Kurdistan Flag
It looks like the two main Iraqi Kurdish parties are about to unite to form a "unity government".
What does this mean for the political stability of the country? The PUK and KDP are already "allies" of the American occupiers, helping them capture Saddam Hussein and repressing anti-American insurrections. Will this new Kurdish union lead to the creation of an independent or semi-independent state?
Once they have created a single government in the Kurdish areas of the north, the officials said, they will push for a federalist system in Iraq that will give them broad autonomy in their mountainous region. That vision conflicts with the division of powers being promoted by many Iraqi politicians, who want regional powers divided among smaller provinces throughout the country.
It's worth noting that both the KDP and PUK are already allies of SCIRI, the major Shi'ite organization in the south. The Americans distrust the SCIRI because of their strong ties to Iran, but so far SCIRI has kept anti-American attacks and demonstrations to a minimum. The "Iraqi politicians" who will be upset with this will be the very minority Sunnis.
Kurdish leaders say they intend to form their unified government well before the Coalition Provisional Authority establishes an Iraqi transitional government at the end of June. That way, the leaders say, the Kurds will speak with one voice in trying to shape the format and the powers of the transitional government. Though the Kurds make up only a fifth of the population, they are now more organized than any other ethnic or religious group in the country, including the Shiites, who make up 60 percent of the population.
Natch!
"It is important that we push for the reunification," said Barham Salih, prime minister of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, based here in Sulaimaniya. "It will lay the foundation for federal democracy in Iraq. We have a very specific vision for Iraq, and if we put our own house in order, we can put forward our vision of Iraq."
No representatives of the Coalition Provisional Authority could be reached for comment on Friday.
No shit the CPA had no comment - they must be stunned because they're not used to the concept of Iraqis actually working together and deciding on a political future. The problem with a KDP/PUK/SCIRI government is that it doesn't leave much room for Bechtel and Halliburton and ExxonMobil to comfortably assure their stockholders of megaprofits.
James Baker and Paul Bremer would like to think they have the situation well in hand - but the best they can hope for in June 2004 is for KDP/PUK/SCIRI to say "thanks and y'all be on your way".
The new government would unite the two parallel administrations of the Kurdish region for the first time since war broke out in 1994 between the two dominant political parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. Each controls half of northern Iraq.
Double natch!
Separately, the senior Kurdish officials said, Mr. Salih, the prime minister of the P.U.K., has a good chance of being appointed soon by Iraqi officials to be the country's ambassador to the United Nations. If he assumes that role, it will give the Kurds a stronger voice in shaping the foreign policy of Iraq, since the country's recently appointed foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, is also a Kurd.
Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey is currently in Uzbekistan but I bet he shit a brick when he read this. We shouldn't have to wait too long for some kind of report out of Anatolia.
Any ideas what Bush will do if Turkey has a cow over this?
