Kurdish Demands For Federation Within Iraq Conforms With US policy

Dr. Nazhad Khasraw Hawramany

Feb 1, 2004

The Kurds want a federation of geographic southern Kurdistan ( called here Iraqi Kurdistan) with the rest of Iraq, the Kurds demand that other parts of Iraqi Kurdistan which were under the authority of deposed regime of Saddam Hussein must be re-included to the federal province of Iraqi Kurdistan, those territories include the governorate of Kirkuk, the city of Tuzkhurmatu which was annexed to Tikrit, the cities of Shangar, Shekhan, Makhmour which belongs to Mosul governorate, the cities of Khanaquin , Mandali which belongs to the governorate of Diyala, simply because those cities have been geographically always a part of Kurdistan with an overwhelming Kurdish majority but were subjected to a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing and Arabization, whereby over 500,000 Kurds were deported from their original habitat and were replaced by Arab settlers from southern and central Iraq during the reign of Saddam Hussein. this had coincided with a brutal campaign of genocide and destruction of more than 5000 Kurdish villages and townships, an evil  campaign which was labeled as Anfal, which is a Qoran verse, that means the spoils the Moslem invaders gained after fighting the infidels !!. keeping in mind that the Kurds themselves are Moslems!!.

The Kurdish leaders have asserted repeatedly that they are seeking a federation within Iraqi unity and have no plans for separation or division of Iraq, they are leaving sovereignty issues like oil resources, foreign affairs, defence, currency in the hands of the a central federal government, they are seeking a bi-national voluntary union with Arabs in Iraq, and guaranteeing the rights of other national minorities within the boundaries of geographic Kurdistan like Turkmen, Arabs, and Chaldo-Assyrians, yet there was a very hostile reaction from some Arab elements in Iraqi Governing Council and from neighbouring countries with its own repressed Kurdish minorities, distorting and exaggerating the scope of Kurdish demands and depicting the Kurdish federal plan as a step to jeopardize the Iraqi territorial integrity.

The Kurds are a  a distinct nation in Iraq that have the right of self-determination and have been enjoying a semi-independent state since 1992, but they have chosen   after liberation of Iraq  to reintegrate into Iraq provided that a federal relation exists between geographic Iraqi Kurdistan and rest of Arab Iraq, this choice conforms totally with the   American vision of a unified secular democratic and pluralistic Iraq, in reality this is the only practical way to regain the unity of Iraq otherwise the Kurds are going to distance themselves away  from the political efforts already underway to draft the interim bill of rights and interim legislature. The constant inference of neighbouring countries namely Turkey, Syria and Iran in the internal affairs of Iraq and their unholy alliance ( regional axis of evil) to create instability between ethnic and sectarian groups in Iraq and   their  malicious efforts to sabotage any Kurdish plans for assertion of their democratic rights within a federal democratic Iraq, plays negatively towards the American plans to bring stability and democracy into Iraq, the Americans apparently acknowledge an autonomy to the Kurds within their geography, the fine details of   which must be worked out between Iraqi Kurdish representatives and IGC. The Kurdish issue was and remains to be the key to stability in Iraq, the Kurds hold the balance of power between Arab Sunnites and Arab Shiites and any distortion of this balance could lead to a new civil war in Iraq. In new  Iraq there should be no domination of one group over others, as the Kurds have always fought against the Sunnite domination in Iraq, they are not ready now to accept instead a Shiite domination. The three main factions or blocks in Iraq namely Shiites, Sunnites and Kurds must have a balance of power in Iraq and this to my view can only be achieved when all these groups are evenly represented in interim legislature, taking into consideration other minorities like Christians and Turkmen. America must stand firm by its commitment for a democratic and federal Iraq and must not abandon the Kurds, their only real ally in Iraq. the American administration must not waver because of an election year and look for shortsighted solutions or allow neigbouring countries to destroy the building of the democratic peaceful model in Iraq.