What did the Kurdistan Regional President say?
Words are responded to by words
Kurdishaspect.com
When the Regional President delivers a speech, it is not a necessary
condition that we must all listen to him, but when he threatens we
have to listen seriously. The Regional President of the Kurdistan
Region is not an ordinary man in the structure of power for us to
ignore his speech. The Regional President's anger is not comparable to
that of Kurdistan Democratic Party's heads of branches, the politburo,
or members of the high committee. If anyone looks into the political
system in Kurdistan they will find that it is a presidential system
where the Regional President's authority is great and widespread. It
can impede the parliament's power. Without returning to the parliament
the Regional President can declare the state of emergency and impose
it. He can even amnesty the criminals and erase their offences. The
Regional President is the head of the armed forces and the head of his
party. He is virtually the number one person in all the important
organs of security in the region, at least in the territory controlled
by his own party. These capacities are organised in a manner where
there are no mechanisms or tools to monitor his power and make him
accountable.
In his latest appearance in Kurdistan Region's Parliament, the
Regional President delivered a menacing speech that forces us to
calmly consider its political connotations and implications. In our
opinion the President's speech in parliament was such that our society
must study it and understand its hidden meanings. Not only this, our
community must hear the unsaid words that were implied by what he
said. If anyone understands political language, they can figure out
that there are un-uttered sentences behind each sentence. Sometimes
what has been implied is much more dangerous and important that what
has been said.
The Regional President inside the Parliament
First of all, let's start with the Regional President's visit to
parliament. When the Regional President saw that there were no
journalists in the parliament, he did not ask: Where are the
journalists who are supposed to deliver my speech to my people? As if
he did not want or he did not consider it important that the
journalists cover the news of his visit and make public his speech to
the mass media and public opinion without going through any filters.
On the other hand, at the end of his speech the Regional President
immediately left the Parliament and did not give an opportunity to his
nation's representatives to discuss his views, or at least to provide
feedback on his speech. The Regional President's behavior inside the
Parliament gave the impression that so long as %70 of Kurdistan's
people have voted for him there is no need to listen to the views and
opinions of the Parliament members who are the real representatives
of the Kurdish people, or at least to listen to the other % 30 of the
people who did not vote for him.
In his speech the Regional president insisted and called on the
supremacy of law and said: "No one should be above the law". Meanwhile
the Regional President himself contradicted his own words in two ways.
On the one hand, he did not say anything about the prevention of
journalists from attending the Parliament during his speech, which is
a direct and sheer violation of the journalists' and people's rights.
On the other hand, he did not give the MPs a chance to have a short
conversation with him. The Regional President turned the people's
representative inside the Parliament into a silent audience. This is a
grave threat that the whole society should resist: the danger of an
authoritative person who talks about the supremacy of law on the one
hand and on the other he disrespects that law before anyone else.
Whom did the Regional President threaten?
The Regional President's speech in the Parliament was intimidating for
three reasons. First of all, it was an attack on freedom per se.
Secondly, it was an attack on free media and free press in Kurdistan.
Thirdly, it was accusing the Change Movement (Goran) of sabotage even
though the Regional President did not directly name this political
movement. Here we have nothing to say in relation to the KDP and its
leader's relationship with the Change Movement. What is important to
us is the Regional President's threat on liberty and free press. In
fact, we rarely find a President of any country attack the liberty and
freedom of press so openly as the KRG President. In his speech he
clearly attacked these two aspects and said: "What is now done in the
name of freedom is not freedom", it is only "chaos". He did not merely
stick to this but he went on to create an imaginary enemy for our
community and "humanity!!!" He accused the free media and openly said:
"They are about to spoil the conditions of Kurdism and humanity".
According to him what is now practiced in Kurdistan in not freedom but
"misuse of the free condition that is now available". Following this
he concluded by "frankly" saying: "This should not be tolerated
anymore".
The Regional President's words are crystal clear for the ordinary
reader. They are a direct threat to liberty and freedom of press. Our
fear is that the Regional President's excuses for his attack on
liberty and free media are the same excuses that have been used by
despotic and tyrant leaders who have used them against freedom
throughout history.
Most dictatorships have repeatedly used similar excuses. Using a
similar logic they have equated freedom with chaos and regarded
freedom as a threat to the ethics of society and supposedly to
national security. From this point of view, Kurdistan's Regional
President is not the only person who has this attitude towards liberty
and for sure he will not be the last one. Any political system that
fears liberty has used such words and will carry on using them. The
catastrophe is that the Regional President is the leader of a nation
that struggled for freedom for a century. Countless numbers of people
have scarified themselves for the sake of freedom. It is, therefore,
frustrating and disappointing to see the Regional President of such a
nation simply and outrageously attack liberty and free media, talk
about the threats of these on his nation's political experience, and
recklessly equate them with chaos. Contrary to what the Regional
President says, we believe that what has led to chaos in Kurdistan is
not a widespread freedom of the society and free press, but the
absolute freedom enjoyed by a small group of political elite, who are
above all legal and ethical measures, and lead this country according
to their self-interests. This small elite deem unlimited freedom for
themselves and they dream of silencing the society. If anyone hears
the Regional President's address without knowledge of the situation in
Kurdistan, they will have the vision that Kurdistan is full of free
media and irresponsible journalists who are an adversary to their
nation's experience. They will imagine a media that unjustly
instigates the public opinion against the authorities, twists the
facts, and shows a false image of life in Kurdistan. On the other
hand, this creates a sense that the authorities are a victim of this
media and have no channels of their own to defend themselves. Anyone
who has little knowledge of Kurdistan will have a totally different
image of the conditions of free media to that outlined by the Regional
President of Kurdistan.
