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Gorran's Priority is to Change the
Political System in Kurdistan and not the Personnel:
Nawshirwan Mustafa
26.1.2012
Asharq Alawsat - Interview by Sherzad Shekhani
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Nawshirwan Mustafa Amin, General
Coordinator of Gorran [Change] Movement.
Maliki’s Growing Power Stems from Absence of
Effective Parliament: Nawshirwan Mustafa to Alsharq
Alawsat
January
26, 2012
SULAIMANIYAH,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq', —
According to the opinion of the Kurdish politician,
Nawshirwan Mustafa Amin, the leader of the Kurdish
opposition group – Change Movement, the Kurdish
mediation will not produce a solution to the current
political crisis in Iraq. He states that “this
crisis is not born only out of the recent
developments. And it is not solely a crisis of trust
between the two Shia and Sunni components. In fact
it is a crisis of trust that engulfs all of the
components including the Kurdish component alone”.
He added during his conversation with Asharq Alawsat
on January 16th 2012, which took place in
Sulaimaniyah, that if some people regard the Kurdish
component as a mediator or, as commonly termed, “a
balancing weight” to maintain the equilibrium
between Sunni and Shia Arabs, then there are other
views too.
Below is the full conversation:
Q: Iraq is going
through a serious political crisis that has alarmed
the Kurdish leadership in case it spells over to
Kurdistan. That is why they are engrossed in finding
a solution before it erupts into a sectarian
conflict that threatens to destroy the country.
Where does your Change Movement stand on this
crisis?
Nawshirwan: We
in the Change Movement closely monitor the
developments in Iraq. We have our own perspective
that is epitomised in the context of the Kurdish
opposition political strategy. Yes, there is a
political crisis in Iraq. But it is not born out of
the recent developments only. And it is not solely a
crisis of trust between the two Shia and Sunni
components alone. In fact it is a crisis of trust
that engulfs all of the components including the
Kurdish component. I believe that the Kurdish
mediation will not succeed unless it encompasses, at
the heart of the comprehensive solution to solve the
problems of the Iraq as a whole, a solution to solve
the problems between Kurdistan Region and the
Federal State. The Kurdish people have their
grievances in Iraq and they form part of the
problems just as they are part of the solution. If
some observers regard the Kurds as the “Balancing
Weight” that maintains the equilibrium between the
Sunni and the Shia components, others might have
different views. There are even some who would hold
totally negative views and consider the Kurds to be
a parasite feeding off the crisis between the two
components. We regard both views to be unjustified
and unfair to the people of Kurdistan and their
rights. Since the problems of the Kurds in Iraq have
not been resolved yet to terminate their role as a
party to the conflict. On the other hand, the
Kurdish case is a just one and cannot be tarnished
with a racist image. One aspect of the crisis is
related to the selective attitude towards the
constitution. All parties in Iraq select the
sections in the constitution that favours their
interests and ignores the sections that place
constitutional obligations on them. Another aspect
of the crises stems from the lack of culture of
Democracy amongst the parties. No one accepts a role
outside the government. No political party agrees to
turn to political opposition. Whereas true democracy
is based on the two pillars of government and
opposition.
Q: What
ramifications, in your view, would this crisis have
on the Kurdish situation in Kurdistan Region?
Nawshirwan: I
don’t expect any direct ramifications on the Region.
There might be some negative consequences on the
standing of certain leaders in the Region who
portrayed themselves to the general public as the
safety valve of the whole of Iraq, but it turn out
that their standing was not as they thought it to
be, or as they depicted to others. As for the
predicament of Kurdistan Region, the just cause of
the people with legitimate rights, this is a
continuous problem that existed before the crises
and will persist until the full implementation of
the sections of the constitution that are pertinent
to Kurdistan.
Q: The language
of the Kurdish leadership has altered recently.
Where in the past they were advocating that the
Kurds are not part of the problems of Iraq, whereas
today they argue that their relationship with the
other political parties and the unresolved disputes
between Erbil and Baghdad are part of the problem
and they are aiming to take advantage of the
anticipated National Conference to tackle these
problems within the political deal. Do you support
this proposition?
Nawshirwan: I
don’t think anyone has ever suggested that the
Kurdish problem is not part of the problems of Iraq.
There might be some who have argued that the
conflict between Shia and Sunnis is irrelevant to
the Kurdish people compared to their own problems.
But we in the Change Movement do not agree with that
assertion. We believe that the problems of Iraq are
interrelated, even the internal problems of
Kurdistan Region are insuperable from the problems
of Iraq as a whole. We have unresolved issues with
Sunni and Shia components, just as we have
differences with the two ruling parties in the
Region concerning their approach to dealing with the
internal problems as well as the problems with the
Federal government.
