|
The Kurdish example
15.10.2007
By Falah Mustafa Bakir
|
|
|
|
October
15, 2007
In 1998 I was barred from obtaining a graduate
degree in Iraq because I refused to join Saddam
Hussein's Ba'ath Party. Luckily, a prestigious
British scholarship program allowed me to leave
Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region of Iraq,
and attend the University of Bath in England to get
a degree in Development Studies. I've always found
that rather ironic — not Ba'ath, but Bath.
Last week I again left Erbil, but this time as a
member of the Iraqi delegation to the 62nd United
Nations General Assembly. In the past two decades I
have gone from being a member of a marginalized and
oppressed group within Iraq to helping represent it
to the outside world. While the news from Iraq may
be dominated by terrorism and violence in a society
that seems irrevocably split by ethnic and sectarian
divisions, my being a member of this delegation
showed another side to the story: Kurds and
Arabsworking together to make Iraq's case to the
United Nations.
|
Falah Mustafa Bakir is head of the Department of
Foreign Relations in the Kurdistan Regional
Government of Iraq |
My presence in New York is also a tribute to the
leadership of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG),
the resilience of the people of our region and the
sacrifice of those who died unable to imagine that a
day like this would ever come. And it will be proof
positive that rather than let violence rip us apart,
we in the Kurdistan region are dedicated to
attaining a free, democratic, federal and
pluralistic Iraq.
Some have criticized the KRG's commitment to
federalism as a sign of Kurdish separatism or a
long-term plan to "partition" Iraq. But this
misreads Iraqi and Kurdish history. The Kurdistan
region had been a de facto autonomous state since
1991, with the advent of Operations Provide Comfort
and Northern Watch, the no-fly zone enforced by the
United States, Britain and France following the 1991
Gulf War. It was the voluntary decision of the KRG
to rejoin the rest of the country and participate in
building an independent, federal and free Iraq for
all of its people.
The Kurdistan Regional Government has shown itself
to be a model for the democratic transition in Iraq.
Not a single coalition soldier has been killed, our
markets are vibrant and our people are relatively
free of the terrorism inflicted on the rest of the
country. We are not perfect, but we are getting
things right. Our regional parliament has passed
important legislation such as the Investment Law,
which allows foreign companies the right of full
property ownership, tax and customs-duty exemptions,
repatriation of capital and the Kurdistan region's
oil and gas law. Some in Baghdad have reacted
negatively to this law, with arguments that smack of
the overly centralized period of Saddam's autocracy.
Our oil and gas law conforms totally with the Iraqi
Constitution's approach to federalism and the
management of Iraq's energy resources.
www.ekurd.net
Because of a favorable and welcoming investment
climate, the KRG should be understood by the
international community as the gateway to the rest
of Iraq. Our commitments to the rule of law,
security, democracy and tolerance are sources of
strength, not division, for Iraq. The Kurdish
ministers and members of parliament in the Iraqi
government are internationally recognized for their
competence and commitment to a democratic, federal
and secular Iraq. We are on the side of freedom and
democracy.
My personal commitments to both the Kurdistan region
and a free, federal Iraq blend easily in my mind.
After so much suffering under one of the worst
dictatorships in modern history, the Iraqi people
deserve a chance for a normal life — none more so
than the Kurds, who were victims of a genocidal
campaign and chemical-weapons attacks by Saddam's
regime. I will do all I can to make sure that when
the time comes, my children will be able to attend a
university in their own country, and that their
acceptance will not be dependent on membership in a
political party.
When I left Erbil for the United Kingdom, I was
going to a country unsullied by the violence and
suppression I knew at home. Today, all Iraqi people
dream of an end to the violence in Iraq. We dream of
a federal country where democracy and human rights
are upheld, where people are free to worship as they
see fit, where one's ethnicity is irrelevant and
where outside investment helps fuel a developing
economy and benefits our infrastructure. But we
don't only dream. The Kurdistan Regional Government
of Iraq is working hard to make that future a
reality for its people.
Falah Mustafa Bakir is head of the Department of
Foreign Relations in the Kurdistan Regional
Government of Iraq.
washingtontimes com
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 