Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
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Revue <strong>de</strong> Presse-Press Review-Befhevoka<br />
Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro <strong>de</strong> la Prensa-Basm Öz<strong>et</strong>i<br />
Iraq Invasion Poses KurdishDiiemma<br />
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TIME Aza<strong>de</strong>h Moaveni takes the temperatureofrraq's long=Suffermg Kurds-Oct. 04~2002<br />
Bush administration officials have said that if disarming Iraq requires a war, its happiest consequence would be the liberation<br />
of the Iraqi people from Saddam's tyranny. But millions of Iraqis have already been liberated from Saddam - the<br />
Kurds of northern Iraq who achieved a <strong>de</strong> facto autonomy from Baghdad after the Gulf War in 1991, and procee<strong>de</strong>d to build<br />
a thriving mo<strong>de</strong>rn Kurdish soci<strong>et</strong>y that makes them the envy of their put-upon Kurdish cousins in Turkey, Syria and Iran.<br />
But a new U.S.-Iraq showdown threatens to end that sunny interlu<strong>de</strong>: The irony of the Iraqi Kurdish condition is that as<br />
long as Saddam ~mains in power in Baghdad, the Kurds have international backing to live in as a <strong>de</strong> facto state of their<br />
own. But once he's gone, the U.S. and its allies insist that the Kurdish enclave rejoin a post-Saddam Iraq. None of the neighboring<br />
allies on whose support Washington <strong>de</strong>pends for Saddam's ouster is willing to see Iraq dismembered, with resistance<br />
strongest from those states with their own restive Kurdish minorities - Iran, Syria and, most importantly, Turkey.<br />
There mayalso be some Kurdish skepticism of a new war because of the bitter memories of 1991, when the first Bush administration<br />
urged Kurds to rise in rebellion, and then allowed them to be slaughtered by Saddam's armies. But staying out<br />
of the war is not an option for the Kurds, whose best hopes of protecting their autonomy in a post-Saddam regime may lie<br />
in taking an active role in his ouster. So, the ons<strong>et</strong> of war brings Iraq's Kurds to an historic crossroads, and that has fostered<br />
an unusual unity of purpose among rival political factions whose differences have long been exploited by Saddam<br />
Hussein.<br />
TIME's Aza<strong>de</strong>h Moaveni was in the Iraqi Kurd capital of Erbil for a session of parliament last week, and discussed the experience<br />
with TIME.com ..<br />
TIME.com: How's the atmosphere in Erbil as Kurds contemplate the showdown b<strong>et</strong>ween Washington and Baghdad?<br />
Aza<strong>de</strong>h Moaveni:1 find it baffling. People obviously express concern over the possibility that they may soon find themselves<br />
in the middle of a war, but they're resigned to it. There's no fren<strong>et</strong>ic anxi<strong>et</strong>y, and nobody's behaving in ways you<br />
might expect from the resi<strong>de</strong>nts of a city five miles from Iraq's frontline, which could easily come un<strong>de</strong>r attack by Saddam.<br />
They're going about their business as usual, and nobody appears to be hoarding food and medicine. Erbil, a stronghold of<br />
the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Masoud Barzani, is a relatively conservative city when compared with the more vibrant<br />
Sulaimaniya, stronghold of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan led by Jalal Talabani, which is full of new busineseses and restaurants<br />
and intern<strong>et</strong> cafes. (The Barzani and Talabani factions have previously fought bloody turf battles, although these<br />
days they work tog<strong>et</strong>her in the region's parliament.)<br />
TIME.com: Barzani has been less enthusiastic than his rival over U.S. plans to topple Saddam ...<br />
AM: Publicly, he's being more cautious, more diplomatic than Talabani, who has pledged wholehearted support. Barzani<br />
is playing a more calculating game, because he wants <strong>de</strong>finite assurances from the U.S. that his people will be <strong>de</strong>fen<strong>de</strong>d<br />
before jumps on the bandwagon. But if there's an invasion, he's <strong>de</strong>finitely willing to cooperate. Also, the two finally seem<br />
to be serjous about putting asi<strong>de</strong> their differences for the greater interests of Iraqi Kurds. They've traditionally always gone<br />
through phases of fighting and then making up, therè's a real belief here now that they're serious about working tog<strong>et</strong>her,<br />
because the stakes are so much higher than ever. They're <strong>de</strong>ad certain that there's going to be a war, and they believe the<br />
only way to g<strong>et</strong> thebor<strong>de</strong>rs and the fe<strong>de</strong>ral rights they wantis to speak with a single voice. Also, Barzani said today that<br />
the U.S. has vowed to protect Kurds if Iraqi forces attack up in the north. .<br />
TIME.co~: So life has been good for ~raqi Kurds since 1991?<br />
AM: Reiatively speaking. They've enjoyed a fair <strong>de</strong>gree of autonomy from Baghdad, and there's a large UN humanitarian<br />
infrastructure that has very effectively administered money from the oil-far-food program to fund <strong>de</strong>velopment. So there's<br />
a lot of construction and new business activity - you can see that more clearly in Sulaimaniya, which is livelier than Erbil.<br />
There's also a lot more Kurdish-language media now, and Kurds are allowed to study in their own language rather than<br />
being forced to speak Arabic, as they were un<strong>de</strong>r Saddam. Over the <strong>de</strong>ca<strong>de</strong> you've seen the emergence of a new generation<br />
of Kurds in Iraq that I)as no memory of what it was like to live un<strong>de</strong>r Saddam's control.<br />
TIME.com: How does that spectacle of Kurdish autonomy and cultural assertiveness play in Turkey?<br />
AM: The Turks don't believe the Iraqi Kurds' insistence that they don't want a state, only autonomy and cultural rights in<br />
a fe<strong>de</strong>ral Iraq. Turkey fears that those <strong>de</strong>mands are a prelu<strong>de</strong> to a push for full in<strong>de</strong>pen<strong>de</strong>nce. Obviously, even if that's<br />
som<strong>et</strong>hing they'd ultimately prefer, it's not som<strong>et</strong>hing the Kurds can actually say, because they need U.S. support. And the<br />
U.S. won't g<strong>et</strong> the crucial support of Turkey if the outcome of a war would be Kurdish in<strong>de</strong>pen<strong>de</strong>nce in Iraq. So even when<br />
asked privately about in<strong>de</strong>pen<strong>de</strong>nce, Kurdish lea<strong>de</strong>rs will simply say "It's not in our interests to even talk about that right<br />
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