The Kurdish Move

BY FIKRET BILA
MILLIYET Last week Iraqi Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (IPUK) leader Jalal Talabani and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Massoud Barzani sent a proposal to the Iraqi interim administration for a future ethnic-based federation in the country. Furthermore, the two leaders agreed to establish a joint government in northern Iraq. The Iraqi Kurdish leaders thus started moves aimed at putting an end to the conflicts among their parties, preserving unity in northern Iraq, and forming an ethnic-based federation in the country. This move also aims at drawing the geographic boundaries of the Kurdish region to include Kirkuk, Mosul, Diyala, Arbil (Erbil), Sulaimaniya and Dohuk. Thus the Kurdish groups would have control over oil in the region.
We should recognize that it’s the Kurds which benefited the most from the US invasion of Iraq. Barzani and Talabani reaped significant political benefits and scored great successes for their people. How did they do this?
There’s no doubt that their major asset was cooperation with the United States. Seizing every opportunity, Barzani and Talabani kept working on their diplomatic and judicial initiatives without hesitation. One consequence of these initiatives is their proposal for an ethnic-based federation.
According to Dr. Nihat Ali Ozcan, an analyst specializing in Iraq and terrorism, their proposal was actually drafted by three US experts, namely Brenden O’Leary, the University of Pennsylvania’s director of the Solomon Asch Center for the Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict, along with Peter Galbright and Halit Salih, an American of Kurdish origin.
Barzani and Talabani, who paid these Americans to draft proposal, sent it to the Iraqi Governing Council last week. O’Leary is known for his study ‘Multi-national Federalism, Federacy, Power-sharing and Kurds of Iraq.’ This enabled Barzani and Talabani to push for a constitution that fits their aims.
This proposal is at odds with the structure that the US is seeking form in Iraq. While the US wants an administration-based federation in Iraq, the proposal points to ethnic-based federation. In its November ‘road map’, the US suggested forming regional parliaments in 18 cities and then a federation based on these cities.
The ethnic federation suggested by Barzani and Talabani is altogether different. The Kurdish leaders, who by now have gotten used to making the US do whatever they want, will push hard for their interests. If their proposal is accepted, an Iraqi federal state will emerge. The country’s Turkmen and other ethnic groups will not be counted as founders and have no place in this structure.
It’s still not known how the Shiites and Arabs will react to the Kurdish proposal. However, it’s quite clear that the Kurdish groups are forging forward ...