Uncertainty looms after referendum

‘Secession move will define Kurd future’

“THERE is a Kurdish proverb which says: ‘The Kurds have no friends but mountains’,” columnist, professor at Kuwait University’s Political Science Department, an advisor to the Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Secretary General of the Arab Fund for Human Rights Professor Dr Ghanim Al-Najjar wrote for Al-Jarida daily.

“There are all neighboring countries and nonneighbors and all have taken positions against the independence referendum of Iraqi Kurdistan, especially Turkey, Iran and Iraq, whose positions are understandable, since a majority of the Kurds live in Turkey and Iran and this means the independence of Kurdistan from Iraq will mean this infection will spread to Turkey and Iran and if this happens all antibiotics of the world will not suffice to contain this malady.

“There is no country in the world that has openly supported the secession of Kurdistan from Iraq except for Israel. This happens although it is Israel which is still opposing the right to self-determination for the Israelis. What contradictory politics we see.

“It goes without saying that the results of the referendum in support of the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan were expected, despite the opposition against the provincial government, accusing it of corruption, and the end of the president’s term two years ago, and the failure of the parliament to hold sessions for the past two years.

“For Iraq, there are confusions and implications in terms of detail, rather than principle, such as the inclusion of the disputed area of Kirkuk in the referendum. In spite of all this it is the US, the most important country, which can play its role to ease the tension since Washington has intimate relations with both Baghdad and Erbil.

“However, Washington in advance had declared its objection to the Kurdish referendum in North Iraq. Not just that, Washington had made it clear that the outcome of this referendum will not be binding.

“At the moment, Washington is still committed to its attitude in the face of this referendum and this was evident through a statement that has been issued by the US authorities saying Washington remains frustrated because of the outcome of this referendum and called for stability in all of Iraq through a federal democratic system.

“The idea of independence through referendum has imposed itself as a new international reality over the past three decades, in the West rather than in the East, as it was in Scotland two years ago, and the problem now is in Catalonia, Spain and elsewhere. In Europe alone there are more than 27 minority groups demanding independence, including the Brussels-based European Peoples’ Organization.

“Since this is happening in the West, then we in the East must find another way to replace the phenomenon of referendum away from the ‘conspiracy theory’ that was adopted by the Easterners.

“If the West is conspiring against us to tear our countries apart, the 1950s and 1960s were called the era of liberation from colonialism so the era of the 1980s and 1990s can be called the era of peaceful, or almost peaceful, secession.

“The pollsters in Iraqi Kurdistan understand the difficulty of independence, but they want to establish the legitimacy of their demands and achieve political gains on the ground, even in the face of Kurdish opposition to the president of the region since 2003.

“The Kurdistan region of Iraq has enjoyed unprecedented autonomy in the history of the Kurdish attempts for independence. They have their own security, control the land border with their neighbors, and have their elected parliament,

Al-Najjar

but their relationship with the central government is not at its best.

“Therefore, the tendency for independence was expected, taking into account the timing of the referendum, without consenting and rejection of the federal formula which currently governs the relationship with Baghdad although this formula is acceptable in the Middle East, particularly since we know that this part of the world has entered the age of the so-called ‘Age of Constitutions’ where both the Somali and Iraqi constitutions were issued in 2014.

“Moreover, there are some international parties which are currently propounding the Iraqi and Somali experiments in this connection as a solution to end the current Syrian, Yemeni and Libyan crisis.

“However, the question is: What is next? Here, even before the Islamic State or the socalled DAESH evaporates, a new question arises and perhaps more severe, more complex and less sectarian than the situation in Syria or Yemen. Will the region be subjected to re-demarcation of the borders?

“In other words, what will happen in the wake of the referendum relates to the independence of Kurdistan province from Iraq?

“Although the results of the referendum cannot be termed as an executive plan, a reading and initial reactions, especially from the neighboring countries, we have two possibilities; first, the region will find itself entering into a new war, both hot and cold or second, go ahead and alleviate the outcome of the referendum until an unknown notification.”

Also:

“It looks like the events in the Arab world still blow hot and cold and we have been in such a situation for several years now,” columnist and former MP Abdulmohsen Yusuf Jamal wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“The so-called, ‘Arab Spring’, actually sent shock waves in many Arab countries where some of the ruling regimes were toppled and others were destabilized. However, this ‘spring’ still rattles some areas and we found the Arabs at the moment are losing their political trump cards gradually.