Q: There are
accusations directed at the Iraqi Prime Minister of
adopting dictatorial approach in governing Iraq. Do
you support this view? Do you thing that Mr. Maliki
governs Iraq as a dictator? After all, you have
representatives in the Iraqi Parliament, which is
responsible for monitoring the conduct of the
government.
Nawshirwan: The
problem of dictatorship is not a tribal issue that
we regard one tribe to be a dictator and another to
be a democrat. Power, by nature, tends to corrupt.
And it could corrupt absolutely in any tribe or
nation unless it is leashed with a parallel power. I
believe that the growing power of the Prime Minister
stems from the absence of the real power of the
Iraqi Council of Representatives. And the reason for
that absence lies in the participation in the
government of all of the political parties that make
up the Council of Representatives. They are part of
the government and have ministers in the cabinet.
None of them want to change their role to become an
effective opposition to the political process. When
Parliaments are devoid from political opposition
they negate their own proper monitoring role and
turn into a shadow of the executive power,www.ekurd.net
which adversely affects even the independence of the
judiciary. Because it is the Parliament that
oversees the implementation of the law and holds the
government accountable to it. If Parliaments fail in
this task, then the judiciary fails also in
compelling the government to implement their
decisions. It is only natural that, in the absence
of the real power of the judiciary and the
Parliament, the hegemony of the executive power
grows, and subsequently the power of the Prime
Minister within that. Because the Council of
Ministers is left with no authority to monitor it,
for it is not possible for anybody to be the monitor
and the monitored at the same time. As for the
Change bloc in the Parliament, it is the only
opposition groups in the Iraqi Council of
Representatives. But with 8 out of 325 seats, they
are unable to influence this complex political
stalemate without extending the opposition forum to
include all of the components of Iraq.
Q: You have
accused Kurdistan Regional Government with negating
their obligations vis-à-vis a number of decisions
that were issued by the President of the Region in
order to contain the conflict between the opposition
and the governing parties, and recently you have
further declared the suspension of the Five-Party
talks. Do you believe that this suspension is enough
to compel the authority to respond to your demands
and to your reform programme?
Nawshirwan: We
do not compel them to do that. We have no means with
which to compel. But we invite them to prepare the
grounds towards deescalating the tension in
Kurdistan Region. The Kurdistani opposition have
submitted a six-package proposal, decrees were
issued by the Parliaments and further decrees were
issued by the Presidency of the Region, all demand
the apprehension of the suspects of the killing of
demonstrators and bring them to justice. The talks
will not be fruitful and will not restore hope to
the citizens unless they take real steps in this
direction. The citizens of Kurdistan have lost faith
in the protracted and unproductive talks. Genuine
talks require genuine desires as well as the
prevalence of equi-status between the parties. On
our part we have not detected this genuine desire,
nor have we witnessed any real steps to elevate the
brutality that is meted out upon the political
opposition in order to render the talks equitable
between the parties.
Q: With the
imminent transfer of power between the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic
Party, you have declared your refusal to partake in
the upcoming government which is expected to be
headed by Mr. Nechirvan Barzani. Don’t you think
that by refraining from participation in the
government this time round you would harm your
reform agenda?
Nawshirwan: The
priority of the Change Movement remains to be the
change of the political system and not of the
personnel or the composition of the government. We
have often reiterated that it is not important who
runs the Region as much as how they run it. The
Government in the Region is only part of the
executive authority, side by side with the Region’s
Presidency. In turn, the Executive authority is only
one of the three powers that rule the region, along
with the Legislative and the Judiciary. That means
that our participation in the Government would be
phoney without real reforms to the other
authorities, without real change in the political
arena where proper equity between the political
parties is established, and without bringing about a
constitutional contract binding the competing
political parties on one hand and the people of
Kurdistan on the other. And for that purpose we, as
a Kurdistani opposition, submitted our proposed
“Political Reforms Packages”. We called it
“Packages” because they are integral to each other
and you cannot implement one without the other. This
is our vision for the reform. Nonetheless, we
support any measure that either of the two ruling
parties takes towards reform. The next government
can incorporate the oppositions’ Packages into their
program, in which case we will support their efforts
and monitor the execution of their programme. Our
support would be subject to their implementation of
these packages.
This interview was published in the London based
Arabic daily Asharq Alawsat in their edition No
12102 on 16th January 2012 and was translated by
Kurdish Media volunteers.
Copyright © 2012, respective
author or news agency,
asharq-e.com | kurdishmedia.com
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