The exclusive interview of Kurdistan24 with the Dutch Consul General

ERBIL(Kurdistan 24) - Jaco Beerends, the Consul General of the Netherlands in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, provided exclusive insights during an interview with Kurdistan24, shedding light on his country's relations with the Kurdistan Region and offering perspectives on the region's future.

The discussion touched upon pressing issues, including the upcoming Kurdistan parliamentary elections and the participation of diverse communities.

The following is the transcription of the interview:

Kurdistan24 – The Netherlands is famous for its flower production industry, which actually makes your country to be a “country of flowers”.

Jaco Beerends – “Yes, it is correct. We have a quite a substantial flower production industry. It is very much in our culture, if you’d walk the streets of the Netherlands every other corner you will see shops of fresh flowers and a lot of varieties that are being produced. |I think however, also in Netherlands we are going through a transition where you see that we are looking at the sustainability of these types of sectors. And we are mostly now more and more focusing on exporting our expertise in how to produce and how to actually get a sector such as the flower sector off the ground. But it is a very big sector in the Netherlands, yes.

Kurdistan24 – Looking at the regional situation, how is the relationship between Kurdistan Region and the Netherlands can be described?

Jaco Beerends – Well the relationship between Kurdish autonomous region in Iraq and the Netherlands has been very strong and will continue to be strong. The main reason for that is that we have a have a quite a substantial amount of people that have both nationalities. They have of course the Iraqi nationality because they living in Iraq but they have are actually Kurdish; they are also Dutch in the sense that we have 5000 to 7000 Dutch passport holders here as an estimate. And a lot of these people came from families that were travelling to the Netherlands when they were being suppressed here in the time of Saddam’s regime. So many if these families they sought refuge in the Netherlands. But also in other countries, like Sweden, the UK, Germany… etc. And, quite a substantial part of these people came back. But now they have Dutch nationality, Dutch heart, and they have Dutch knowledge. They went to Dutch schools and universities sometimes. So we have very strong ties in the sense that the people are the main connection.”

Kurdistan24 - Do you think Kurds who have lived in the Netherlands have been able to integrate with Dutch culture and benefit from the developments of that country?

Jaco Beerends – Yes. There is something, it’s nice that you ask about this. It is something that is quite exceptional about this group. First of all, I think that more than for instance some of the other countries in the region, there is a shared value between what the Dutch people find important and what the Kurdish people find important. Also, the people that fled to the Netherlands from here in 1980s and 1990s, they were group of people that were looking for refuge because of suppression of Saddam. And most of these people were intellectuals, business people and people who were politically active. That was the reason that they had to flee. And it means that it’s the section of the people that were already very much into trying to build their future. So their kids went to universities and their children took advantage of the Dutch education system. And they did very well. It is very nice to see some these people have returned here and now in the KRG again doing very well. Because if you look at the amount of Dutch Kurdish people that are in the government here, or that are in business sector here, or that have very influential positions, that’s quite a few. So they again did very well with the advantages that they had from the Dutch education system.

Kurdistan24 - What is the level of Dutch investment in the Kurdistan Region?

Jaco Beerends - From the past and also in the coming periods, our investments in agriculture will remain the most important. So, the sector that we are focusing on is mostly agriculture. I will give you a little bit of background as to why that is. First of all, agriculture is the priority of the KRG. Because, it fits with the plans of this government to diversify the economy, and also have more sustainable food supply for their own population. That’s the first and very important reason because if it is a priority for the government it makes more sense for us to work with them on these issues. The second one is that the potential is very big. If you look at this region, there is a very fertile lands and lots of labor available. There are lots of people that want to have a job and agriculture is a very labor-intensive sector. So that’s another reason. And lastly, I think it is very important that we have the expertise and knowledge that we’d like to export. So we want to make use of all the experience that we have been gaining for the past decades in this sector. And also we want to make use of it. Also, not always, because we would like others to profit from it, but it is also good business for us to export our knowledge and expertise. These are some of the reasons that agriculture is in our agenda and we work the government here.

Kurdistan24 - What should be the steps taken by the Kurdistan Regional Government to resolve its problems with the federal government and how successful have these steps been as you understand them?