The fact is that % 90 of Kurdistan's media is directly or indirectly
under the control of the two main parties and is prudently conducted
by them. The free media, on the other hand, is very small. Its human
and financial capacities are limited. In fact it does not exceed two
weekly papers, a radio station and a small number of magazines. The
political media has thousands of staff, several satellites channels,
tens of local TV stations, hundreds of radios, newspapers, magazines
and electronic websites. Millions out of the public budget is
unlawfully spent for this empire of political media, and a huge number
of obedient media workers are working to present the image favoured by
the authorities as the truth. It is quite bewildering how the Regional
President does not see this unattractive picture of his country. He
never asks himself why these two independent weekly papers and a
handful of magazines and radio stations are more effective and have
more audiences as compared to the empire of media conducted by the
authorities. Kurdish people trust this free media not because they
like false news and lies, quite the contrary, because they believe
that this small media sheds light on the issues that are directly
related to their lives, and reflects the sorrows and true problems of
the society. Even worse, the Regional President jumps over another
tragic fact when he fails to see that throughout the years following
the 1991 uprising, it has been free media that has been prosecuted on
daily basis not the big army of corruption, the same corruption that
our friends and foes are talking about while the party affiliated
media keeps silent about it.
Who deformed the Kurdish Personality?
In another section of his speech, the Regional President shed light on
the distortion of the 'Kurdish personality' and said: "Honorables!
Reconstructing an apartment is easy while the rebuilding of
personality is quite difficult. The unfair distortion of the Kurdish
personality is a crime committed against a nation". We agree that
reconstructing an apartment is easy while rebuilding a personality is
quite difficult. We also agree that destruction of a personality is an
offence committed first against the person and secondly against his
nation. But let's ask ourselves, is the Kurdish personality really
destroyed? If we regard this thesis as true, then we have to ask
ourselves who has "really destroyed and distorted the Kurdish people's
personality"? Who has devastated the image of Kurdish personality in
itself? Who has 'disarrayed' the Kurdish person's image of himself?
Who has muddled the condition of Kurdism? Who "attacks the people's
rights without reason, and does not grant the people to defend
themselves according to the law"?
First of all, the building of personality is not done in a day or two;
it is a long and ongoing historical process. Likewise degrading and
distorting individuals' personalities is the product of implementing a
frustrating and humiliating policy of disregard for human beings. It
is the result of not treating an individual as a person who has a will
of his own, who has rights and deserves respect. This person is
frightened and does not dare to ask questions. He does not dare to
name things what they are be they true or false. He has been prevented
from seeing what world he lives in and how it is conducted. He has
been prevented from feeling that he belongs to a country that respects
his dignity and personality, a country that treats him justly and
gives him the opportunity to realize some of his dreams and hopes. Now
we want ask: Who is responsible for the occurrence of these conditions
after the uprising? Who has made our people hopeless? Are the Kurdish
intellectuals and the small number of independent magazines and
newspapers which have come to existence in the last decade responsible
for this or the irresponsible policy of the political parties which is
full of hypocrisy, hatred, insult and violence constituting our
political , cultural and social life. It is the free media and
intellectuals that have distorted and degraded the personality of our
individuals or this model of authority that works on diminishing human
beings and not treating them equally?
Furthermore, whose personality has really been distorted? It is that
segment of our society who spares no opportunity to speak out and
reject the injustice, unfairness and misuse of power or those who say
'yes sir' to the parties and authorities and have nothing to say or do
except agreeing? Are the personalities of those who peacefully take to
the streets and raise their voices to end the culture of silencing,
threatening and killing of journalists distorted or those who are
silent about all these important events in their country?
The Regional President should have been proud of the fact that a large
part of our society has the will, power and awareness to stand against
the injustice and to ask for further liberty, rights, and respect. He
should have been aware that freedom cannot be divided and that
responsibility is a stance that forever remains in the living
conscience.
The Regional President should have known that it was this culture of
resistance which saved our nation from extinction, not subjugation and
irresponsiveness against oppression. This new culture of resistance
that we see in Kurdistan is the continuation of a long history of
political resistance through which our people protected their own
humanity. In our opinion, one of the main pillars of Kurdish
personality is embodied in the culture of resistance not in the
subjugation to authority, even if the people in authority are Kurds.
