August 30, -- In an effort to find a
solution to increasing sectarian violence in Iraq,
some politicians have proposed giving Shiites,
Sunnis, and Kurds their own semi-autonomous regions.
Proponents of the idea, including U.S. Senator
Joseph Biden, say decentralization would preserve
Iraq as a country.
At this crowded market place in the center of the
city of Erbil, almost everyone wants to see more
than just autonomy within Iraq.
One man says, "For many years we have struggled and
died for our freedom."
Another says, "The Iraqi government has not done
anything for us."
And still another says, "Iraq should be divided into
four or three regions just like Shias and Sunni and
Kurdistan."
Kurds in this region have been struggling for
independence since the end of World War I, when
their homeland was divided into parts of what are
now Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey.
After the first Gulf war in 1991, an attempted
uprising by the Kurds was brutally suppressed by
Saddam Hussein. To protect the Kurds, the American
military gave them autonomous control over the
northern region of Iraq and established a zone that
banned flights by the Iraqi air force.
Since the fall of Saddam, the northern region has
grown more stable and prosperous, as the other parts
of Iraq have become more dangerous.
Understandably, many Kurds support Senator Joseph
Biden's proposal to partition Iraq into three
semi-independent regions that would share border
control responsibility and oil revenues.
Salahaddin University Political Science Professor
Jafar Khidir, says the proposal offers an
alternative to what he says now seems unachievable:
that Iraq will evolve into a peaceful, secure,
multi-ethnic democracy.
"When it will not be possible to have a democracy in
a country like this situation in Iraq, then the only
solution is to divide those countries into smaller
countries," said Khidir. "Then democracy will be
more successful. That is why we say, or people say,
the smaller the nicer."
But Khidir concedes that decentralization could lead
to the break-up of Iraq and to increased fighting
between the regions over control of the oil fields.
Salahaddin University History Professor Kadir
Pshdary says the past has taught the Kurds that it
is better to be part of a strong country than to be
independent and vulnerable.
He says, "Now our leaders think that living in a
greater federalist Iraq is better than being totally
independent for a year, then losing everything."
Surrounded by hostile neighbors, Pshdary says, an
independent, yet isolated Kurdistan would not remain
free for long.
voanews com
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