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For Kurds in Kurdistan, Iraq is a distant
memory
17.11.2007
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November 17, 2007
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region 'Iraq', -- In
Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region the official line
is clear: there is no question of declaring
independence. But in the regional capital Erbil,
Baghdad seems more distant each passing day.
Bank notes, except where replaced by the US dollar,
are the last refuge of the Iraqi flag.
Everywhere else in this region of four million
people, spared the violence which has ravaged the
rest of Iraq, it is the Kurdish tricolour -- green,
white and red -- which flies. Not a single road sign
is in Arabic.
"It is simple, for my students Iraq does not exist,"
says Karim Kamar, professor in French at Salaheddin
University.
"To feel part of a country, its language should be
spoken. However Arabic is no longer even taught. Or
if it is, then as a foreign language -- a little
less even than English," says Kamar. www.ekurd.net
"For them Iraq is far away, and associated with bad
memories. For the man in the street, it is a
neighbour one must get along with because it could
turn malicious. That's all. Their country is here."
Equipped under the Iraqi constitution with very
broad autonomy, the Kurdistan region of Iraq has a
president, a government and its "council of
ministers", armed forces which are completely
Kurdish and fully-fledged international ties.
including a privileged relationship with the United
States.
It has signed, to the chagrin of Baghdad, numerous
oil exploration contracts with foreign companies.
For Buhari Hidir, professor of political science at
the University of Erbil and an MP in the Iraqi
parliament, "we only formally depend on Baghdad."
"We are not a state in the legal sense, but de facto
we are one. We do not need formal independence. We
have it in the street, in life. That is enough," he
said.
"It would be a mistake to go for true independence,"
Hidir added. "That would alienate us unnecessarily
from our powerful neighbours, who would view this as
an incentive for their own Kurdish populations."
Concerned to preserve and develop its thriving
economy, and to reassure neighbouring countries and
the Iraqi central state, officials are quick to
offer appeasements.
"We want nothing to do with secession," said Falah
Bakir, director of the "department of foreign
relations" in the area. "We want to remain within
the Iraqi borders, provided Iraq is a democratic and
pluralist federal state."
Fouad Hussein, private secretary to the region's
president Massud Barzani, asserts: "We absolutely
respect the constitution.
"Iraq is a federal state, the distribution of power
between the central state and region is clear. We do
not need anything more. This system suits us
perfectly."
But, beyond the political declarations, the Iraqi
state is gradually disappearing from the lives of
ordinary inhabitants of the region.
To launch Ishtar TV, which transmits from Arbil for
the Christians of Iraq, "we requested a licence from
the regional government," smiles station director,
Farid Aqrawi.
"In theory, we should have gone to Baghdad ... But
nobody does that. It is useless."
The bishop of Erbil, Monsignor Rabban al-Qas, goes
further: "Day after day, the distance grows. We are
always in Iraq, but the law enables us to dream, one
day, of a country which would gather all the Kurds.
"Like separated brothers, you will never prevent
them from dreaming of living one day under the same
roof."
Since 1991, the Kurds of Iraq achieved self-rule in
part of the country. Today's teenagers are the first
generation to grow up under Kurdish rule. In the new
Iraqi Constitution, it is referred to as Kurdistan
region. www.ekurd.net
Kurdistan region has all the trappings of an
independent state -- its own constitution, its own
parliament, its own flag, its own army, its own
border, its own border patrol, its own national
anthem, its own education system, its own
International airports, even its own stamp inked
into the passports of visitors.
AFP
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