Respectable Regional President! What you now observe in Kurdistan and
deem negative, is not the distortion of the Kurdish personality, but
it is a conscious defense of this personality. It is the emergence of
this personality, its activation in history, and its taking
responsibility for the surrounding world. Respectable Regional
President! What you see now in Kurdistan is not the distortion of the
Kurdish personality but, on contrary, it is an effort to prevent the
distortion of this personality and saving it from surrendering to the
wills of authorities or similar models of unjust governing. The
protesting voices today are a civilised reemergence of the culture of
resistance in our bloody history; this culture does not let the
Kurdish personality to be wounded anymore. It does not allow politics
to generate right-less, disrespected and wounded personalities
anymore. The Regional President should have already regarded himself
as the Regional President of this active section of our society. This
section is the true continuation of the free will which throughout a
century has moved our people towards struggle, resistance and
revolution. He should not have regarded this active part of our
society as troublemakers, saboteurs, and outlaws.
Who has defaced this region's experience?
In another section of his speech, the Regional President talked about
the perils of distorting the image of Kurdistan's political experience
in the world. He said: "Our country is free and we have our own
experience of self-government and administration. Today we have our
own country, ourselves, and our personality. Therefore what is the
benefit of distorting our own experience and projecting the wrong
image of the Kurdistan Region and the Kurdish personality to the
world?" Firstly, we would quickly like to remind the Regional
President that even though it is true that our country is now free
from the Baath Regime, this freedom in its general sense is facing a
big threat today. There are daily violations against journalists and
critics to the level of illegal arrest and murder. People are
threatened on daily basis and their primary rights are only
conditionally accepted. Those who do not sell themselves or surrender
to the party not only their freedom is not protected but also their
entire social life and livelihood is under threat. There is widespread
injustice in terms of the distribution of the region's revenues and
incomes.
The Regional President should know that there is a substantial
difference between the act of criticism and the act of distortion.
Kurdish self-criticism is not the same as the Kurdish enemies'
criticism. Kurdish self-criticism is the result of a social and
political concern that all active societies contain within themselves.
This self-criticism is to prevent abuse of power and exploitation and
also to find suitable solutions for the problems that the society
suffers from. The writers' and journalists' critiques are a part and
parcel of the Kurdish people's concern for their society. The roles
that intellectuals and journalists played during the era of the Baath
Regime and today in the self-governing Kurdish region have not lost
their true value. The bad image of Kurdistan's political experience
abroad does not originate from the work of Kurdish intellectuals and
journalists. This is the result of the international agencies
documenting and publishing information on the freedom's situation, the
level of corruption, and the abuse of power in Kurdistan. It was the
reports produced by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the
official American agencies that showed a bad image of Kurdistan's
political experience to the public opinion. The Regional President
should have remembered how significant similar reports were during the
era of the Baath Party in presenting to the public opinion the ugly
image of the Baath Regime and how it was oppressing the Kurds. It is
strange that these agencies and organisations which until recently
were regarded as true friends of the Kurds are now, alongside the
independent Kurdish intellectuals and journalists, regarded as
distorters of the image of Kurdistan's experience! Strangely enough,
when the Kurdish politicians speak about the democracy of Kurdistan's
experience abroad they refer to the existence of the independent
newspapers and magazines as a living evidence of their democracy.
Inside Kurdistan, on the other hand, they attack these independent
journalists and intellectuals and even regard them as saboteurs and
distorters of the political experience in the Kurdish self-ruling
authority.
Respectable Regional President! Kurdistan's experience does not only
belong to you as a group of politicians, it is also our experience as
the intellectuals and journalists of this nation. In fact it is not us
who are giving this experience a bad image but it is the Kurdish
politicians' practice and model of authority. It is not us "who are
engaged with superficial things" as you claim, it is your army of
journalists who have no other 'national duty' except from praising and
complimenting the authorities.
The Consequence
In our opinion, the leader's entire speech, in both its said and
unsaid implications, was a threatening speech. In the parliament this
gentleman threatened all the people who are dissatisfied with the
political and administrative circumstances in Kurdistan, and view the
Kurdistan region's experience as closed and contradictory to the basic
human principles. They are discontented with the political logic which
governs the region through party-politics, elitism and tribal
authority. They are against the partisanship of the administrative,
economic, military, and security institutions. They observe that
Kurdistan has a group of rulers who believe that their main task is
enacting laws for the others, while they themselves behave as if they
are above the law. In actual fact we believe that if the Regional
President's speech is implemented it will bring about a situation in
Kurdistan which will be much uglier and crisis-ridden than it is now.
This article is an effort to prevent the coming into being of a world
which lays behind the Regional President's threats. This is why we,
contrary to the Regional Presidents opinion, say that this should not
be tolerated.
We, the undersigned, hereby support Aras Fatah and Mariwan Kanie
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