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Iraqi Kurds see moment of nationhood
ahead, while enjoying autonomy
13.6.2007
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June
13, 2007
Erbil, Kurdistan region (Iraq), -- The sign
at the arrival lounge proclaims "Welcome to Hawler
International Airport." To most Iraqis, the name of
this city is Erbil, the capital of Iraq's
self-governing Kurdistan region.
But in the Kurdish language, the city is Hawler, and
the use of that name is but one example of the Kurds
carving an identity for themselves distinct from the
rest of Iraq.
The issue of Kurdish separateness has come into
sharper focus in recent weeks since Turkey massed
troops along the Iraqi border to stop attacks by
Kurdish guerrillas operating from bases in
Kurdish-controlled areas of Kurdistan region (Iraq).
Turkish officials have threatened to send their army
across the border if the U.S. and Iraqis do not move
against guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers Party,
or PKK, who have killed at least two dozen Turkish
soldiers or village guards since May 24.
To the Turks, the stepped-up guerrilla attacks
appear to vindicate Turkey's longtime fears that a
Kurdish-ruled territory in Iraq would only serve to
inspire Kurdish guerrillas fighting the Turkish
government.
The new tension also comes amid a debate in Iraq's
parliament about defining the borders of the Kurdish
area, its share of national wealth and the powers of
its local government.
Iraqi Kurds in the north have enjoyed self-rule
since the end of the Gulf War in 1991, when the U.S.
and Britain established a sanctuary for Kurds after
their rose up against Saddam Hussein after his army
was driven from Kuwait.
Kurdish politicians won legal recognition for their
self-ruled state in the 2005 Iraqi constitution.
The Americans endorsed Kurdish aspirations to
prevent the Kurds from declaring independence, a
move that could have led to the breakup of Iraq and
armed intervention by Turkey and Iran, which have
their own restive Kurdish populations.
Meanwhile, although Kurdistan remains part of Iraq,
it has all the trappings of a land unto itself.
At the airport, foreigners receive visas allowing
them to visit the three provinces of Kurdistan — but
not the rest of Iraq.
Iraqi Arabs must receive a special security permit
to live in Kurdistan.
Iraq's red, white and black national flag is rarely
seen in the Kurdish territories.
Instead, government buildings fly the Kurdistan flag
— red, white and green with a yellow sunburst. It
was the banner of Kurdish fiefdoms in Turkey in the
1920s and of a short-lived ministate that the Kurds
proclaimed in Iran during World War II.
Along the main road from the airport into town, neon
signs in the shape of the Kurdish flag flash from
lamp posts.
Although Arabic is the principal language of Iraq,
students in Kurdistan study English as a second
language. Many Kurds are calling for using the Latin
rather than Arabic alphabet for their language,
which is related to Farsi.
This growing sense of national identity has followed
a long struggle for Kurdish self-rule that began
after World War I, when Britain took control of Iraq
after the collapse of the Ottoman empire.
To many Kurds, the self-ruled area of Iraq is
"southern Kurdistan," while the rest remains in
Turkey, Iran and Syria.
That is the source of concern for those three
countries, which fear Kurds in their territory may
agitate for similar rights or try to unite with the
Iraqi Kurds.
"Now that Kurds in southern Kurdistan have their own
parliament, government and president, and the Iraqi
constitution recognizes the Kurds as a nation,
alongside the Arabs, Kurds aspire to undo the past
injustice forced upon them," wrote Azad Aslan,
political editor of the Irbil-based Kurdish Globe.
For the time being, most Iraqi Kurds seem content to
maintain their self-governing area within a federal
Iraq rather than declare full independence.
Iraq's president, a deputy prime minister, the
foreign minister and the army chief of the army's
staff are all Kurds. That's a significant share of
power for a minority that numbers 15 to 20 percent
of the population.
But it is a small price to pay for keeping the Kurds
at least nominally within a united Iraq.
"Their larger ambition is to establish a greater
Kurdistan, but for the time being they see
federalism as best option," said Ragaei Fayed, an
Egyptian expert on Kurdish affairs.
A recent survey by the Irbil-based Point
Organization for Opinion Poll and Strategic Studies
found that 85.3 percent of those who were surveyed
believe Kurds have a right to their own independent
country.
But 48.8 percent also thought the time was not right
to declare independence.
"The people feel like they want to secede but
Kurdish politicians don't," said Farid Asasard, head
of the Kurdistan Center for Strategic Studies. "If
the Kurds secede and end up with a Kurdish state, it
will face major economic difficulties, and
politicians know that."
AP
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