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Minorities reserve equal rights in
Kurdistan (Part 4)
29.3.2010
By Baqi Barzani, a longtime contributing writer for ekurd.net |
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March
29, 2010
Posed a question in respect to the ubiquitous fears
among members of diverse minority groups in
Kurdistan in case if Kirkuk and other disputed
regions are incorporated into KRG, the then KRG
Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani replies as follows:
[7] “First, may I say that I take their concerns
seriously, and it is my job in particular to ensure
that they will feel secure in a unified Kurdistan
Region. Iraq before 2003 had a disastrous history of
maltreating its minorities, and indeed its Shia
majority. For 35 years Iraq was a Baathist tyranny,
dominated by Sunni Arabs. We believe we have already
shown that we can. We believe we have already shown
that we can do far better than that admittedly low
bar”.
“We talk of nationalities, not minorities, and we
protect them all, and their rights. In our region,
Turkmen, Assyrians, and Arabs have schooling and
administration in their own languages. We are proud
of our record of religious tolerance – toward all
varieties of Muslim, Chaldean, and Assyrian
Christians, and our few remaining Jews, and we will
always defend our Yezidis from and discrimination,
whether by Kurdish Muslims or others. We have shown
our willingness to protect those who have fled here
from persecution”.
“We will protect personal marriage laws, though we
will be vigilant in protecting women’s rights and
children’s rights. Second, and more importantly for
the future, together with my elected colleagues, and
with Kurdistani lawyers and our advisors, we are
drafting a constitution for the Kurdistan Region in
which I want to see the highest international
standards entrenched for the protection of national,www.ekurd.netethnic,
religious and linguistic minorities. Kurdistan must
be a land which protects all nationalities. Judge us
on that. Kurds will be a majority in Kurdistan, but
we know what it is like to be a maltreated
nationality, and so we will ensure that our
constitution, our laws and our security forces
operate to best practices in protecting human and
minority rights”.
“Lastly, we have already demonstrated in Kirkuk that
we wish to have all nationalities in our coalition
lists and to share power at city and local
government level. We will continue to do this after
unification. We have experience of power-sharing
within Kurdistan. We will extend power-sharing. We
are open to all suggestions from nationalities and
their democratically elected representatives. They
will not find me, or my government, inflexible”.
Baqi Barzani is a
Kurdish citizen of Sought Kurdistan [Iraq]. He
advocates the notion of " establishing an
independent Kurdish state". He contributes to
various Kurdish media outlets, especially ekurd.net.
Copyright © 2010 ekurd.net. All rights reserved
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