Kurds say time for independence is coming
The President of Iraqi Kurdistan, Masoud Barzani, has announced that Iraqi Kurdistan will hold a referendum for independence on September 25, after Kurdish forces were instrumental in freeing the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State. While Iraqi President Haidar al Abadi announced victory over Islamic State in Mosul earlier this month, the city has been completely destroyed and there are reports of tens of thousands of civilian casualties.
The referendum is meant to decide whether the Iraqi Kurds would stay in Iraq as part of a semi-autonomous region as they are now, or separate and establish an independent state.
Kurdish officials say they believe that at least 30,000 Kurdish fighters have been killed as part of the US-backed coalition fighting Islamic State and they have earned their right to an independent state.
“They paid a heavy price and are now asking the US to go ahead and say thank you (by supporting Kurdish independence),” Sherkoh Abbas, the US-based President Kurdistan National Assembly of Syria told The Media Line. “The Americans can’t have it both ways – either we’re friends and allies or we’re not.”
Iraqi President Haider al-Abadi has come out sharply against the referendum.
“This referendum is not constitutional,” Abadi said this week in Baghdad. “If you look at the Iraqi constitution, it is clear that we live in one homeland and are partners in this homeland. No unilateral action should be taken.”
The Kurdistan Region President responded to remarks made by Iraqi officials and politicians opposing Kurdistan’s independence referendum
In an official statement, the Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani said the era of threats and intimidation against the people of Kurdistan is over as they want to live in peace.
“The time of threats and intimidation to deal with the fair rights of the people of Kurdistan is over, and we do not like nor encourage the use of such rhetoric,” President Barzani said.
The US Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said this week that the US appreciates the “legitimate aspirations” of the Iraqi Kurds, but backed off on supporting a referendum.
“Ambassador Haley conveyed her appreciation for the legitimate aspiration of Iraqi Kurds, but expressed concerns that holding any type of independence referendum would be a distraction from urgent priorities such as defeating ISIS and stabilizing the country for all Iraqis,” read a statement following a meeting between Haley and the UN representative in Iraq Jan Kubis.”
Kurds are unique in that they are spread throughout the Middle East. The traditional Kurdistan region is split between Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria, with an estimated total of 35 million Kurds. The US government says that 14.5 million Kurds live in Turkey, six million in Iran, 5-6 million in Iraq and less than two million in Syria.
The harshest response to any move has come from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has had a decades-long feud with the Kurds in Turkey.
“Well on this referendum in Erbil, I did not happen to think it’s the right thing to do,” he told France24 in an interview earlier this week in response to a question about whether Turkey was opposed to the referendum itself or its timing.
“And when it comes to this, we actually shared our opinion with a local government in northern Iraq. Because the local administration in northern Iraq will regret this if they go ahead with it.” Erdogan said.
Not all of the Kurds in Iraq support the referendum. Several analysts said they believe that Barzani is trying to establish his dominance.
“The timing is entirely linked to internal politics by KRG president Masoud Barzani,” Arab affairs expert Yezid Sayigh at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut told The Media Line. “Every now and then he uses the independence issue to gain domestic advantage against rival Kurdish parties. He is likely to postpone, but even if he doesn’t the referendum will not be seen as a turning point or a game-changer.”
However he said he believed that Iraq could eventually accept the outcome.
“All host countries with significant Kurdish populations oppose independence — Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria,” he said. “But Iraq is the most likely to accept the outcome, so long as mutually acceptable borders are agreed between the KRG and Baghdad.”
Many of the Kurds living in Iraq say they believe they will eventually get an independent state.
“It may take six month, a year, ten years or 50 years,” one independent journalist living in Erbil told The Media Line, on condition of anonymity. “But eventually we will get our state.”