Jaco Beerends - It is a very difficult question. First of all, these issues are foremost of course up to the political parties and institutions here. But, having said that, we of course as an outsider, as a bystander, as a guest to your country, we see that we think that in the end it is crucial in these situations, that in the end, you need to make a compromise. The system you’re in as one of a federal system with an autonomous region, and it means that there needs to be a good division of what you can do within that system so that both fulfill your roles. How exactly that lies out, that is up to the leadership here. And my plea is actually that all political parties here and also the leadership do that from the interest of the people. Both the Iraqi people and the Kurdish people, their interests should be at the top of the mind of the political leaders when they make decisions about all kind of things that have to do with the budget, with oil, with water; these are essential things. Because, at the end it should benefit the Iraqi and Kurdish people.

Kurdistan24 - What is your view on the issues as the Netherlands and do you not think that these issues should be resolved according to the constitution?

Jaco Beerends - the constitution is an important part of this puzzle. So if you’re looking at compromises there should guidance from the constitution that’s for sure. I think, it is also important to realize that Iraq is a young democracy. You’re growing into the role step by step. And this is bumpy road and is it not going to be easy to jump from the history you’ve had into a full-fledged working democracy. That would take efforts and some painful decisions. Like I said, it needs compromise, it needs very much compromises to be sure that you get to the next level.

Kurdistan24 - The issue of salaries has been resolved to some extent. Do you not think that salaries should be excluded from the problems?

Jaco Beerends - again, the exact way you fill out these issues with Baghdad is not for me to decide on. What I do think is if you look at this issue, the salary payments, it of course affects the people directly. If people don’t have an income, if families don’t have food on the table, so it is a very urgent issue. I also think that therefore these people should not be the victims of the disputes between Baghdad and Erbil. So like I said before, whatever solution you look for, the political leadership I think should be really aware what kind of impact their decisions have on the people. And one other point I want to make, if you look at the amount of the people that are dependent on these salary payments; that is also not a very healthy situation for the future. What I mean is that in general in Iraq by far a big part of the population is depending on the government for their salaries. So coming back to the things that we think are important for this region: diversify economy, invest in private sector development. These are parts of the solution because if more people are working outside the government, their income and salary is not depending on these disputes between the two governments. So we really would like to work with the authorities here to get away from this huge amount of people working for the government and divert them in other ways of jobs and therefore income generations.

Kurdistan24 - Why do you, like the Netherlands, call for free, fair elections?

Jaco Beerends - Yes, we do. We think new elections in this region are long overdue. It has been postponed for number of time for several different reasons. And the reason why we think that elections are such an important part and of course you are right elections should be transparent, inclusive. There are all kinds of parameters you’d want to watch for when you hold elections, but just the fact that there needs to be an election is also important part of the puzzle. Why? because what you have seen especially over the last one-and-half to two years is that in the environment where he Kurdish region of Iraq is in, the surrounding with other countries and forces, political forces around you, the fact that you don’t have a new mandate for the parliament and a new mandate for the government, is affecting you. The fact that you haven’t had these elections where you establish a new parliament and a new government with a new fresh mandate doesn’t help the Kurdish plight for being an autonomous region. Because other forces will make use of the fact that you are not actually a full-fledged democratic system. And therefore, I think it is very important that these elections be held.

Kurdistan24 - So, in your opinion, it is very important that all political parties participate in the Kurdistan parliamentary elections.

Jaco Beerends -  Like I said, of course, elections should be transparent, they should be inclusive, we also think that any party that wants to register and has an electorate should be able to participate. Again this part also, however, needs compromises. Like I said, sometimes the greater aim is more important than all the things you want to have for yourself. So, I am not saying that there is not a rightful question of some parties on how and when they should participate, of course we are very much in favor of every political party that can register to participate, but we also think that parties should be able to make those compromises. So sometimes, you gain something and sometimes you have to give something. Sometimes you have to find each other in the middle to be able to take the decision that is needed for the greater good. And that would be elections.

Kurdistan24 - The Federal Court annulled the seats of the communities in the Kurdistan Parliament. What is your opinion?

Jaco Beerends - in more recent history where it was important that also minorities have a say and therefore find their place in the elections as well. I think it is important in any democracy where you can have elections to realize that if people vote in a democracy, the biggest party gets the right to say; because they win the elections and they will have the initiative. But, it is also a responsibility of the big party to always keep in mind that there are minorities, that the minorities need to be part of the system. In other words, the fact that you have a majority does not mean that therefore the minority is no longer important. It is important but there can be different ways to safeguard the interest of the minorities.

