ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—A decade of conflict and violence has led many residents of the Iraqi province of Anbar to think that an autonomous region similar to what the Kurds enjoy in the north might be the best solution. Though some believe they have missed the opportunity.
“You cannot compare the status of Anbar with that of the Kurdistan Region,” says Salam al-Khalid, a journalist based in Fallujah. “Anbar must be run by qualified elites, academics, and experienced politicians in order to catch up with Kurdistan.”
Al-Khalid laments the situation in his province where indiscriminate arrests, bombings and violence have become part of life. He says that the incompetence of the Sunni leaders isn’t making their situation any better.
“It’s not feasible for Anbar to be governed by clans and armature politics that are unable to solve complex problems the region is suffering from,” he says.
He believes that the ultimate solution is autonomy.
However, says al-Khalid, the first step towards a Sunni autonomous region is to get Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki out of the way as he is a big obstacle for such an ambition.
“The current viable solution is to vote out Maliki in the next election,” he says. “You must get rid of the current political system based on quotas, sectarianism, factionalism then one must think of forming an autonomous region because as long as Maliki is in power it’s hard to make such crucial decision to declare an autonomous region.”
Al-Khalid believes that contrary to some analysis, Anbar wouldn’t be a poor region if it decided to split from the central government.
“We have minerals, human resources, the Euphrates River, natural gas, tourism and oil,” he says.
Some residents blame the dire situation in Anbar on the endless conflict that has been raging the area since the US invasion in 2003. But in the meantime, they criticize their own politicians and representatives who “have acted selfishly and ignored people’s needs.”
Najm Ahmed al-Abdali, 54, a government employee, says that the Islamic Party of Iraq who was supposed to be the voice of Sunnis in Baghdad hasn’t acted efficiently.
“The Islamic Party in Anbar province, showed its selfishness in alliance with Maliki to gain personal interests at the expense of people,” al-Abdali told Rudaw.
Al-Abdali says that during recent tensions with the central government, leaders of the Islamic Party fled the Anbar province and left their people to their own devices.
“They didn’t work for the release of detainees or find real job opportunities, to say the least,” says al-Abdali. “Most of them bought properties and real estate in Europe, Oman, Turkey and the Gulf countries and sold our cause to Maliki who is hell bend on destroying Anbar.”
He believes that the Kurds had seized their opportunity at the right time to draw their political and judicial boundaries with the rest of Iraq.
“If creating an autonomous region is in the interest of the country, solves our problems, triggers economic development and prevents the recurrence of the current crisis or moves us away from the wars and battles with Maliki’s army, I am all for it,” he says.
Al-Abdali says that Iraq’s Sunnis will have many challenges to overcome before they can build an autonomous region of their own.
“In Anbar we live with political duplicity as well as the intolerance of tribal and political backwardness,” he says. “If we get rid of all those destructive and extreme ideas, whether religiously or politically then it is possible to say that we can form a province of Anbar, as did our fellow Kurds.”
Tareq Diab al-Asal, a Ramadi candidate running in this moth’s parliamentary elections agrees that a Sunni autonomous region might be the best solution, but that they have missed the opportunity due political mistakes.
“Supporting voices are rising and still calling for making such political decision, but I find it difficult now to think of forming a region because Maliki has gone out of his way to complicate the situation in Anbar,” al-Asal told Rudaw.
Some residents believe that tribal rivalry is one of the main reasons that a Sunni autonomous region is hard to achieve.
“The formation of Anbar autonomous province does not solve the crisis, but rather flames the current crisis and creates bigger problems,” says Sheikh Hamid al-Hayes, a tribal chief who is criticized for his alliance with the Iraqi prime minister.
