“In my opinion the main issue in Iraq as a country of diverse religions and ethnicities is the contestation of power, which is natural. … This becomes a problem when one side tries to impose its will on other components or use force or punishment to settle disputes. This is exactly what has happened in Iraq,” Barzani said in a speech opening a two day conference titled “Iraq: A tragic destiny.”
“We all need to have the courage to admit our past mistakes and abandon repeating the mistakes and hegemonic approach of the past,” Barzani said.
The conference is organized jointly by the French Embassy, Rudaw Research Center, the French Center for Research on Iraq (CFRI), and Confluences Méditerranée. It features mainly French experts and academics discussing the history and the trajectory the Iraqi state has taken over the last century.
Barzani reminded the audience about the tragedies that have befallen Kurdish people since 1921. The central government in the first half of the 20th century, backed by the British army and the Royal Air Force (RAF), bombed Kurdish areas destroying villages and towns and killing hundreds of people.
In the second half of the century the Iraqi state spent billions of dollars purchasing weapons from the West including France, Britain and the US as well as the Soviet Union and used some of these weapons against Kurds in the north.
“The people of Kurdistan with all its components have endured a lot and unfortunately one hundred years later, the people of Kurdistan are still struggling to secure their rights,” Barzani reminded his audience. He said “the majoritarian mentality, establishing militias, crippling institutions and sectarian hegemony, threatening civil war” is not the path to a stable country.
Following the overthrow of the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003, different Iraqi political parties including Kurdish parties organized the affairs of the state through a system known as muhasaa, which gives ethno-sectarian groups proportional representation in the government. However this system has failed to resolve the chronic challenges of the Iraqi state, which does not provide basic services for its people.
One of the main challenges of this new federal system has been the dispute between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Region, which is recognized under the Iraq constitution as a legal entity. “The key to resolving Baghdad’s challenges is the resolution of Kurdistan Region’s disputes with Baghdad. For a hundred years Baghdad has not wanted to resolve the issues of the Kurdish people. Iraq has been unstable and unsecure for a hundred years.”
“Federalism for us in Kurdistan has two meanings: one is participating in the government institutions be it in finance, military and political. And second is delegating power geographically,” Barzani said. “Kurdistan must be a true partner in the federal government. This is the guarantor of Iraq’s stability and territorial integrity.”
Barzani spoke about the position of Iraq in the wider region and said that the stability and security of Iraq and the region are directly linked, giving the emergence of Islamic State (ISIS or Daesh) as an apt example. “Iraq’s stability is linked to the region’s stability … and if Iraq is not stable, the region won’t be stable. When Iraq was not stable, Daesh was born. If the same approach continues, without a doubt another Daesh will be born and threaten the stability of the region and the world.”
The ultimate solution for Iraq, he said, is “true participation of all the components in governance and in the decision making process. Our message in the Kurdistan Region is to bring all the sides together for a new contract … that delivers peace and stability.”
