Due to several reasons, the great and glorious nation of Kurds have been bereft of peace and quiet for many years. And whenever proper circumstances arise for restoring tranquility, a myriad of political selfishness and ethnocentrism only aimed at meeting individual or partial interests create a new feeble excuse for forming a new scar on body of the nation thoroughly fed-up with intruders.
The point is that the egocentrism and selfishness come under pretext of defending Kurdish people, so that they can attract public opinion and hide their true face behind the beauty of slogans like ‘the Ideal of the Kurds’.
The hero nation of Kurds, which has for years endured the wound caused by warmongering criminals have always sought to jeopardized its existence, have stood firmly in the face of difficulties in bid to create gleeful conditions for their children. As such, it proved unacceptable to remain silent in the face of those who are after consolidating their personal interests by putting possessions of a great nation on auction.
Every freethinking Kurd will undoubtedly aspire to create a better tomorrow for the nation but the issue Kurdistan independence marks a drama that is abusing this pure and honorable feeling. A show which not only is far away from noble ideals of the Kurdish people, but also is definitely a detriment approach pursued to fulfill interests of a number of power-hungry individuals.
In this brief note, important points will be highlighted in order to shed light on the fact that giving way to the referendum prescribed by Erbil rulers will fail to form an independent Iraqi Kurdistan as well as that it will ignite to cruel and murderous conflicts or wars as acknowledged by Masoud Barzani, President of Iraqi Kurdistan.
Frist and foremost, presence of Masoud Barzani at the head of the Kurdistan Region has been illegal over the past two years. An official at an illegal position will basically have no right to decide on the future of an enlightened nation.
Secondly, according to the Iraqi constitution, the decision to hold any referendum in the autonomous region needs to be approved by the Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament (IKP) and at a time when no such parliament exists, the decision will have no legal basis.
Third, one essential component required for formation of a country would be having at least one outstanding advantage or economic backing for its administration. The issue is of particular importance especially to Iraqi Kurdistan, given its geographical location. Although the Kurdistan Region officials previously could have counted on Kirkuk oil wells, today, given the change in the province's security in favor of Sunni Arabs, virtually the economic backbone is no longer entirely available to the Region and could even turn into a milieu of internal conflicts between Kurds and Sunni Arabs.
Also, in view of the fact that the United States and Israel, in their macro plot for regional disintegration, are surly seeking to form a Sunni Arab autonomous region, the ultimate outcome would be a source of severe conflicts between Kurds and Arabs which mainly harm the involved parties rather than designers.
Moreover, given the religious beliefs of majority of Kurds who are Shafi’I, Sufi or Shias, there will be no guarantee that Laic authorities and politicians of the Kurdistan Region will remain committed to religious demands of the people.
Additionally, there are now four main rivals in the Region, Democratic parties, the Patriotic Union, PKK and Goran, who have numerous ethnic and political disagreements. There is also no guarantee that if Region become disintegrated, the Kurdish people will not get involved in years of political clashes.
What’s more, four neighboring countries, namely Iran, Turkey, Syria and Iraq, have clearly states their stance on the issue, and even Turkey has clearly warned against military confrontation, an issue that is not unlikely, especially by the Syrian and Iraqi governments. Under these conditions, even if no war is ignited, the possibility exists that the newly-established Kurdistan be in a boycott since it will have no access to free waters or air, sea or land routes. In this regard, the words of Americans and Israelis cannot be a solid backbone as evidenced by poor record of Americans in meeting commitments. One instance pertains to the ongoing situation in southern Sudan. It should be recalled that the United States could do nothing in Iraq and was doomed to leave the country. Therefore, Americans will gain no defense power by merely relying on only a few bases in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Finally, the international situation, as a whole, regardless of the green light given by the US and Israel, is against such an agreement as Masoud Barzani’s visit to Europe also yielded no significant achievement.
All in all, a referendum on the independence of Kurdistan will cause three major challenges including ‘intra-Kurdish’, ‘ethnic-religious’ and ‘international’ ones which ultimately will not be in our favor of the Kurd nation, and will only exacerbate the present situation.
The article was first published in Watani Press.
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