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Iraqi Kurdistan government KRG should
accept the results of the elections: Bodil Ceballos
10.5.2009
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May
10, 2009
Bodil Ceballos is not a Kurd and has never been to
Kurdistan, but she is as aware of the situation of
Kurdistan as any curious Kurdish politician. She is
not Catalonian but she has a good knowledge about
this region of Spain which she believes is similar
to the situation of Kurdistan.
"There is a big similarity between Kurdistan Region
and Catalonia, both regions struggle for
independence", she says.
This lady, a member of the Swedish parliament on The
Green Party, is from the south of Sweden but was
raised in Stockholm. She went to Catalonia when she
was 18 and married to a Catalonian. Ceballos is
interested in minority issues. She is a nominee on
her party's list for the upcoming elections of
European Parliament. Minority issue is one of the
items on her agenda for the European Parliament. |
Bodil Ceballos, member of the Swedish parliament on
The Green Party. |
In an interview with
Rudaw, Ceballos talks about the 1970's, when for the
first time she knew about Kurds. In those years she
had returned from Catalonia to Stockholm to work.
Then she got to know some Kurdish workers in a
restaurant in Stockholm.
"These Kurds were from the northern Kurdistan. They
talked too much about Kurds and Kurdistan. Since
then I began researching and comparing Kurdistan
with Catalonia", says Ceballos.
Now she believes that there are many similarities
between the two nations.
"The Catalonian and the Kurdish nations are two
nations living in two different countries. Both are
not independent and have been divided among some
states", she says.
She knows about the atrocities of Bath regime
against Kurds and believes that Spain has done the
same against Catalonians.
"Just as the mass graves are discovered in
Kurdistan, in Catalonia also the mass graves of the
civil war era could be found. The photos of the
execution of the Kurdish people remind me of the
massacre of the Catalonians", says Ceballos.
Ceballos's sympathy for the Kurdish nation reaches
its peak when upon seeing some photos of the
Chemical bombardment of Halabja and the exodus of
the Kurdish people;
“My elder son was only four years old when he saw
the images (on TV) of the Kurdish children during
exodus. He asked ‘why these children live in such
conditions?’”,www.ekurd.net
Ceballos tells, “We
decided to donate the money we allocated for my
young son's birthday to Kurdish children in
Kurdistan.”
For Ceballos all parts of Kurdistan are of equal
interest. She is going to visit the eastern part of
Kurdistan (Iranian Kurdistan) this year. She is also
invited to Kurdistan Region as an observer in the
upcoming parliamentary elections though she has not
made a decision about it.
“The Kurdistan Regional Government should accept the
results of the elections. It should show the world
that it is developed, otherwise all the values of
Kurds will be at stake”, Ceballos tells.
Ceballos’ initiative helped organize a conference
about the Kurds of western Kurdistan (Syrian
Kurdistan) was organized in the parliament of
Sweden.
"This was through a Kurdish friend who was in our
party and at the same time a member in the Syrian
Kurdish Democratic Union's Party", Ceballos says.
As for the issue of forced deportation of the
Kurdish refugees from Sweden, Ceballos insists on
the rights of these refugees more than Kurds
themselves do.
"I have talked with the Foreign Minister and many
other officials about these refugees", she says.
She is against the agreement between Sweden, Iraq,
and Kurdistan Region which gives legitimacy to this
forced deportation.
"Kurdistan Region itself was not ready to sign the
agreement but the Iraqi government put the region
under much pressure to sign it. I told the Kurdish
officials not to sign this agreement and eventually
they did",www.ekurd.net
Ceballos says.
The Green Party, in which Ceballos is a member, is
one of the parties which have signed to recognize
the massacres of the Kurdish nation as genocide.
"When Chemical Ali is convicted for Anfal, what is
the significance of the evidences to prove that
Anfal is genocide?” she said. “The world should know
that the Iraqi court has recognized Anfal as
genocide and that other countries should do the
same.”
Some countries, particularly those who have sold
weapons to Iraq (among which Germany and Nederland),
do not wish to recognize Anfal as genocide for fear
they should compensate for the victims of the event.
"The court decides whether this country should
compensate Kurds or not. If they have committed a
mistake they have to take all the responsibility and
pay the price,” she says.
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
Rudaw net
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