--
Iraqi Kurdistan region will hold a referendum on independence from Iraq on 25 September. In this podcast series, Zana Kurda, the director of European Affairs at the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Mission to the EU, presents the Kurdish perspective and explains why the Kurds are determined to hold the referendum.
What rationales are there for Kurdistan’s independence and why are they holding the referendum now?
Kurds have many reasons for establishing an independent state. But essentially it all boils down to two main arguments.
Their first argument concerns independence as a principle. It is about the right to self-determination which is the birthright of all peoples. Kurds are the largest nation in the world without a recognized state. Like any other nation, the Kurdish people should be free in determining their own destiny.
The second argument is about independence, now, as a practical way to solve some of the fundamental problems which Iraq has been dealing with for a long time — since its very creation in fact. Iraq is currently facing multiple challenges: security, economic, political and humanitarian.
These challenges are partly because of external threats like ISIS, the inability of its political leaders, the corruption and so on. However, it is too simplistic to see any of these as the reason for the failure of Iraq as a state. In reality, these are just symptoms of a much greater problem: the construction of Iraq as a state.
Indeed, the problem is Iraq itself. Iraq was created as an artificial country where compulsory coexistence between Kurds and Arabs on the one hand and Shias and Sunnis on the other, has prevented the country from ever being a “real” nation state.
The Kurds have been the main victims of these fundamental divisions. When one looks at the history of Iraq, successive regimes in Baghdad, regardless of their types or ideologies, they all have used repressive and discriminatory policies against the Kurds, including acts of genocides by the Saddam Hussein’s Baathist party.
Following the fall of the regime in 2003, the Kurds in Iraq decided to help rebuild the state of Iraq on the condition that it would be a democratic, federal and pluralistic state in which Arab, Kurds and all the other components would be equal partners. More than a decade later, unfortunately none of those principles have been adhered to. In the post-Saddam era, Iraq had a chance to get rid of its fundamental problems and open a new chapter, but the country’s political elite has failed to do so.
For that reason, Kurdistan Regional Government, the KRG, has been increasingly pursuing its own path. Over the last decade, the KRG has grown to become a too powerful and too independent entity within the failed state and government of Iraq. The Kurdistan Region has its own institutions and it is politically, economically and militarily independent of Baghdad. Truly, the Kurdistan Region is an independent state in all but name.
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment