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Iraqi Kurds: Sovereignty is Key to Current
and Future Prosperity
26.7.2007
By Rauf Naqishbendi |
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July
26, 2007
Kurds in Iraq have been suffering due to the
occupation of their country by Arabs. Now,
thankfully, under American occupation the Kurds have
been blessed with a freedom that for them is
unprecedented. However, this felicitous situation is
inextricably tied in with American occupation; this
implies that upon American disengagement in all
probability the hideousness of the Kurds’ past will
be revisited, unless the Kurds were to obtain
self-government and free themselves from all the
misfortunes that go along with subordination.
No nation has shone among the league of nations
without self-government. Self-governing is essential
to economic prosperity and social advancement, and
in general has broad ramifications which manifest
themselves in every pivotal aspect of a nation’s
life. No nation in human history has been considered
great unless it was self-sovereign, no nation could
have arrived in the annals of prosperity under
occupation, and no nation in history has ever
voluntarily been subject to occupation. In a
nutshell, occupation is disdained for its
undesirable and its dreary consequences.
Subordinated nations by virtue of their
subordination forfeit their national rights, and
cannot choose their destiny since it
rests in the hands of others. It is therefore
disenfranchised from control over its natural
resources and future planning for its citizens. In a
state of subjugation, a nation is at the will of
others, and thus contention and human rights abuses
naturally follow.
Occupied nations undergo different degrees of
suffering. Some occupiers reduce their subjects to
slavery and exploitation; this has been the case
with Kurds. Arabs, Turks and Persians have all in
their turn forced their occupation on Kurdistan. The
authorities of these nations have been brutal in
their spirits and barbaric in their actions toward
Kurds and other minorities. They have even acted
with little or no respect for their own people. They
have impudently spat in the face of humanity by
their shameless and violent treatment of others. Why
do Iraqi Arabs deride Kurds for their motivation to
break off the shackles of subordination? There is no
logical or persuasive answer other than that they
wish to retain Iraq within its existing artificial
borders.
Political and economic relationships among nations
are based on reciprocal respect and mutual
interests. It is obvious that a nation controlled by
another is not at liberty to form for itself these
open and recognized relationships with others; the
ruling nation engages itself in economic and
political relationships with other nations with its
own interests in mind. Even in a republican
democracy, the agendas and legislative endorsement
of the ruled nation (which happens in most instances
to be in the minority) are voted down as long as the
ruling majority disagrees with them. However, under
the rule of a dictator or a monarch where political
repression is prevalent, minorities also suffer the
most. Clearly, a minority is not free to make its
own decisions regardless of the form of its
political system.
Sovereignty is vital to the improvement of the
Kurds’ situation not only because of the negatives
of subordination, but also because of the
impossibility of a viable union between Kurds and
Arabs. Political associations are made between
nations based on the common interests of the members
making up the union. However, in the matter of
uniting the Kurds and Arabs, there are more
anomalies than commonalties; separating the two will
be beneficial to both since there is not a singular
sacred knot that binds the two nations. Federalism
in its essence can work its way out between groups
with mutual values and interests. But the Kurds’ and
Arabs’ values and interests clash; trying to unite
their national goals
and priorities promises utter failure. The US knows
that but still forces its iniquitous proposition
which is doomed to a tragic end. Uniting Kurds with
Arabs is not a natural combination. Rest assured any
attempt to force this union will blow up in the face
of its architects and supporters, leaving the Iraqi
people to undergo the resultant hardships and
tragedies.
If Iraq were to have a representative democracy, a
constitution whereby religion and authority were
separate, and Arab Iraqis were to distance
themselves from their religious pride and sense of
domination, then the forced merger of the Kurds and
Arabs would be less painful. But the underlying
problem is that Iraqi Arabia is subdued to radical
Shiite clergies, who are influenced, trained and
indoctrinated by the Iranian regime of Ayatollahs,
and fanatic Arab Sunnis who are in the business of
blood and terrorism. The dismal fact is that the
Kurds have been dreaming of their independence and
the establishment of a free and democratic Kurdistan
while these envious elements are in opposition to
the very idea. The Arab world has never seen
democracy because they have never worked hard enough
at obtaining it. They have no aptitude for
democracy; if they had any eagerness to be
democratic at least one Arab country among so many
would have made it.
Given this background, the United States, in forcing
the Kurds to remain part of Iraq, misconstrues
justice and violates most natural human rights
principles by depriving a nation of the right to
determine its own destiny. Kurds have much to lose
if a merger with Arabs were to continue, while they
have everything to gain if they were to attain
independent statehood.
Kurds must realize the current salubrious climate
they dwell in is a momentary ray of glorious light
amid a melancholy past. They should not be
optimistic in their hopes for its continuation, but
rather must realize that this situation will not
persist without a free and independent Kurdistan.
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