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The Hypocrisies of Gorran
2.2.2011
By Delovan Barwari - ekurd.net |
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February 2, 2011
The anti-government demonstrations in Tunisia,
Egypt, and other Arab countries illuminates that the
citizens of the Arab world are fed-up with decades
of dictatorship, oppression, and corruption. The
brave men and woman that risked their lives to bring
democratic change is indeed honorable and must be
respected. On the contrary, I was very disturbed to
hear Gorran’s outrageous demand for the
democratically elected government and parliament of
Iraqi-Kurdistan to resign.
Meriam-Webster dictionary defines democracy as a
government in which the supreme power is vested in
the people and exercised by them directly or
indirectly through a system of representation
usually periodically held for elections.
Unlike Egypt, Tunisia, and the overwhelming majority
of the Arab world, the President, Prime Minister,
and the Parliament of Kurdistan Regional Government
(KRG) were elected into office by free and fair
democratic elections. The Iraqi Electoral Commission
and a body of international observers officially
monitored the elections held in Kurdistan. In a
comparison with Egypt and Tunisia, in Kurdistan, the
absolute majority of Kurds--nearly 70%--voted for
President Massoud Barzani, whereas the Presidents of
Egypt and Tunisia were in power for many decades
without elections.
KRG is one of the few democracies in the region. It
is a young democracy in its development stages. The
citizens of Iraqi-Kurdistan enjoy the most essential
democratic principles exercised in Western Europe
and North America, which are unknown in most of the
Muslim world: freedom of press, assembly,
association, religion, and political pluralism.
There are a number of independent newspapers and
magazines, and countless political parties (ethnic,
religious and secular),which enjoy vast freedoms to
assemble and run in elections.
Fortunately the citizens, intellectuals, civil
organizations, and the majority of the political
parties in Kurdistan condemned Gorran’s call and
identified it as an empty and desperate ploy to
manipulate public opinion and cause instability to
achieve their blurred objectives.
The Kurdish nation has suffered too much at the
hands of its enemies and has much at risk with such
absurd demands. The stability of Kurdistan is the
most essential ingredient that will allow it to move
forward in a positive direction. Kurdistan is a
young and evolving democracy; such imprudent demands
would only hamper the democratic evolution and will
only bring turmoil to the streets of Kurdistan.
It is true that Kurdistan is suffering from
corruption, a problem that the KRG President, Prime
Minister, and Parliament have openly recognized and
pledged to resolve. If unfulfilled, citizens can
bring change through the power of the ballot box,
rather than causing chaos.
It is time for Gorran supporters to question Gorran
leaders’ true objectives. They must realize Gorran’s
policies have only weakened the Kurdish position
with Baghdad,www.ekurd.netespecially
in the disputed areas where their decision not to
join the Kurdistani List diminished the Kurdish
power in Kirkuk and later by abandoning the
Kurdistan Coalition List in Baghdad.
Gorran’s demand for KRG and Kurdistan Parliament to
resign is certainly alarming. It raises questions
about their real dark intentions. Perhaps, the
leadership of Gorran should be the one to resign.
You may reach the author via email at: Delovan (at)
yahoo.com
Copyright © 2011 ekurd.net
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