Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro
dé la Prensa-Baszn Özeti
Kurds in IraqI • By Ja1al Talabani an~Massoud Barzan~
Kurdish building blocks for
a federal Iraq
ERBIL, Iraq
Same day,'we Iraq~ hape to. celebrate an Inde-
- pendence Day like the ane Americans have'
Just abserved '. . .
But far the near future we face the chal-
: lenge af translating liberatian into. democracy :- a
gaal we Kurds willpush for even mare diligently now
that we have agreed to.jain ~~ interim Iraqi adminis-
: tratian that will be faimed this manth. To. that end,
we will work clasely with the United States to.establish
security, revive the economy and build a demo-
. cratic culture.
Our aims may appear aptimistic with Am~rican
and British farces struggling to. establish arder and .
restare public services iil same a,reas af Iraq. Yet the
picture is nat quite as grim as same claim.
The assaùlts an American saldiers are nat "resistance
to.fareign occupatian." Rather, they are acts af .
terrorism by the Ba'athist remnants af the Saddam .
Hussein regime. Theseremnants are sa reviled in
Iraq that th~y have had to.resart to.fareign volunteers,
far fèw Iraqis will take up arms an their behalf. .
Since they lack the support af the people, the
Ba'athists will be defeated - a ptocess that can be accelerated
ifwe establish a natianal security farce. That
wauld be ane majar step toward Diaking Iraq safer.
, But anather security problem, widespread laating,
. requires mare than just better policibg. The laating
has its roats in econamic problems.lraq's ecanamy is
. largelymaribund The wages' paid by the caalitian
are aften nat enaugh to.make ends meet. '
Exporting ail will help, but what Iraq really needs
is camprehenSive ecanamic refarms to.encaurage in- .
vestment. We applaud the inaves, annaunced this
week by Arilerican afficials, to.create a new Iraqi currency
and restructure the central bank, as a welcome .
start to.such refarms. .
, One simple way to. improVe the ecanamy in aur
part afIraq, Kurdistan, is to.ensure that the Kurds receive
the maney allacated to.them by the United Natians
ail-far-faad program. It is a scandal that $4 billian
destined far the Kurds sits, unused, in a UN-cantrolled
French bank accaunt because af past abstruc~
tian by Saddàm and the present incampetence af the
UN.bureaucracy. ...• . .'
e The delays by the United Natians are partiëularly .
frustrating because af rules that require the maney to.
go. into. a general Iraqi develapment fund if it isn't
spent t?y Octaber.' We have repeatedly saught assur-
, attces fram the coalitian that this maney will nat be .'
last to. Iraqi Kurdistan. Sa far, the caalitian response
. has been unclear.
Let us Pe clear, however. We are nat seeking lavish
handauts from Americans ar ather natians - we are '
asking anly far what is rightfully aurs. And any perceptian
that the Kurds, the United States' clasest ally
in Iraq, are being let down will dishearten the many
ather Iraqis who.want to.work with the United States.
For too long, both Ba'athist and Arab
nationalist regimes held Iraq
together by brute force. That is no
longer an option.
Nat releasing that maney also. means nat address-'
ing a critical issue af justice - reversing decades af
ethnic cleansing that has farced clase to. a millian
people in IraqiKurdistan fram their hames. Just a
small fractian af the ail-far-faod maney would finance
the return af many af thase who. were evicted, .
and pay far the decent resettlement af the Arabs who.
took aver their land
Thus far we have averted the chaas af a flaad af dis-
'placed famili~s trying to. return hame by caunseling
patience to.the Kurds, Turkmens and Assyrian Christians
who. were farced aut. This patience, hawever, is
nat infinite. In the caming manths we want to. wark
with the coalitian to. set up a fair, transparent me-.
. chanism to.allow these peaple to.came hame.
Thus far, the caalitian has taken impartant steps
taward promating demacracy. But aspects af the .
strategy remain vague. What Iraqis have learned fram
their encaunters with American saldiers and afficials
is that they seek tademacratize, nat to.daminate. '
While we are warking with L. Paul Bremer 3i'd,.the .
.American occupatian administratar, ta set tip cansti-
~tianàl cauncils to. initiate the palitical pracess, we
need to. mark aut a clear path taward natianal electians
and representative gavernment, sa that Iraqis
have same sense af certainty abaut their palitical future.
One pasitive develapment is that the main Iraqi
political groupshave been able to.reach cansensus an
the next stage af self-gavernance in Iraq .
Also. crucial ta realizing President Gearge W.
Bush's visian af a demacratic Iraq is his, and aur, be-
. lief in a federallraq. Far tao. lang, bath Ba'athist and
Arab natianalist regimes held Iraq tagether by brute
farce. That is no.langer an aptian.
Iraq was a state impased upan its inhabitants, a
country whase preservatian has cast tao. many lives.
The new Iraq has to. be different, a demacratically
created state that reflects the will af its .peaples and
accammadates their diversity.
. Far that reasan, and with U.S. backing, we advacate
a federal system af gavernment. Iraqi federalism will
af coursediffer fram that af the United States, but the
fundamental principle will be the same: a balanced
system af gavernment with cansiderable lacal autanamy
and a savereign, federal center.
Democracy in Iraq willtake time to.establish itself.
Far mare than three decades, Iraqis endured a regime
that carried aut genacide, including the anti-Kurdish
Anfal campaign Of 1987-88,which littered the cauntry
with mass graves and "disappeared" hundreds af
: thausands. Iraq was a saciety where the faintest hint
, af dissent could lead to.a death sentence, as the Kurds
gassed in Halabja discavered. .
The first building blacks af Iraqi federalism and
. democracy have already been laid in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Thanks to.protectian fram American and British air
power, facilitated,by Turkey, Kurds have had 12years
af a sametimes faltering, but ultimately hapeful, experiment
in self-rule; apenness and pluralism.
With cantinued help from the United States, and
with aur work an the interim Iraqi administratian,
what has became knawn as the Kurdish experiment
in demacracy can be a madel far all af Iraq.
Jalal Talabani is secretary general of the Patriotic!'
Union of Kurdistan. Massoud Barzani is president of
the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
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