Kurdistan24 - So how do you assess the efforts of the Kurdistan Regional Government to protect the communities?

Jaco Beerends -  Like I said, is has been part of the system as it was. Of course I understand what the issue now is with the fact that the minorities’ seats were cancelled in the latest ruling; again, I think it is an important to see what is needed for parties to still have their influence in these elections. That does not always mean that it has to be like the system as it was, it can also be in a different form; but the most essential part is that we don’t forget about the minorities and that we don’t think that in a democracy a majority always has to say what is needed. It is also about the minorities.

Kurdistan24 - What is the Kingdom of the Netherlands' view of the Middle East, especially today?

Jaco Beerends -  well, is it is very clear that we have come from a period in which the tensions were rising to very serious levels. Last week I think was quite dangerous in the sense that there could’ve been a tipping point in the regional powers in no longer having control over who fights whom. This is because there were so many different factions and streams that are fighting each other. What we as the Netherlands have been saying, our minister has been calling constantly for de-escalation, that means that both parties should be aware of what their next step is this process might trigger. And how the response from the other party might be. We have seen here in Kurdistan Region the effects of the tensions and also the military actions. Since last year in October, we have had numerous drone attacks; we have had the big attack here on the Peshraw family. These things have an effect in Kurdistan Region. Nevertheless, this region is not a party in the conflict itself. So it is a very worrisome development and we are really hoping that in the coming period the parties will clearly make the decision to de-escalate and bring tensions back to a lower level.

Kurdistan24 - So do you think it is not in anyone's interest to destabilize the Middle East?

Jaco Beerends - no, I think that is very clear. I also, think in the background, the big players in this region, they are aware of this. They are also aware of the fact that it is in nobody’s interest to go beyond that point that nobody has control anymore and everybody is fighting everybody. Because all parties will lose. The problem is of course where do the big military forces take a step back and let this argument prevail above their own national interest for example.

Kurdistan24 - The Netherlands is the world's largest producer of flowers. Kurdistan Region has a good soil and climate for flowers. Is the Netherlands afraid to participate in this market?

Jaco Beerends - we are not so much afraid of, but we would love to see the flower sector to develop here. This is also part of some the issues of that we talked about in the beginning on developing the agriculture sector here. It is, maybe, interesting to know that if you look at the amount of money that the Netherlands has as revenue out of agriculture, including flower industry, but also horticulture, that is huge. Last year it was about more or less 50 billion Euros that we made as a country from this sector. The trade between the Netherlands and Kurdistan Region is going up very quickly. We have seen figures for Iraq going up very quickly the last period. What we are aware of, however, is that if we are developing a sector here, we help develop it, that it is in a sustainable way. And what I mean with that is that of course it is very nice to have a flower production sector here, but we should include issues such as water; how are we going to supply these sectors with water. For instance, there are different types and varieties of flowers that are better suited for this environment than others because they need less water. All these things need to be incorporated if you build a plan for a sector because it is actually the opportunity to do it in the right way. And if we can be a small part of that and assist you, we will be happy to do so.

Kurdistan24 - How do you see the Kurdistan Region and its future?

Jaco Beerends -  As I said in the beginning, the most important part for us is that we have a very much shared relations, shared background, and also a shared future because of the people. So that remains important. Next to that, we also share quite some values. What I mean with that is that we are both rooted in a democratic system. Both our governments do have important specific points about free press, human rights, about values that we find important. So therefore, I see that the importance of is being still connected to this region is still going to be there in the future. Also, because if this region remains stable, it means that the wider region also has a stable factor in Iraq and in wider region. So I hope that answers your question little bit.

Kurdistan24 - Thank you very much for this interview with Kurdistan

Jaco Beerends - you are very much welcome. May I still add something? I am not so sure you can use this later one. It is important to know that this Sunday, we have our national day, it’s the King’s Day, the birthday of our King, we have many people from our network coming to this event, and there you will also see some the issues we have talked about. So we will have some displays on agriculture, Dutch flower industry, and Dutch culture as well. So I hope the Kurdish people and also the Kurdish authorities make good use of that.