The Kurds in Iraq have done a great job in assuring their existence and
identity, as well as in revitalizing their language and way of life. Although
they have much in common with their neighboring ethnic groups, they have proven
to have enough differences that make them a distinct group of people or a
distinct nation.
Kurdish children in Iraq now are learning a language at public school that is
different than what Turkish, Arab, and Persian instructors have to teach the
Kurds in other parts of Kurdistan . In Iraqi Kurdistan an elderly country woman
who is unfamiliar with the languages of other ethnic groups dose not have to
describe her pain to a nurse or a physician via a translator. The newspapers,
radio shows, and television programs in Iraqi Kurdistan are in language that the
neighboring ethnic group can not relate to the way the Kurds in other parts of
Kurdistan can not relate to Turkish, Persian, and Arabic languages.
The Kurds of Iraq have shown that they do not have to be become Arabs, Persians,
and Turks to serve their own people and the members of ethnic minorities who
live among them. They have given their minorities the same rights that their own
people enjoy. The Kurds of Iraq have welcomed investors from other countries to
their homeland without having to adapt to their way of life. The Kurds of Iraq
have assured their neighboring ethnic groups they are neither less nor more than
them, do not have anything against them, and rather be in peace than in fight
with them.
With the above description, the Kurds of Iraq might sound to be perfect; of
course they are not and they don’t have to be, otherwise they won’t survive
among the flawed human species. I am confident they gradually will correct their
basic flaws and will have enough strength to be criticized for more advanced
ones. Without permission they have named their government the Kurdistan Regional
Government as if they represent all parts of Kurdistan . Since still they have
neither strength nor confidence to serve all parts of Kurdistan , at least they
should change the name of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to Southern
Kurdistan Regional Government (SKRG) for now.
Hataw Sarkawt is a free lance writer and believes Sunrise is a matter of time.
