How do we make Iraq’s Shiites understand the Kurds?

Since the collapse of the Saddam regime there has never been a more frank meeting of Iraq’s Shiites and Kurds than last week’s Erbil-Najaf Forum. The Rudaw Research Center’s latest initiative is especially timely and may have important implications for Kurdistan and Iraq in the future.

Before the fall of Saddam, the Iraqi Shiite opposition parties used to hold forums, summits, and meetings with the Kurdistani leadership, either in the Kurdistan mountains or in hotels in Erbil and Pirmam. Some of the talks held during the Erbil-Najaf Forum reminded us of the early days when Kurds and Shiites worked and struggled together to contribute to the collapse of the dictatorship. However, many Shiite leaders later reneged on this collaboration.

This time around, the youth of Iraq have staged a revolution to put an end to the failed governing system of the former Shiite opposition which now runs the country. I cannot predict the implications of this ongoing revolution. However, I know that the Iraq of today will be different to that of yesterday and that many things will change. At the right moment, Erbil should hold forums with the forces that emerge from this changed Iraq.

The Forum’s participants understood the sensitivity of the current phase and the changes we will likely witness. Now we must urgently hold an Erbil-Mosul Forum, a Kurd-Kirkuk Forum (including Arabs and Turkmen), and a Kurd-Sunni Forum as soon as possible. 

Iraq’s components, especially its Kurds, did not want to be cobbled together in a single country with other groups in the first place. As a result, none of these components has had an incentive to sit down together in a forum. Instead, it has been left to politicians to sit together and decide. The decisions they made were the result of political games, ideologies, and agendas, which more often than not led to conflict and destruction. When non-politicians, who better understand their populations, sit down together, this can help reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings. 

Such forums can leave each component with a far better impression of one another and allow them to benefit from each other’s experiences. It can also help bolster Iraq’s federalized structure, improve the mindset of voters, and eventually influence the behavior of politicians. 

Another forum is already in the works for Najaf. If more like it are held elsewhere, then Shiite politicians will no longer be able to garner votes by telling lies and antagonizing the people of Kurdistan. The same is true of the Kurdistan Region.

This model of speaking directly to the Shiite, Sunni, and even Turk and Persian mind and consciousness is very important for the Kurds. So far, the main bridge connecting Kurds and their revolution with the nations of the region, who have unjustly occupied Kurdistan’s soil, has been through the states, their capitals, and their media outlets. 

These channels have played a negative role, causing these nations to misunderstand Kurds and even provoke them to antagonize the Kurds. 

As Kurdistan is unable to use military or diplomatic means to address these negative influences, it must instead use soft power through forums such as these. 

Translated by Zhelwan Z. Wali 

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rudaw.