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SPEAKING
FREELY
A vote for the
Kurds
By Ahmed Karadaghi
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please click here
if you are interested in
contributing.
Again we come to another crossroads in
the realm that we call Iraq, which is the
reason behind this simple analysis of the before and
after in the so-called Iraqi "elections" to be held
this Sunday. And again it looks quite gloomy
for the victims of Arab nationalism in the region,
the Kurds. Sadly we now have a melting pot of
Iranian influence, Arab nationalism and Turkish
ignorance in dealing with the Kurds, their future
and their basic human rights.
All these powers are working with the hope of
gaining a reigning influence in a new government
blessed by a last-minute United Nations charter,
which judging from experience in Iraq has led to
one thing, the massacre of the Kurds all over
again.
Now don't assume that I am
against the Kurds participating in these
forthcoming elections. I am a firm believer that for
history's sake all Kurds should vote. Looking at the
current situation in Iraq, I believe that the
Kurdish turnout could well actually be even more than
the estimated 15%, as per the quota that has
been allocated for the Kurdish population in this
new government of the make-believe country of Iraq.
I am a firm believer that the Kurds
should show the world that they support the
Kurdish government that has given them, although a
bumpy ride at times, a continuous 14 years of
self-rule, with major achievements made in all aspects
of society. Against the belief of some
negative articles I read about the Kurdish leaders,
they have given the opportunity to a new generation
of Kurdish youth to live for once without fear
of reprisals or executions or torture by our
former Arab governments. I think for that alone, for
the lone reason that the Kurdish children for once
had a semi-normal childhood, the Kurds should show a
vote of confidence to the Kurdish leadership.
The Kurds should show their
so-called Western allies that they are a civilized
nation and deserve the right of self-determination. I am
for voting in the upcoming elections; I will for
sure, and I believe most of the Kurdish population
will do the same. Now another question is, do I
believe that it will do the Kurds any good? Here
is the pessimist in me again and I would say no.
Just being a pessimist or merely offering
a realistic analysis, I believe that the outcome
is bleak again for the Kurds.
You may ask,
why vote? Why bother? The Kurds vote because they
are a nation that has always believed in the
strength of democracy, because they believe in
dialogue first, because they urge to be a beacon
for human rights in the Middle East, because they
still trust the allies that have betrayed and
used them over and over again. They will vote to
give historians and academics another reason to
sit back and ponder why a nation that is the only
entity in the Middle East that could be anything
similar to a democratic nation is so ignored and
betrayed so systematically.
Seeing
the current levels of violence in the Sunni
triangle, the increase in threats and assassinations
of election officials in all parts Iraq,
excluding again the Kurdish-administered region
of Kurdistan, US anticipation and estimates of
Iraqi voter turnouts are highly exaggerated.
In percentage terms it seems that
the Kurdish population will have one of the
largest turnouts in these elections on January
30, but whatever the turnout all political
analysts agree that the Kurdish percentage in the
next government has already been established and
will be less than the 25% that they represent of
the Iraqi population. On the majority side we have
the Shi'ites, who will by all statistics win the
elections and get the upper hand in this new
government; we will then have the process of who
will form the core of this government, their
beliefs, ideology and what would concern the Kurds
more, their plans for the future of Iraq.
To start, anyone who even has
a close chance of winning the majority of votes is
either an Iranian-clergy clone or an
Arab-nationalist clergyman, which in our terms
means we have trouble ahead whoever wins. The
Kurds will be asking for one of the main
positions, prime minister or president - as the
saying goes, it doesn't hurt to ask. The Kurds
seem to be doing that a lot lately, and that's all
they do, ask over and over again, but since they
never demand, issue fatwas
or use
force, they never seem to get what they ask for.
We want 25% of Iraq's budget
allocated to Kurdistan. Well, you can get 10%, okay?
Okay. We want the prime minister's or president's
job? Well, you can have the deputy-prime-minister and vice-president
positions, Okay? Okay. We want the displaced
people of Kirkuk to move back to their original
homes. We can't do that, but they can live
in tents on the outskirts in the scorching sun,
okay? Okay. Yes, and when they do demand something,
actually put their foot down, the neo-conservatives
in Washington send their wizards,
and by wizards I mean Deputy Secretary of Defense
Paul Wolfowitz and Deputy Secretary of State
Richard Armitage to Kurdistan to gently convince
us to back down as a sign of goodwill by the
Kurdish nation. The Kurds seem to have a lot of
goodwill; the only problem is that there seems to be
no goodwill toward the Kurds anywhere.
Anyway, sorry for drifting off the subject
at hand - the aftermath of these elections is
what we are coming too. A new government is elected,
recognized and given a green light to launch.
The shaping and direction of this new administration
is most likely to be radical Islamic,
with a touch of "we don't hate the West but
just want to suppress the basic human rights of
our own people", and let us not forget they would
actually get away with it. Most of the Persian Gulf
states get away with using that plain but very
effective ideology. Again, where do the Kurds fit
in here?
Well, that's just it, they don't.
The Kurds believe in secular Islam - they are not
Arabs, Turks or Iranians, which is the latest
demographic fashion currently in Iraq. They just
don't fit in.
So
the new government will get around to issuing
decrees or fatwas
or
whatever they decide to call them, since these
will all become internal affairs after January 30
and nobody can interfere. The first step of any
newly born oppressive regime will be to start
building its army, upgrading cooperation with
corrupt military and intelligence elements in the
region, in an effort to uproot and eliminate
anyone they see as a threat to their total
supremacy in the region, in this case the Kurds. I
think the Kurds should be the smart ones for a
change and stop trusting regimes and nations that
have one main purpose, the total annihilation of
the Kurds, or achieving the Kurds' total
submission into being slaves for ignorant fascist
governments. As a nation the Kurds have never
taken to that lightly and have spent decades
fighting for what they currently have in
Kurdistan, a new, not so perfect, in the primary
stages, thirsty democracy, but regardless, still a
democracy, and looking around right now in the
Middle East that's pretty impressive by any
standards.
My point of view or analysis or
whatever you may wish to call it is, in simple
terms, take precautions this time around. Let's
make sure that the Kurds strengthen their
non-recognized Kurdish borders before they strive
to build Iraq's. Let's make sure the Kurdish army
is stationed in Kurdistan and not Fallujah or
wherever they want to disperse the Kurdish troops
so they are weakened and separated. Let the
Kurdish leaders sit proudly at the head of a
Kurdish parliament and not on the sidelines in
Baghdad behind an Arab nationalist president.
Don't depend on an ally that is only looking for a
way out. The aftermath of these elections is just
another chapter in history that looks very ominous
for the Kurds. As Kurds we need to take
precautions and hope we will be proved wrong.
Let us simply learn from the past and the hands we
have been dealt. Now, if you will excuse me, I
have to go and register to vote: I always leave
these things to the last minute.
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.
(Copyright Ahmed Karadaghi, 2005)
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please click here
if you are interested in
contributing. |
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