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Corruption in Kurdistan chokes innocent
voices
13.9.2007
By Heval Hylan
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September
13, 2007
Kurdistan region (Iraq)
It is almost impossible to change any element in the
Kurdish political culture and makeup without
altering many others. The crisis is similar to
several countries where institutions, especially
federal governing structures tend to be mechanistic,
inflexible, disjointed, and corrupt. And corruption
does not allow innocent voices from being heard.
Positive ideas addressing the crisis of Kurdish
institutions in term of an impending sociopolitical
paradigm to a fresh framework may sound an
earthquake to our leaders. What the Kurds really
need is to wake-up to the many faces of the crisis,
which the state is experiencing including
institutional arrogance, greed, nepotism, and abuse
of power. Taking action to solve the institutional
crisis would be reassuring and even educational for
them.
It is time the political system in Kurdistan is
transformed and not reformed as the Kurdish people
are in urgent need of something better and not
something more. In other words, the healthier route
is to transform leadership as a process of
continuous change and growth. However, the majority
leaders have arrangements with international
companies to receive bribes for protecting their
interests in the region. In such a scenario, they
are unlikely to espouse positive changes necessary
for the good of the country and its people.
According to Confucian writings, wise individuals
wanting to be good leaders, look within them first
and discipline them once they recognize and
verbalize the innermost feelings of their heart.
However, people find the Kurdish leaders to be the
opposite and out of order. These leaders seek
disciples within their family structures rather than
working to discipline themselves. They are very
skilled at covering-up peoples' daily needs and
problems, which they believe can lead to popular
resistance. By bringing more family members into the
power pyramid, they clearly suppress freethinking of
ordinary citizens in somewhat similar ways monarchy
and dictatorial regimes indulge in.
Are the Kurdish leaders strong enough to break out
of their Beehives? To liberate themselves from
blurred glasses and personal family empires, they
must learn to identify the crises and corruption
first. A look at Newton's philosophy, "the best
safeguard of ideas is a standing invitation to the
whole world to prove them unfounded," is a good
example for understanding the situation. Yes! If all
Kurdish leaders except one held an opinion, and if
that exception believed otherwise, then, others
would have no more right to silence him than he
would to silence the majority. As John Stuart Mill
has pointed out that, many significant ideas have
surfaced several times but their exponents have been
persecuted before the same ideas were rediscovered
in another point in time and age where people were
more broadminded.
Mohandas K. Gandhi resolved the paradox of freedom
by his revolutionary principle of "satyagraha" or
non-violent resistance. Gandhi's principle is that
those who reject solutions end up compromising their
freedom and integrity. He turned the whole idea of
power upside down when he visited a mountain hideout
of an Indian militant and saw their guns. "You must
be very frightened," he is believed to have said.
Today, it is a shame to see hundreds of expensive
vehicles, well-paid yet angry faces of guards, and
modern weapons used for protecting a single leader.
We have to understand that the only way to treasure
the benefits of federalism is to grant it to others,
and the only means of collective self-determination
is by majority rule. Unfortunately, in Kurdistan
there is no room for others to participate, which
deprives the people of true democracy.
Kurdish leaders must understand that people are not
interested in war as the fight of the majority is to
win their daily bread. Kurdish leaders are easily
infected with war-fever, and it is not difficult to
surmise their active instinct for hatred and
destruction, which is amenable to such stimulations.
Well, after enjoying a super luxury life, it is not
difficult to identify the origins of their war
impulses. Recent statements by Kurdish leaders are
strong signals of their aggressive hunger for war.
Michael Howard, former leader of the British
Conservative party once stated that the inhibitions
on the use of violence between states are
considerable. As much as that might be true, it is
important to understand that they are not grounded
merely on humanitarian considerations or on any
formal respect for international law, but
fundamentally rest on the most naked kind of
self-interest. The use of violence between states as
between individuals is often counter-productive and
self-defeating as the Iraq war is proving to be.
In economic life, to desire goods or services is to
desire the ability to buy them. As the leaders in
Kurdistan spend money to buy what they want, so in
politics they spend their power to get what they
desire. The more they spend peoples' money, greater
are their efforts searching for hiding places while
spending their power renders them powerless.
If, as K.W.Deutsch stated that, in politics some men
invest in power and spend their power on other
values so that it brings more power back to them,
then the principle of wealth and power in Kurdistan
overrides all. Majority of the public have no voice,
and if they did, then it has been dumped or
threatened with death.
The leaders of Kurdistan blame the people for their
country's woes much in line with the argument of St.
Thomas who once said that, those attacked for some
fault deserve the attack. The question is what
really have the Kurdish people done to deserve being
attacked and robbed of their wealth? In addition,
are they prepared to take responsibility for their
country's future?
(Heval Hylan is a Barrister and Solicitor of the
High Court of New Zealand and an International
Lawyer specialized in genocide cases. A human rights
activist and General Secretary of the Refugee
Council of New Zealand, he also writes legal and
political papers. He is a founder and trustee of
Reunity Trust Inc.)
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