“In this context, we cite what is currently taking place in North Iraq, the attempt by the Iraqi Kurdistan to secede from the parent body and this can be deemed as one of the symptoms of the Arab Spring which encouraged some of the minorities to seek independence from the ‘conflicting’ Arab countries.

“In this connection, we cite the example of South Sudan which seceded from the Republic of Sudan and this shall encourage many minorities in the Arab world to follow their example.

“Not just that, the attempts of secession, have opened the door for the ‘foreigners’ to interfere in the internal affairs of the relevant Arab countries and these interferences have isolated the Arabs and deprived them of propounding solutions for dealing with the relevant crises.

“However, to read what occurred accurately, we have to go back to many years where the Arab/Arab conflict resulted in the ouster of some Arab governments and some parties sought the help of religious groups to achieve their objectives and this gave birth to a huge ‘ghoul’ and now it seems difficult to contain this ‘monster’.

“Not just that, we have observed how the entire world including the United Nations represented by the Security Council was on full alert to defeat this ‘ghoul’ but in vain.

“If we go through the Arab/Arab differences and among parties which were living in one homeland, we shall observe the political role that the Arab Spring played to agitate the current differences among the relevant component, lest to say this ‘spring’ shall play the same role in future.

“Such being the case, we found how most Arab countries are currently attempting to curtail the role of the religious currents to boost secularism and reduce the social role of these currents, although these countries were previously working to encourage these currents, but it is needless to say the agitation of the differences among various components in the Arab countries shall pave the way for dividing this part of the world in accordance with a prescribed scheme that was drawn by some foreign powers.”

“In 1983, one of our Egyptian teachers told us that the reason behind the deterioration of education in Egypt is the approval of the government to show the play titled “Madrasat AlMushaghebin” (The School of Rioters), adding that this play was the last nail in the coffin of good education,” Dr Ali Al-Za’abi wrote for AlShahed daily.

“Later we heard several analyses by Egyptian journalists about the major negative influence of that play on the quality of education. Recently a Gulf intellectual pointed out the same idea on his Snapchat account. I am not sure if his analysis was based on objective studying of the phenomenon related to deterioration of education quality in the Arab world particularly in Egypt.

“However, I think the entire issue has become a tradition. In other words, those who want to talk about the low level of education have to mention the play as a major reason for the problem and nothing else.

“This way of simplifying the issue is dangerous, as it depicts the state of Egypt as so fragile that a simple play can destroy the education sector of a country like Egypt which is 7,000 years old. This is definitely an unacceptable talk.

“The truth is that deterioration of education in the Arab countries is a result of the political and economic changes that the entire region has witnessed. Those actions led pioneer countries like Egypt, Syria and Iraq to become military states. For ages, these countries had spread knowledge throughout the Arab world before their economy became nationalized and completely dominated by the state. Also, societies, power and citizens were being turned into servers of the military regimes. These actions negatively affected everything including education which also contributed to minimizing values of freedom and creativity.

“People who called for developing education and keeping it away from the domination of the ruling authorities faced detention and severe torture.

“When Egypt, Iraq and Syria enjoyed free economy and civil regimes, education had flourished and was capable of creating cultured and creative citizens. “The School of Rioters” is nothing more than a play that has nothing to do with the deterioration of education.”

“Subsequent to Kuwait’s liberation, cancer began to spread rapidly in a dreadful manner. Each family in Kuwait has a relative, neighbor or friend suffering from the dreaded disease or dying because of cancer,” columnist Fawaz Ahmad Al-Hamad wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“The rate of cancer patients in the country continues to increase due to various reasons, and studies have shown that weapons used in the Kuwaiti liberation war contained radioactive materials that cause malignant tumor. Factories are also considered a contributing factor through the inhalation of poisonous gas they emit.

“Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research and Kuwait University issued reports years back confirming that Kuwaiti sea is polluted with mercury and other poisonous substances, while the air is also polluted with smoke, as well as toxins from the factories, public transportation systems and buses belonging to private companies.

“Environment Public Authority has since issued laws to protect the environment but I wonder if those laws are protecting us from developing cancer!”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb