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| Inset is Massoud Barzani, president of Iraqi Kurdistan |
My
paraphrasing of today's leader comment penned in Arabic by Ghassan Charbel,
editor-in-chief of al-Hayat:
A new player has entered the terrible Middle East
field, where regimes, governments, maps and minorities are either crumbling or
shaking like a leaf.
That’s the Kurdish player.
In the last century, Kurds were roughed up in the
game of nations, which dispersed them, independently of their will, as
minorities in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria.
Geography sentenced this people without the right to
appeal, and history endorsed the ruling.
Today, we’re talking of nearly 25 million Kurds.
A decade ago many believed Kurds were destined to
simply pass on story lines about their sufferings in rugged mountains and about
scenes of Halabja
and the Anfal Campaign.
Many also believed Kurds would forcibly swallow unjust
Turkization and Arabization drives.
Denial of Kurdish rights was a fixed but tacit
government policy clause in all four countries despite their claims to the
contrary.
Suddenly, the crazy American adventure of invading
Iraq brought this dirty game to a close.
The invasion would not have taken place had the
Kurdish-Shiite alliance not made a pitch for toppling Saddam Hussein’s regime
by any means and in whatever way possible.
That’s how the Shiites pocketed Baghdad and the Kurds
bagged Iraqi Kurdistan
under the federal constitutional republic of Iraq.
The Kurds have now had a decade of stability for the
first time in their blood-soaked history.
They’re living under their own flag, though they’ve
not ditched Iraq’s.
They teach their children in their native tongue and sing
their ballads in their squares. They are building roads and setting up universities.
They are also attracting investors and tourists.
The past decade was full of scenes as well.
Massoud Mustafa
Barzani is the elected president of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, managing it
with the competence of a statesman after having led the Peshmerga with the astuteness
of a freedom fighter-cum-politician.
Jalal
Talabani sits in Saddam Hussein’s office as the president of Iraq.
Hoshyar
Zebari shepherds Iraqi diplomacy, trying to uphold the interests of Iraq while
walking a tightrope between America’s shadow and Iran’s clout.
Another scene is no less important.
The plane of someone named Recep Tayyip Erdogan landed
in Erbil to open its international
airport.
In a historic message, the visitor said the day when
Kurdish rights were ignored is gone forever. Barzani struggled to conceal his delight,
choosing instead to build on the phrase.
I asked Massoud Barzani about Erdogan’s Turkey and the
Kurds of Abdullah Ocalan
being on the same page now.
He acknowledged in his answer that he encouraged the
two sides to bury the hatchet and seek a political solution.
He said success of the Turkey-PKK
deal would be “a historic event inducing a sea change in the region.”
He said the two sides showed a sense of realism by
kicking off implementation of the agreement to end a conflict that drained
Kurds and Turks correspondingly.
I also asked Barzani if stability and prosperity in
the Iraqi Kurdistan Region could incite Kurds in neighboring countries to use
it as a template.
He replied: There is absolutely no need to clone the
Kurdistan Region’s experience. There are circumstances, particularities, power
balances and equilibriums. Chronic injustice should not stir up rashness.
“We’re not seeking to tear up maps and redraw
borders. We don’t want clashes. We want to live in peace with the Turks, Arabs
and Persians. We want to be a stability-and-prosperity factor.
“Surely, however, the times of usurped rights,
exclusion and marginalization are defunct. Non-recognition of the ‘Other’ is a
destructive culture.”
Barzani felt aggrieved by the mass killings and
horrendous destruction in Syria, “which is on our doorstep.” He feared a prolonged
split that would create an environment for extremists.
He precluded any role by Iraqi Kurdistan in arming
Syria’s Kurds. He also hoped democracy and respect of all constituents would
prevail in neighborly Syria.
Barzani refused to “personalize” his current dispute
with Nouri al-Maliki, recognizing at the same time that links with Baghdad’s
prevailing course of action were “nearing the point of no return.”
He stressed (Iraq’s) Kurds are not asking for more
than a respect of the constitution and agreements signed, indicating at the
same time that Baghdad’s course of action provoked a deep crisis with Iraq’s
Arab Sunni component as well.
Turkey chose a new approach to deal with its Kurds. Once the guns fall silent in Syria, its
Kurdish component will be seated at the reconciliation table. Watching and
waiting for their appointment will be Iran’s Kurds.
The triumph of Iraqi Kurdistan has helped change the
way the ball bounces.
I asked Barzani, “What do the children of Peshmerga
fighters yearn for?”
He grinned and replied, “They want computers,
technologies, universities, job opportunities and hospitals. But, in this
intricate Middle East, you have to remain on your guard. You must be prepared
for war to ward it off.”
I asked, “Why do Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Nouri
al-Maliki, Bashar al-Assad and Recep Tayyip Erdogan seemingly lack an esprit de
corps?”
Barzani smiled again, saying only, “We want to turn
borders into prospects to cooperate, not clash. We have to bank on human
dignity, the economy and education. There’s no turning back.”
