For my father, I will vote 'Yes' in Kurdistan Referendum

My father was murdered by Saddam’s forces before I was born, killed because he was a Peshmerga fighter, struggling for Kurdish rights. Five generations of my family did not get to see one another because of that struggle, and many more people have suffered because of it. Soon, that struggle will come to fruition with Kurdistan’s independence referendum.

The historic nature of this referendum cannot be overestimated, as the impacts of it are likely to last forever. It is the culmination of the efforts of many thousands of men and women’s work, and a project that has cost innumerable lives in the decades that it has taken to bring about. My father, grandfather, and thousands of others paid the ultimate price for working towards Kurdistan’s freedom from governments that have nothing to do with their people, and the artificial country of Iraq that was never designed with Kurdistan’s best interests at heart.

The referendum is being called by Massoud Barzani, son of Mustafa Barzani, who fought for independence throughout his life. His father was involved in the one independent Kurdish state: the Mahabad Republic of 1945. Now he is providing Kurdistan with a new opportunity to achieve a more lasting form of independence. It has taken more than half a century to get to a situation where it seems not just possible for it to happen, but actually likely.

The circumstances between now and 1945 are different, though. Then, independence was something built with the support of an international power, all too quickly pulled away when it became inconvenient. It was built by military success, which meant that it was doomed to fail the moment a greater military force was brought to bear.

The world has changed. It has become a place where Kurds have the opportunity to vote for independence rather than having to give up their lives once more for it. It has yielded to Kurdistan an opportunity to decide its fate through the ballot box, rather than via the barrel of a gun.

I will have an opportunity to participate in that decision in a way that my father and my grandfather never did: with an inked voting finger rather than by giving my blood or fighting. Voting 'Yes' in these circumstances seems like the only appropriate way to honor their memory and the sacrifices they made to put us in this position.

Yet that is not the only reason I will be voting 'Yes' in this referendum. The past that led us to this point is important, but I will not be voting 'Yes' for my father, or for my grandfather. I will be doing it for the new generation, instead. I want them to grow up in a world where there is a safe, independent nation for all Kurdish people. I want them to grow up knowing that there is a country that is theirs, built not just on conflict, but on the decisions of its people. I want them to have a free, open society of which they can be proud.

That is why I will be participating in this referendum, for myself and on behalf of my father, and why I will be voting 'Yes'.

Irfan Azeez holds a Masters in Law in arbitration and alternative dispute resolution from Kingston University and is currently working on his PhD

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Kurdistan 24.

Editing by G.H. Renaud