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| reports
& opinions
Future
of Kirkuk is a National Kurdish Issue
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New
general elections in iraqi Kurdistan are longst overdue!
by:Dr.N.Hawramany Kurdistan
observer
The sticking to eternal power by all means seems to be the most prevalent malignancy in the middle east , were democratic culture is an alien culture from Mars or Jupiter never heard off!. The Iraqi Kurdish leaders who enjoy a semi-independent state in Iraqi Kurdistan since 1991 does not seem to be immune from this disease either. The unsolved dilemma about the provisional administration of Iraqi Kurdistan between the two large Kurdish parties KDP (led by Mr. Masud Barzani) and PUK (led by Mr. Jalal Talabani) before setting a date for new general elections under the auspices of the Washington agreement in 1998, is used as a scape goat to postpone this longest overdue election, which is vital to re-establish the credibility of the Kurdish democratic process to the outside world as well as to the people of Kurdistan. The issue at stake here, dear Kurdish leaders are not how much each of your parties become from the labile income of Ibrahim-Alkhalil at the Khabur border gate with Turkey, or how many ministers or deputy ministers each of you will carve out in this deal, but rather the whole future of the people of iraqi Kurdistan in this turbulent and decisive phase were a new political order is envisaged for the region in the the post-Saddam Iraq. The intentions of the American administration seems this time to be serious and the political and strategic preparations are going on overtly and covertly to make the conditions ripe for such an action, and although one sees some cooperation between KDP and PUK on the international stage to present at least openly a unified approach in dealing with the american administration and iraqi opposition, they seem to depart from this approach when it comes to bilateral relations with regional powers, or with vital internal issues like unifying their separate administrations or setting a date for the new general elections. We hear only that both parties are doing their best to solve their feud, and the ever rising numbers of meetings between the delegations of the two parties with out reaching any concrete agreement or solving the sticking problems, can only be matched by the ever increasing excuses for not implementing the washington agreement, with each side trying to put the blame on the other side. What we need here is an open and transparent debate about this issue in the kurdish media and among the rank and file of these parties and other political parties, to allow the kurdish people to say their opinion, also because this is the whole purpose and aim of democracy. If the two Kurdish leaders are not capable of reaching an agreement to their chronic differences , then let the Kurdish people decide in an act of direct democracy, let both parties prepare for a general Referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan about the future of Kurdistan and also about the date and the way general elections hold in Kurdistan, for there is nothing more noble and dignifying that the people themselves deciding about their future. In
his latest speech to the Kurdish parliament in Hawler, the leader of KDP,
Mr. Barzani, reiterated his commitment to peace and his readiness to accept
any reasonable suggestion to solve this statement. We want Mr. Talabani
to make a similar statement and pave the way for face to face talks in
Kurdistan or else the only reliable alternative is a Referendum , where
the kurdish people can express their will through an act of direct democracy.
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