By Yerevan Saeed
Is it not time for Iraqi leaders to be honest with themselves, and to recognize after nearly a century-long history of violence that Iraq’s Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis do not want to live shoulder-to-shoulder inside an artificial state?
This was my question at an event last month at the Harvard Kennedy School, where three Iraqi officials were the invited speakers. They were Samir al-Sumaidaie, former Iraqi ambassador to the United States; Hanan al-Fatlwai, a current member of parliament; and Latif Rashid, former minister of water and senior advisor of the Iraqi president.
It was Rashid who took my question. He called it “emotional”.
He assumed to speak on behalf of the Kurds and said that they do not want independence. He said it was unrealistic, that Kurdistan is landlocked; that you do not hear people or leaders talking about independence except occasionally here and there.
To me, this answer exposed two things: First, it demonstrated that Mr. Rashid had a poor understanding of Kurdish history and world geography, even unaware that there are at least 40 landlocked countries in the world. More notably, his words exposed the poor diplomatic skills of Kurdish politicians. Most importantly, it exposed that we are devoid of a coherent Kurdish voice and discourse about our own issues, therefore harming our own image to the outside world.
Disunity and incoherence in delivering our message has paralyzed the advancement of Kurdistan’s independence. It has confused foreign governments, hampering clear strategies toward Kurdish issues.
Inside the Kurdistan Regional Government, important institutions such as the Kurdistan National Security Council (KNSC) and the department of foreign relations, must work on a Kurdish Grand Strategy, addressing key issues related to the current and future of Kurdistan.
The strategy should prepare for the events expected to unfold in Iraq and the region. It should require Kurdish leaders and officials to have a unified discourse. Before speaking to foreign governments or at events such as at the Harvard Kennedy School -- where usually influential foreign officials with decision-making capacities attend – their speeches must be cleared through the foreign relations department or the KNSC.
Kurdistan is at an important juncture, where it cannot afford poor responses by undiplomatic and unknowledgeable officials. Bad representation and wrong decisions now will return things back to the beginning of the twentieth century!
Yerevan Saeed is a graduate from Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University
