Iraq's Centralist Mentality Clashes with its Federal Constitution, Kurdistan Bar Association Warns

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Twenty years after the adoption of a federal constitution designed to create a pluralistic and decentralized state, Iraq remains trapped in a deep and damaging conflict between the letter of its own supreme law and the deeply entrenched centralist mentality that continues to dominate its key political and judicial institutions.

This is the stark and urgent warning from Bakhtiar Saeed, the head of the Kurdistan Bar Association Union, who, in an interview with Kurdistan24, declared that the majority of the members of the Iraqi parliament still operate from a centralist perspective, harbor "chauvinistic ideas," and are actively working to oppose and even "destroy" the Kurdistan Region. 

This fundamental clash, he argued, has resulted in the systematic violation of the constitution, the marginalization of the Kurdistan Region's rights, and the creation of a dysfunctional political system that is detrimental not only to the Kurds but to all the people of Iraq.

"According to the constitution, Iraq is a federal country, and this is clearly stated in the articles of the constitution," Saeed began, laying out the foundational legal principle of the modern Iraqi state. "But in the Iraqi parliament, those articles have either been ignored or tampered with." 

The scale of this constitutional neglect, he revealed, is staggering. "We have identified 55 constitutional articles that have not yet been implemented or have been tampered with, or are being implemented very slowly," he stated. "This is not only to the detriment of the Kurdistan Region, but to the detriment of the Iraqi people."

At the heart of this problem, Saeed argued, is a persistent and deeply rooted political culture that has refused to embrace the principles of federalism and partnership. 

"The majority of the members of the Iraqi parliament still work from the perspective of central rule and carry chauvinistic ideas," he asserted. "They still do not believe in democracy and view issues within the framework of partisanship and are seriously trying to oppose the Kurdistan Region and even destroy the Kurdistan Region."

He also pointed to the significant and often malign influence of outside powers on the Iraqi legislature, stating that "the role of neighboring countries is clearly visible on the decisions and behavior of the majority of the members of the Iraqi parliament."

This centralist and often hostile mentality has been allowed to flourish, he explained, due to a critical and long-standing failure to establish one of the constitution's most important checks and balances: the Federal Council.

"The absence of a federal council to monitor the decisions of the Iraqi parliament has led to the implementation of a majority and minority system in the Iraqi parliament, while the decisions should have been made by consensus and agreement," Saeed said. "The establishment of a federal council is stipulated in the Iraqi constitution, and this council should have been established from the beginning; because the federal council is a guarantor of protecting everyone's rights and does not allow decisions to be approved or rejected only by the majority of the parliament."

The failure to establish this second legislative chamber, which is meant to represent the regions and governorates, has effectively allowed a numerical majority in the Council of Representatives to impose its will, bypassing the spirit of consensus and partnership that is supposed to define a federal system.

Saeed also noted that this centralist mindset is not only preventing the Kurdistan Region from exercising its full constitutional rights but is also actively suppressing the rights of other Iraqis to form their own federal regions. "They are preventing the establishment of other regions in Iraq, even though it is a constitutional right and until now the establishment of other regions has been requested," he said.

The head of the Kurdistan Bar Association Union also directed a sharp and powerful critique at Iraq's Federal Supreme Court, an institution that has issued a series of controversial rulings against the Kurdistan Region in recent years.

"The decisions of the Federal Court are not only contrary to the articles of the constitution, but that court often changes and interprets the articles of the constitution at its own will," he charged. "The interpretation of constitutional articles should only be within a specific legal framework."

This accusation of judicial overreach and politically motivated interpretation strikes at the very heart of the rule of law in Iraq, suggesting that the nation's highest court has become another instrument of the centralist agenda.

This powerful legal and political critique from one of the Kurdistan Region's top legal figures provides a crucial framework for understanding the central message of the Kurdistan Democratic Party's (KDP) current election campaign.

In a series of powerful speeches launching the party's campaign across the region, both President Masoud Barzani and KDP Vice President Masrour Barzani have framed the upcoming Iraqi parliamentary election as a critical new frontline in the struggle to defend Kurdistan's constitutional rights against this very centralist assault.

In his keynote speech in Erbil, as previously reported by Kurdistan24, President Barzani recounted the history of the Kurdish people's engagement with the Iraqi state, a history marked by broken promises and unfulfilled agreements.

"We went to Baghdad with pure intentions and a strong will to establish a new Iraq based on partnership, balance, and compromise," he said of the post-2003 era. "The constitution that was adopted afterwards, though not perfect, could have prevented many of today's problems had it been properly implemented."

He then cited several key constitutional articles that have been systematically ignored, including Article 1, which defines Iraq as a federal state, and Articles 111 and 112, which govern the management of oil and gas resources and which have been the subject of a long and bitter dispute between Erbil and Baghdad.

In a similar vein, KDP Vice President Masrour Barzani, speaking at the campaign launch in Duhok, declared that the time has come to "move a part of our struggle to that arena. Today, that arena is the Iraqi Parliament."

He described the KDP's candidates as "Peshmergas in that battle," who must fight to prevent hostile plans and to ensure the full implementation of the constitution.

He argued that the persistent obstacles placed in the path of the Kurdistan Region's development, particularly the use of the federal budget and salary payments as a "political card," are a direct result of not having a strong enough presence in Baghdad to defend the region's rights.

"Our issue is not about salaries; our issue is about national identity. It's about our land, the entity of Kurdistan, the rights of the people of Kurdistan, and coexistence," he declared.

The KDP's campaign slogan, "Partnership, Balance, and Consensus," is a direct and pointed response to the majoritarian and centralist system that, as Bakhtiar Saeed has argued, has come to dominate the Iraqi parliament in the absence of a Federal Council. The party's core message is a call for a return to the foundational principles of the 2005 constitution, a document that the Kurdish leadership played a pivotal role in drafting.

In his concluding remarks, Bakhtiar Saeed offered a clear and concise prescription for resolving this fundamental conflict.

"First of all, the centralist way of thinking within the legal and decision-making institutions of Iraq must change," he stated, "and they must understand the reality that Iraq is a constitutional federal country, not a centralist one."

As the election campaign intensifies, the central question for the voters of the Kurdistan Region is who is best equipped to carry this message to Baghdad and to fight for the constitutional future of a federal Iraq, a future that, twenty years on, has yet to be fully realized.