Baghdad’s battering of Kurds gives more weight to Kurdistan claim for independence

The Kurdish leadership has not reacted strongly to the flight ban and other looming sanctions, positioning itself as a peaceful partner seeking to engage in a dialogue, similar to when the transitional government in Baghdad was being established after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – On Monday, Sep. 25, 2017, the people of the Kurdistan Region came out in droves, by the millions, and to the tune of 93 percent, voted in favor of moving toward independence from Iraq.

Before departing from the Region, the visiting British All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on the Kurdistan Region delegation offered a quick post-election observation analysis.

“The high [turnout] vote follows years of broken promises by leaders in Baghdad who have done little to persuade the Kurds they are respected and valued,” the APPG posited.

The statement continued, “The outbreak in Baghdad of belligerent bullying and a probable blockade is further evidence of that.”

The bullying in question refers to Baghdad’s refusal to engage in any form of dialogue with the Kurdistan Region but also a list of 13 demands the Iraqi Parliament has made to its hostages.

Beyond calling for its border crossings and airports to be “handed over” to the Iraqi authorities, the Parliament in Baghdad mandated strict measures be taken against the Kurdistan Region. This includes the deployment of troops to areas the Peshmerga liberated from the Islamic State (IS) and continued to protect for the past two years.

Since then, the people of the Kurdistan Region have been warned: it’s Baghdad’s way or no way.

In Baghdad, politicians are campaigning for re-election on an anti-Kurdish platform, such as Nouri al-Maliki who has been vocal about how he would “handle” the Kurds. The Dawa Party-controlled Parliament was prompt to convene and address the “Kurdish issue” in a session which was boycotted by the Kurdish block in Baghdad.

Most controversially, local newspaper al-Nahar ran an issue discussing the Kurdistan referendum in which it used a racist, sexist, and extremely violent in nature picture depicting the assault the Kurdistan Region was about to experience from its neighbors: Iraq, Iran, and Turkey—even throwing Syria and Jordan into the mix. And, Baghdad has yet to stand up to external threats being directed at what it describes as “its own people.”

Indeed, rather than the “calm” and “constructive dialogue” being called for, political posturing has taken over, perhaps emboldened by what has so far been a lukewarm response from the international community to threats uttered against the landlocked nation.

Baghdad’s willingness to use such strong language against the people of Kurdistan and soften its stance on Turkish troops in Iraq, which it previously strongly opposed, and going as far as joining the foreign army based within its borders could be seen as further proof the people of the Kurdistan Region are, as Kurdish leaders have claimed, “second-class citizens.”

Last week, Iraqi forces joined Turkish troops which have been conducting military drills at the border of the Kurdistan Region. The move, clearly aimed at intimidating the Kurds rather than bring them on side, could cost Baghdad the ability to reason it is maintaining the unity of Iraq rather than the suppression of Kurdish ambitions.

While the “the sovereignty of Iraq” was “non-negotiable” according to Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in July, it now seems negotiable and not with the Kurds.

“We won't have a dialogue [with Erbil] about the referendum outcome,” Abadi avowed Parliament last week. “We will impose our federal authority all over Iraq, including the Kurdistan region, as per the power of the constitution and law.”

But, Iraq cannot un-ring this bell, and the federal government has not spent anytime winning over the people of Kurdistan or the international community with its aggressive, alienating response to the vote.

Meanwhile, the Kurdish leadership is remaining level-headed. The Kurdish Peshmerga forces have been and continue to be cooperative allies in the fight against IS, including the ongoing operation in Hawija. The Region also continues to bear the brunt of harboring hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and other refugees.

The Kurdish leadership has not reacted strongly to the flight ban and other looming sanctions, positioning itself as a peaceful partner seeking to engage in a dialogue, similar to when the transitional government in Baghdad was being established after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Baghdad might be doing irreparable harm to its image and its relationship with the Kurds who, as the APPG put it, the “Kurdistani leaders of all persuasions” declared would “not be subordinates in Iraq.”

Indeed, the Kurds have offered friendship to Baghdad which the latter quickly rebuffed. “Since we could not achieve a real partnership with Baghdad, let us try becoming peaceful neighbors,” President of the Kurdistan Region Masoud Barzani asserted ahead of the referendum.

The current rhetoric seems to be reinforcing Kurdistan’s assessment that, in the face of a hostile Iraqi government, independence is the only path available.

 

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany