SPEAKING FREELY Kurdistan: No more Mr Nice
Guy By Ahmed Karadaghi
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online
feature that allows guest writers to have their say.
Please click hereif you
are interested in contributing.
As we
watched the unveiling of the new United Nations Security
Council resolution on Iraq, number 1546, the hopes of
many Kurds all over the world faded as they knew that
slowly but surely the process of betrayal had started
all over again - a process they had hoped to avoid at
least once from their so-called allies. The council
decided against endorsing the interim constitution that
guarantees federalism and spells out the Kurdish
minority community's rights. Alas, the students of Henry
Kissinger and the neo-conservatives in Washington have
decided to swing away from the Kurds and play politics
in tune with Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali
al-Sistani, somewhat similar to how they switched sides
in 1978 in Iran, turning their back on the Shah - and we
all know how that turned out for the US and other
Western countries.
The question now is not what
has happened or who to blame, but what the Kurdish
nation can do to keep what is rightfully theirs, a
political solution to a very complicated landscape
surrounded by several hostile neighbors and accompanied
by allies that have been more damaging to the Kurdish
cause than beneficial.
Kurdish leaders may not
be perfect to some, which is natural in the political
arena. We have the supporters and we have the harsh
lifelong critics, similar all over in the world of
politics. But Kurdish leaders have sent out a very bold
political message, saying they will not partake in a
government that is not backed by a UN resolution stating
the rights of the Kurdish people in Iraq clearly and
explicitly. Kurdish political leaders Jalal Talabani
and Massoud Barzani have addressed the American
president in a letter sent June 1, stating that they
still consider themselves allies but they will not take
this lying down any longer, thus boycotting the Iraqi
interim government in Baghdad. They have explained the
seriousness of the matter in several interviews with
plain and simple words: the integrity and sovereignty of
a unified Iraq is at stake. The Kurdish leaders have
made a point that neither they - nor the Kurdish nation
- is willing to be the nice guy any more.
I
believe the next step has already been taken by the
Kurdish leaders, what they do next will decide just how
big that step will turn out to be.
Let's start
by imagining the following scenario and watch it unfold.
Should the Kurds pull out of the government, first it
would be a major blow to the US and the interim Iraqi
government. I mention this for the pure reason that most
of the senior political figures with any idea of what is
needed for the future of Iraq and with any political
background know that Kurdish representation is needed in
the so-called interim government. When it comes to
rebuilding a nation torn apart along ethnic lines, years
of war and embargoes, you need to know what you are
doing. Being an extremely rich Iraqi exile with
expensive suits is not really a suitable prerequisite
for the job. The only true politicians in this new
government would actually be the Kurds, who know how to
rebuild a nation from scratch as they have shown in
their stable and thriving region the last 13 years. The
Shi'ites know this and so do the Sunnis. The Americans
also know this very well, as they have the opportunity
to see the stability and economic growth for themselves,
as they vacation their troops there on a rotational
basis, especially their officers.
Another reason
would be that the Kurds make up 25% to 30% of Iraq's
population. Without any representation in the new
interim government from Kurdistan, it is guaranteed to
fail miserably.
The ball is rolling in our
future scenario, the next step would be an exhibition of
Kurdish strength and determination. We have seen how the
Kurds have been able to assemble 1.6 million signatures
for a call to a referendum on the Kurdish right to
self-determination. What the world hasn't seen yet would
be a display of the 60,000 strong, well trained and
disciplined Peshmerga forces that Iyad Allawi - the
interim Iraqi prime minister - so carelessly calls
"militias". Complete with a military parade down the
main cities of Kurdistan with their leaders and
thousands of Kurdish people cheering them on, this
scenario would be accompanied by all the heavy artillery
and display of weapons the Kurds have been able to
confiscate from the Iraqi army in the past 13 years.
This would make headlines around the world, even though
the well-engineered letter of Talabani and Barzani did
not. But remember, no more playing Mr Nice Guy.
Then to make the step a major stride for the
Kurdish cause, the two main political parties schedule
region-wide local elections, invite every single
journalist they have ever known. And even better they
schedule the Kurdish federal elections before the Iraqi
elections of January 2005, unite the two Kurdish
administrations, declare Kirkuk a Kurdish city and name
a president, parliament and prime minister with a
complete Kurdish cabinet.
Now here we stop our
scenario dealing with possible future events and,
correct me if I am wrong as I am no politician, but if
this were to happen - and I am sure the Kurdish
political leaders must have thought of this if I can -
think of the repercussions this would have on the Bush
administration. Could it support another policy failure
in Iraq, could it withstand to be the cause of
separation of the Iraqi state and live with the backlash
from Arab oil producing countries? Or worst-case
scenario, could the Bush administration survive
elections while stuck in the middle of a civil war in
Iraq?
Now again this scenario of events sounds
like a good plan for the Kurds as we implement the
thoughts on paper, but as any savvy political analyst
would argue, for the Kurds to actually execute their
political threats would be mere suicide as they are
surrounded by hostile neighbours: Turkey, Iran and
Syria. The Shi'ite Arabs and Sunni leaders they helped
to regain power in Iraq have turned their backs on them.
And the one ally they thought would repay them for their
loyalty and fallen martyrs along side American troops
has betrayed them yet again.
But again it seems
one thing political analysts cannot analyze very well is
that the Kurdish people are a proud nation and when they
are surrounded with all odds against them they do not go
down without a fight, as we have seen throughout
history. Washington will witness a major political loss
in the region and at home, where it can hurt the most
for the current administration especially when the
Kurdish parties decide to unite their efforts to show
their political and military strength. The Kurdish
leaders may have their political flaws, but they have no
doubt they can go up against the best of them, both
Talabani and Barzani have spent their entire lifetime
working for the Kurdish cause and they are still here
today at the forefront of Kurdish, Middle Eastern and
world politics.
I believe that lack of interest
in the Kurdish cause and the lack of respect for the
Kurdish leaders will backfire in the face of the Bush
administration and their coalition partners. They
started this wrong and now they seem to be ending this
wrong. Most importantly, the Kurds are the only allies
the Americans have in the region, Kurdish leaders and
their political parties have been a pillar of support
for the US chief administrator in Iraq, L Paul Bremer,
and coalition forces in Iraq. To put them up in a corner
and turn your back on them is political suicide for the
coalition. We pray someone in the Bush administration
will acknowledge that before it is too late.
Ahmed Karadaghi is a Kurdish freelance
writer currently living in Canada. He worked in northern
Iraq in humanitarian aid, relief and reconstruction from
1991 to 1996. He also currently works in the Internet
and telecommunications industry.
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online
feature that allows guest writers to have their say.
Please click hereif you
are interested in contributing.
