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Experts Discuss Federalist System's Chance
of Success in Iraq
16.7.2007
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July
16, 2007
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region (Iraq), -- One
of the unanswered questions about Iraq's future is:
can a federal system of government, one in which
power is divided between a central government and
regional or provincial ones, work in Iraq? Margaret
Besheer talks to Iraqi and international figures in
the capital of Kurdistan region city of Erbil, where
a conference took place this week to discuss Iraqi
federalism.
In 2005 Iraq adopted a new constitution which
enshrines the concept of federalism. But as
sectarian differences threaten to divide the
country, can federalism really keep it united?
Absolutely, says Egyptian human rights activist Saad
Eddin Ibrahim, one of the participants at a
week-long conference on federalism in Iraq's
Kurdistan region.
"Federalism is not utopia, it is not a panacea,"
said Ibrahim. "Federalism is not perfect, it has its
problems, but it is better than fighting each other
and then one group subjugating the others."
Iraq is home to Shiites, Sunni Arabs, Kurds and many
smaller groups, such as Assyrian Christians and
ethnic Turkmen.
Arabic is the official language, but Kurdish is also
widely spoken, especially in the northern Kurdistan
autonomous region.
Iraqi Kurdistan is flourishing politically and
economically and is often held up as Iraq's biggest
success story.
Conference organizer Bakhtiar Amin says the rest of
the country can learn from the Kurdish experiment
with federalism.
"How they [the Kurds] faced different challenges and
difficulties; how they overcame some of these, and
to learn also from the experiences of other federal
systems around the world," said Amin.
Experts from four continents attended the conference
and shared their views.
Paul Dewar, a member of Canada's parliament from
Ottawa, notes that his country shares similarities
with Iraq in that it also has two languages, two
main religions, and significant oil resources which
must be shared among several provinces.
"Canada actually has a relevant model; it is not a
matter of one size fits all, and federalism is
different in different political contexts, but it
seems to me that Canada is one that makes infinite
sense to look at," said Dewar.
Canada has a central parliament and 10 provincial
legislative assemblies with a relatively high degree
of autonomy. The Canadian constitution was written
to take into account the colonial distinction
between French- and English-speaking regions and
their cultures.
Iraqi parliamentarian Mahmoud Othman cautions that
many Iraqis still do not understand the concept of
federalism. He also wonders if it might be too soon
to try to get them to embrace it.
"Somebody who gets up in the morning he has no gas,
no electricity, no safety, no food, unemployed, do
you think he will listen to you when you talk about
federalism or our constitution? It is nonsense. They
have been working in the wrong way in this country,"
said Othman.
He says the government must first guarantee a
minimum of security and basic services to the people
before talking to them about federalism.
The conference, sponsored by two international human
rights groups and with support from the Italian and
Kurdish governments, brought together many Iraqi
political figures from the Shiite and Kurdish
communities, but Sunni Arabs were notably absent.
Several were invited, but only two attended as the
others stayed in Baghdad to deal with the political
crisis relating to the removal of the Sunni Arab
speaker of parliament.
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