Kurds want autonomy, nothing
less By Nikola Krastev and
Valentinas Mite
NEW YORK - Kurdish leaders had
suggested that they would withdraw from the Iraqi
political process - and possibly even push for secession
- if a reference to the interim constitution was not
included in the new United Nations resolution on Iraqi
sovereignty.
But when the Security Council voted
unanimously to adopt resolution 1546 on Tuesday, any
mention of the interim agreement - known as the
Transitional Administrative Law - was conspicuously
absent.
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has
since said that his government will adhere to the
interim constitution until elections are held next year.
But his remarks have failed to appease the Kurds, who
are worried the Transitional Administrative Law will be
sidelined - and their aim of autonomy along with it.
Speaking in New York, UN envoy to Iraq Lakhdar
Brahimi expressed confidence that Iraqi Kurds would
continue to participate in the country's political
process. "I think the leaders of Iraqi Kurdistan
understand and are fully aware what the geostrategic
realities of the region are. And I think that talking to
[Kurdistan Democratic Party - KDP - head] Massoud
Barzani and talking to [Patriotic Union of Kurdistan -
PUK - head] Jalal Talabani and to their people, one has
a strong impression that they want to contribute very
effectively to the building of new Iraq in which their
region will be a full partner," Brahimi said.
The debate over the interim constitution
reflects the concerns of two ethnic groups who are
trying to redress their past sufferings - the minority
Kurds, and the majority Shi'ite Muslims, who held
virtually no political power under Saddam Hussein.
The interim constitution currently blocks the
possibility of majority rule advocated by the Shi'ites.
That is because it states the permanent constitution
will pass on a popular majority vote - unless it is
rejected by two-thirds of the voters in three of Iraq's
18 provinces. Iraq has three provinces with a Kurdish
majority.
Brahimi characterized the dispute as
two sides talking about two different things. The
Shi'ites are defending the rights of the majority and
arguing against any faction holding a blanket veto. The
Kurds, meanwhile, are focused on guaranteeing the rights
of minorities - a mindset that has hardened through
decades of suppression and broken promises.
"[Kurds] want to be absolutely certain now, in
the Iraq to which they are returning, that they will be
- as they put it - not second-class citizens but full
partners in the federation that is going to be
constructed between themselves and the other Iraqis,"
Brahimi said.
Brahimi said neither side should
be punished for their stance on the issue, and conceded
that resolving the problem will be a challenge. He
expressed faith that both the Shi'ites and the Kurds
will act responsibly to find a workable solution.
"I think the Kurds have a case in making
absolutely certain that - the way they put it is, 'We
have been cheated very, very often in the past and we
don't want to be cheated again'. There is a real, real
problem here. It's not that the Shi'ites are being
unreasonable or that the Kurds are being greedy,"
Brahimi said.
Some UN diplomats, however, have
expressed doubts the problem will be resolved quickly or
easily, saying they hope the debate will not develop
"into anything ugly".
Some Kurdish officials
have threatened to withdraw from the current interim
government or organize a referendum on the future status
of the Kurdish provinces. Mahmud Uthman, a Kurd and a
former member of the Iraqi Governing Council, says Iraqi
Kurds are worried they will lose their hard-earned
status.
"There's a lot of worry and fear among
the Kurds now, [that] this law - as long as it is not
mentioned [in the UN resolution] - it will not be
implemented, and when it's not implemented, then we'll
have to start again from zero and try to make other sort
of laws. So, people are worried about that." Kurds
comprise some 15% of Iraq's 25 million people. Their
opponents in the debate over the constitutional-voting
law are the majority Shi'ites, who make up more than 60%
of the population.
Uthman says Kurds are also
disappointed with the formation of the country's interim
government. Although some interim officials - including
the foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari - are Kurds, Othman
says the new government does not fairly represent the
Iraqi population.
"Every Kurd is disappointed,
really," he said. "Because [Kurds] were not given one of
the two main leading or key posts - you know, prime
minister or president. We think Iraq is composed of two
main nationalities, Arabs and Kurds. And as long as an
Arab takes one post, a Kurd should have taken the
other."
US State Department spokesman Richard
Boucher has attempted to address Kurdish concerns: "We
work very closely with the Kurdish population. The Kurds
have been great friends of the United States. As we all
know, they were strong opponents of Saddam Hussein, they
fought against him and they liberated Iraq from Saddam's
tyranny. They obviously have a role, a very important
role, to play in a strong, united and democratic Iraq."
The Kurdish leadership is taking no chances.
Kurdish officials this week wrote a letter to US
President George W Bush saying that if the Iraqi
government does not adhere to the interim constitution,
the Kurds would "have no choice but to refrain from
participating in the central government". They
threatened to boycott national elections in January and
to "bar representatives of the central government from
Kurdistan".
The Kurds may even take it a step
further, holding a referendum on the status of the
Kurdish provinces. Uthman says the Kurds have collected
almost 2 million signatures in support of such a
referendum.
"They have already collected
1,700,000 signatures and they brought them over to the
[Iraqi] Governing Council, to the United Nations, to the
coalition [authorities]," he said. "They ask for a
referendum and at that time when [the Transitional
Administrative Law, [TAL] was issued, well, it was a
sort of an appeasement, so they didn't insist on [the
referendum]. But now, when TAL is not there, then they
may again talk about it and try to reactivate [the
process] and ask for a referendum. That's a
possibility."
Mustafa Alani, a regional expert
at the Royal United Services Institute in London, says a
referendum is not the best way to decide the future of
Kurdish regions because any move toward autonomy will
affect the integrity of the whole country: "The
referendum here on the future of Kurdish areas must be a
referendum for all Iraq, not only for the Kurdish
region. Every Iraqi citizen must have the right to say
what he thinks is right. So, if we are talking about a
referendum, the referendum must include every Iraqi
citizen - not only on the regional level. Or you have to
elect basically a legitimate democratic government which
has the power of the people, and this [Iraqi] government
without a referendum can decide the future of the
issue."
Alani also says the Kurds should not pin
all their hopes on the interim constitution, because any
document adopted under military occupation should not be
considered the ideal legal basis for restructuring the
state: "The basic principle here is that such a major
shift in the nature of the state needs to be supported
by a legitimate government and be part of [a]
constitution, and the constitution basically must be
[adopted through] a referendum."
Alani says it
is not only Iraqi Shi'ite and Sunni Arabs who are
opposed to Kurdish autonomy goals. Neighboring Turkey,
Iran and Syria are against the move as well, as they
have sizeable Kurdish minorities with limited civil
rights. Turkey already maintains two military bases in
northern Iraq, one of which is in the heart of Arbil,
Iraqi Kurdistan's largest city. Kurdish politicians have
repeatedly demanded that the Turkish army leave, but the
Turkish government has refused to pull the forces out.
Last year the Turkish parliament voted to invade Iraq if
Kurds there declared independence.
Alani says
the broad autonomy the Kurds currently enjoy was
introduced solely to protect them against the Saddam
regime. Now, with him gone, Alani argues there is no
longer anything the Kurds need to be protected from -
and no need to maintain a 75,000-strong militia as well.
Copyright (c) 2004, RFE/RL Inc. Reprinted
with the permission of Radio
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