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OP/ED pieces are restricted to
columnists who contribute their opinions solely to the Kurdistan Observer
KurdistanObserver.com
Kurds At Odds With Coalition Authority Over
Kirkuk
By:
Dr. Nazhad Khasraw Hawramany
May 22, 2003
The coalition authorities in Iraq are
trying to maintain status quo in Kirkuk, Iraqi Kurds are angry as the coalition
officials in Kirkuk are actually preventing the reversal of racist policies of
ethnic cleansing and Arabization in Kirkuk, and with that practically endorsing
those evil policies of Saddam regime against the peaceful and oppressed Kurds of
Kirkuk, who a year on after liberation of Iraq are still living in the places
they were deported to in shack towns on the outskirts of Arbil and Sulaimany.
The few thousand Kurds who managed to
return to their ancestral homeland immediately after liberation of Kirkuk in
April 2003, are still living as refugees in their own city under very miserable
conditions, while the Arab settlers, brought in by racist Saddam's regime to
change the Kurdish face of Kirkuk, are still occupying their houses and lands
and enjoying the protection of coalition forces in Kirkuk.
The same people who are arranging and
executing subversive actions and killing coalition soldiers are enjoying the
loving tender care of the coalition forces and officials in Kirkuk, while the
Kurds, the honest and dedicated allies of coalition in Iraq and Kurdistan must
suffer from persecution and indifference of those arrogant and ignorant
coalition officials like Mr. Paul Harvey who is probably more racist and
Baathist than Saddam loyalists themselves, endorsing the criminal racist
policies of ethnic cleansing in Kirkuk and maliciously trying to cast doubts on
the Kurdistani nature of Kirkuk and is trying to commit the same blunder of
Saddam Hussein which led to the bloody wars between Iraqi Kurds and successive
Iraqi governments when they tried to amputate Kirkuk from the body of Kurdistan,
ignoring the fact that Kirkuk for Kurds is something they can never give up even
if that meant an endless conflict.
The Kurdish leaders, on the other hand, are
naive and playing it nice, apparently telling the coalition authorities only
what they like to hear and avoiding themes which might annoy them like reversal
of Arabization or that Kirkuk must return to the Kurdistan regional
administration, the good natured Kurds erroneously mix politics with politeness
and trying to appease coalition officials assuming that these people would
understand and appreciate the sufferings of Kurdish people in Iraq. This a fatal
mistake, Americans are here because of their national interests in the first
place and are ready to smash anybody or any group which they perceive as an
obstacle to these interests. The Iraqi Kurds on the on the hand must also put
their national interests in the forefront, and while believing in their alliance
with the coalition is a good thing since the latter achieved the liberation of
Iraq from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein( with active help from Iraqi Kurds),
this does not mean that they shouldn't raise the issue of Kirkuk and object
openly and loudly to the wrong policies and actions towards Kirkuk just as the
other factions do in Iraq. We certainly do not incite or recommend violence to
achieve this goal, but the western mentality is as such, they will only react
when you actively and persistently demand your rights, otherwise you will be
taken for granted and ignored as it's happening now in Kirkuk. There is a German
proverb which says that Chickens shout loudly when they lay down their eggs,
Ducks don't, and that is why we are preferring Chicken eggs !!.
The Coalition did gave in to the demands of
terrorists and Saddam loyalists in Fallujah because they fought the coalition
authority fiercely, and now they are running their city with troops from Saddam
Hussein's republican army, also the firebrand radical shia cleric Muqtada Alsadr,
is not giving in to the authority of the coalition, some of the coalition
officers didn't hide their admiration for the bravery and steadfastness of
Alsadr fighters!!!, this is how Americans are viewing their adversaries who does
not submit to their authority, instead they considered the Peshmergas, the
highly respected national liberation army of Kurdistan, as militias just like
the terrorists of Fallujah and the thugs of Alsadr, and deliberately ignoring
the facts that Kurds liberated Kirkuk and Mosul with their Peshmerga forces,
when the whole might of American army failed to control a small town like
Fallujah, that Kurds are the true victims of genocide and ethnic cleansing in
Kirkuk, the coalition officials are taking sides with Arab settlers of Kirkuk
and the Turkmen Front groups who opposed the process of liberation of Iraq and
who does not shy away from showing their hatred for Kurds and coalition forces
in Kirkuk labeling Kurds as infidels and collaborators with Americans!!.
It is time for our leaders to wake up and
be open and transparent to the Kurdish people in Kurdistan, they have a lot of
explaining to do, why are they silent about the fate of Kirkuk, why are they
doing nothing to help deported Kurds returning back to their city, why are they
complacent about the foolish statements and acts of coalition officials in
Kirkuk, why aren't they cooperating to reverse Arabization in Kirkuk.
The time is running out and there are till
now no practical steps to implement the reversal of Arabization and allowing
deported Kurds to reclaim their homes and lands as it was mentioned in the
interim Iraqi constitution, why is the coalition authority so feverishly
antagonizing Kurdish demands, when in 6 weeks they are going to give up
sovereignty to Iraqi people.
No body has the right to deny the historic,
demographic and geographic facts which show beyond doubt, that Kirkuk is and
will always remain an integral part of Kurdistan not Arabs, not Turks, not
Persians and not Americans can ever dissuade the Kurds from their just claim
over Kirkuk. Kirkuk might seem a very attractive city to non-Kurds because of
its oil wealth, for Kurds it's much more than that, it's the Kurdistani city
which makes our hearts beat strongly when ever we see it. For Kurds is an Iraqi
Kurdistan without Kirkuk like a motionless body without its beating heart.
Dr. Nazhad Khasraw Hawramany
Switzerland
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