Bulletin de liaison etd'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse'-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Basln Özeti
Baath government; but whatever achievements have been booked are under the permanent threat of disruptive outside
intervention, be it from the side of the Iraqi government and military, or from other countries like, most importantly,
Turkey, Iran; and the-United States. .
The election of a parliament has thus far hardly led to the development of a genuine political pluralism in the region.
Instead, two (or, at the time of Islamic Movement rule over Halabja, three) effectively one-party statelets were formed,
which are at times disparagingly referred to as 'Barzanistan' and 'Talabanistan'. Here, political opposition is
tolerated in the form. of small junior parties, but neither the KDP nor the PUK will tolerate activities of its main rival
on the territory it considers its own.Except for the Islamic League, which captured a solid 30% of the vote in the latest
regional elections in Sulaymaniya, there are hardly any substantial political alternatives for the PUK and the KDP.
But, although there is I).O really independent- civil society, a system of checks and balances has nonetheless evolved.
Because the Kurdish pàrties in power know that there are local alternatives, they realize that they cannot entirely
ignore the population's plight and desires. In this respect, I would suggest, the situation in government-held territory
is rather worse: few credible alternatives to the Iraqi regime have emerged, and state propaganda can conveniently
blame all shortcomings and abuses of the regime on the effects of thé international sanctions. .
Discussion at the end of the seminar focused on the process of Change in Iraq. In his fulal remarks Fuad Hussein of
the Middle East Bureau the Netherlands said that with regard to matching the Lebanese style system, thelraqi
National Congress in 1992 tried to copy that system. There were three leaders. One of them was Massoud Barzani
(one of the Kurdish leaders in Iraq). Bahr Uloom (one of the Shite religious leaders) and the third one was a Sunni.
They formed the leadership of the !Ne. At that time people were thinking of choosing the Lebanese model. That
experience did not succeed, not because of the combination of these three people but because of external and internal
problems among the political parties and influence from outside.
In the future it will be very important to recognise the rights of the Turkoman, the Kurds and the Assyrians. That
means to reserve places for the representatives of these communities in Baghdad, in the centre of power. Without that
it will be difficult to talk about real democracy, a real coalition and a final solution ..
Having said that I agree that it will be difficult to talk only about the Shias and the Kurds. Who are the Kurds, who
are the Shias, there are many political parties. Many Shias do not identify themselves with religion but with their
political ideology. So if one wants to have a stable situation in Iraq it will also be very important to recognise the role
of the political parties, especially the major political parties. .
I was talking about change with the help of the outside world, in both the case of a military coup and also the change
through the participation of the main groups in the process of change. I have the feeling that because of the fact
that politics in Iraq is highly personalised and is completely dependent on the person of Saddam Hussein if there is
a change the whole system will collapse. When I am saying the whole system will collapse I am also saying that the
army willcollapse. The army may be able to bring the change but I don't know if they will be able to keep themselves
in power. They are no longer the only actors in Iraqi society. There is not just one army, there are many armies:
the Kurds have armies, the Shia have armies. It will be difficult for them to keep power without co-ordination with
other groups.
Laith Kubbà is right when he is asking the Iraqis to think as Iraqis but the problem is that in Iraq we do not have one
major party which applies to all Iraqis. The Communist Party is trying to that but because of its ideology and its history
they becarrie a marginal political party. If we look to other groups and political organisations then we see the
Kurds and the Kurdish political parties. They are talking about democracy in Iraq but the system, the organisation
and. the leadership is Kurdish. If we analyse the Shite political organisations - the Supreme Council, the Dawa they
are talking about Islam about Iraq in general, about the Iraqi people but the leadership, the organisation, the ideology
has been as rooted in the Shia community.
So there is a lack of a major political party which can apply to all the Iraqi people. Besides that we do not have an
Iraqi leader who can collect all the Iraqi people around him under one slogan. The Iranian revolution had Khoemmi
against the Shah. So without having a leader and a main organisation which applies to all the Iraqi people the only
thing which is there are those organisations which represent the large communities in Iraqi society If they can c~operate
in the change comes there will be a kind of coalition between these groups. That is why there was a question
this morning about why the Iraqi people in exile are not talking about democracy. They are not thinking as Iraqis.
Why are we not linking our struggle between the system and citizenship in Iraq. First of all we don't have an orga-
52