Discovering the obvious

Kurdish Life, Wntr, 2008 by Rubin

In a report for Crossing Continents, Kate Clark peered into the gulf between rhetoric and reality in Iraqi Kurdistan. "Erbil looks like a boom town. Cranes and new multi-story buildings litter the skyline," she wrote. "There are shopping malls, luxurious gated communities, conference centers and grandiose headquarters for the factions who once fought Saddam and now rule Kurdistan--the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The Regional Government [and the United States] is selling Kurdistan as flourishing, progressive and democratic ... But beneath the facade, ordinary Kurds are struggling to survive, while state money gets siphoned off into private pockets ...

"The state also punishes those who stand out of line. An unpublished report by the United Nations ... said thousands of people are detained each month in Kurdistan, mostly for political crimes. Most are held without trial or access to lawyers. Businessmen were generally too frightened to speak openly about the corruption they encountered. But Saman Jaff, a former peshmerga, did agree to an interview. 'If you are a relative of one of the political leaders,' he said, 'you may be given a government job with a budget or a contract worth, for example, $2m or $3m to rebuild a road.' He said it was immaterial whether the relative could actually build a road. The contract would be sold, repeatedly, until it reached a real construction company. By that time, there might only be half of the money left. 'Corruption is like a virus,' he said. ' It is killing Kurdistan.'

"Meanwhile ordinary Kurds are struggling to get by. People described rampant inflation, high unemployment and erratic water and electricity supplies .... 'Too many times, we have asked the government to help us,' said one woman who had lost her father-in-law and a baby to cholera. 'But it is in vain ... When I think of the budget and the millions and see my situation, I feel like I am dead."

Former peshmerga turned journalist Ari Harsin had this to say on the Kurdish leaders:, Ari Harsin, told her: "They used to be purists, partisans. Now they are driving land cruisers with dark windows and a lot of bodyguards. They see how ordinary people are living. They have no shame ... There is no transparency. They are dividing the budget of the Kurdish Regional Government between the PUK and the KDP: 52% for the KDP, 48% for the PUK."

Nonetheless Qubad Talabani described Iraqi Kurdistan as "a glimmer of hope in a very radical Middle East." Not so fast. "Qubad also seems to represent some of the problems in Kurdistan. He is certainly smart and speaks eloquently, but he is only 30 years old and has been the Kurdish representative to Washington since he was 22. His father is the President of Iraq and the leader of one of the two main Kurdish parties, the PUK. His brother is the head of one of the security services. The other major faction [KDP] fills the post of Kurdish president, prime minister and head of the other security service. 'Obviously I can see how it could be perceived as nepotism,' said Qubad. But he said both families had sacrificed much during the struggle." And he insisted that although Kurdistan is not yet a democracy, it is "democratizing." (1.10.08) Not so Kurdish writer Nergiz Dohuki reacted in an article that appeared on Kurdish Media in the following week. "Kurdistan is not a democracy, and contrary to what Mr. Qubad Talabany suggests, it is not even democratizing." (1.17.08)

Meanwhile local Kurdish publications reported that a Kurdish driver from Suleimani was killed on the road between Kirkuk and Tuz Khormatu in the first week of January The body of a Kurdish youth was found in the province of Kirkuk. A Kurdish youth killed his sister and her Arab lover in the district of Shaykhan, prompting Kurdish families in the district to flee in fear of Arab reprisals. In Shaweys a peshmerga killed himself over family problems. A wealthy Kurd from Halabja was kidnapped. And in Suleiman Beg near Tuz Khormatu, seven civilians were kidnapped. (Kurdish Media 1.25.08

Party Power

Against all odds, Kurds are putting pen to paper to express their anger over the status quo. Among Kurdish websites, Kurdish Media and Kurdish Aspect are to be commended for airing their complaints and frustrations. Here are excerpts from an essay by Ako Muhamed Sabir (Kurdish Aspect 2.6.08):

"Wherever you go the party is there. Whenever you need a civil task to be done, you go back to the party. The government is party. Parliament is party. The colleges, the grades we get in our school exams, the factories and the companies, the offices and directorates are all party organizations. Even in the hospitals you need to see the party first before you see a doctor, even the bus lines are party lines. To get employed after a lifetime of hard work, you need the party. The hands of the party are controlling everything that is sacred. The party has become a stepfather feeding us, spending money on us, and thus forcing us to become his children and beg him.