May 19,2005

Kurdish National Congress of North America

Press Release

Open Letter to the Kurdish leadership

Give power back to the Kurdish Parliament

After the election last January, the Kurdish people came out of the election with a feeling of power and unity.  All Kurds had hope for a new unity between the two main Kurdish parties KDP & PUK, as demonstrated by the united list the two parties entered into for the Iraqi election and the Kurdistan election.

In the Iraqi election the outcome presented the Kurds with more power in the central government than any previous time in our history and for the first time in the history of Iraq a Kurd was chosen as President of Iraq. This presidency did not come by chance rather was due to the blood of our brave Peshmerga, the wisdom of the Kurdish leaderships to unify the two main parties, and the support of all Kurdish people everywhere in the Iraqi election where the Kurdish list was allocated 77 seats in the Iraqi parliament. In addition, the new Iraqi government has a Kurdish deputy Prime Minister and eight Ministers.

Furthermore, in Kurdistan the unified list won all of the seats during the election for Kurdish parliament. Again, this was a great accomplishment and an important demonstration of unity between the two main Kurdish parties.  The results of the Kurdish parliamentary elections resulted in forming a new parliament with a number of fresh new voices.  We have held hope that parliament would move very quickly to elect a President of the Kurdistan state and move swiftly to unify the two regional administrations and form a new united Kurdish government.

Given the feeling of unity and pride felt by all Kurds following these recent elections, we were very disappointed to hear the recent news coming out of Kurdistan regarding the disagreements or different point of views between the two parties on how the President of the Kurdistan should be elected.  It has been reported that KDP prefers a direct election of the president by the people while PUK prefers an election by parliament.  Furthermore, the role of the Vice President, the power allocated to the President and the term of the Presidency seems to be under much dispute as well.

We are disappointed that after 13 years of having a Parliament we did not write clearly in the constitution the method for electing a President.  Nor has the power or responsibility of the president been defined.  These omissions demonstrate how democracy in Kurdistan is still in its infancy stage and not progressing at an adequate pace and how there is much work to be done in improving democracy in Kurdistan. 

Although it is unfortunate that these issues had not been discussed in the past, we should use this as an opportunity to start a new tradition of democracy in the Kurdish Parliament. 

These important issues on the role, term and process of election of the Kurdish President should be open to free public debate in the Kurdish Parliament.

We believe it would be very healthy for the burgeoning Kurdish democracy and parliament if the two parties submitted their proposals to the Kurdish parliament to be discussed freely. Let us for once make sure that the parliament truly represents the people and is not just a rubber stamp for the political parties. It is time to give the power back to the Kurdish people and their elected Parliament. Let the Parliament decide on the power distribution between, Executive, Legislative and Judiciary branches.

Regarding the role of the Vice President, most world democratic countries have a Vice President from the same ruling party as the President (Iraq being one exception).   We were disappointed to see that this is being made an issue since it serves the political parties and not the Kurdish people. 

Regarding the role of the President, the negotiators should remember that no matter what rules are set up for the new President by the parliament; these rules also apply to the next President too.  We should trust in each other and in the power of the people to choose a new President.  With a strong constitution and elections, we can give the new President a chance to see how he will handle this constitutional responsibility.  Let us put our nation first instead of political parties and personal gains. Let us have a strong opposition to monitor the President and the Government to see how they handle their powers. Let us have a true democracy to be model for Iraq and the Middle East to follow.

Last week the new Iraqi Government was sworn in but a reference to federalism that had been removed from the original text angered the Kurdish leadership where they demanded that the Iraqi Government take a second oath and reinsert the original text, where clearly reference to federalism or there will be a serious threat for alliance between the Shiite and the Kurd.

Original text:

"I swear before God the Almighty to preserve Iraq’s independence, the interest of its people, its sovereignty, its waters and its natural resources as well as its democratic and federal system, and implement the law earnestly and fairly,"

This show of unity among the Kurds, forced the Iraqi Government to pay attention to their demand and they did take the second oath where the original text was written and the Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari was the first to take the oath again, his hand on the Koran. This example of strength comes with support of the Kurdish people when they rally behind a strong leadership.