Iraqi Kurds Seem Willing to Put Dream on Hold

At the proclaimed border of Kurdistan a 10-minute drive west of here, peshmerga warriors in the khaki garb of border guards inspect the documents of travelers and traders entering their turf.

At Irbil’s central market, fruit vendors and money changers scoff at the Iraqi national currency, which still circulates elsewhere. Kurdistan has its own legal tender, worth 200 times the value of a Baghdad dinar.

From their separate language and media to their region’s own taxes and tariffs, Iraqi Kurds have lived for a dozen years in what amounts to the independent state of Kurdistan. Now, though, as Kurds, Arabs, Turkmens, Assyrians and other ethnic groups vie for power with the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, there is growing debate about how much of that autonomy Kurds will sacrifice for the sake of a multiethnic federation.

There is also some doubt among Western officials midwifing the new interim government about the commitment Kurds will make to any national entity based in Baghdad, when they have for so long so openly pined for their own state.

Leading figures from among the region’s 36 political movements and parties profess pragmatism, promising allegiance to the emerging government on condition Kurdistan recovers territory lost to Hussein’s “Arabization” that expelled Kurds from areas they once dominated.

“We will always dream of having our own state, but we are realistic enough to know our boundaries,” says Abdul Salam Berwari, political editor of the daily newspaper Khabat (“Struggle”) and an influential member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party that rules the western half of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Too much autonomy for Iraq’s Kurds would encourage ethnic brethren in neighboring states to seek an alliance with them, further straining relations between the Kurds and the governments of Turkey, Syria and Iran, the editor notes.

The KDP sees the Kurds’ future as more secure in a united Iraq, he says, as long as they retain the rights enjoyed under a U.S.-enforced “no-fly” zone that effectively severed Kurdistan from the rest of Iraq.

More radical Kurds, however, threaten to spoil a negotiated solution by demanding full independence and eventual union with Kurds in Turkey, Syria and Iran in a Greater Kurdistan.

“We’ve struggled for our independence for 100 years. We are willing to accept a federal state at this stage, like in America or Germany, but in the future we want 100% independence. We want to have our own country,” insists Faruqadir Mohammed, head of the Kurdistan Independence Party.

Mohammed contends that most Kurds share his nationalist aspirations but accept U.S. warnings that independence would destabilize the region.

There is little U.S. military presence in Kurdistan, as peshmerga fighters have long kept the peace in their own territories. U.S. forces are viewed here as allies, having helped defend Kurds against the brutality and discrimination of Hussein’s regime. But some observers fear the mood could swing if Kurds get short shrift in the power-sharing arrangements or if their relative plenty dissipates under taxation from Baghdad.

“We would have to insist that all tax money collected here should be spent here. We are not responsible for the damages suffered elsewhere,” says Ali Qader, a local official of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

Kurdistan, already more prosperous than the rest of the country due to its de facto exemption from 12 years of U.N. sanctions, was spared the destruction rained on the capital and cities to the south.

The peshmergas, whose name means “those who face death,” say they are amenable to a federal government that would allow Kurdistan to retain its autonomy, including a militia.

“We have lived through much sacrifice and torture to secure our freedom and we don’t want to lose our rights,” says Sami Sarhad, a 42-year-old peshmerga guarding the customs border between Mosul and Irbil.

Sarhad insists that Kurds need their own state, but he echoes the political line of Kurdistan’s leaders in saying Kurds could accept a central government provided there is fair representation.

“If the Americans and the British control the choice of the next regime, it will be OK. But we are afraid the old regime will come back bit by bit if the troops withdraw and leave us again to be dominated by the Arabs,” says the peshmerga, who says he named twin sons born in early May after President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Kurdistan, with fields of ripening grain and city streets bustling with life, stands in sharp contrast to bombed and impoverished Baghdad. But even the Iraqi Kurdish enclave is divided, with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan ruling the eastern sector from the mountain city of Sulaymaniyah and the KDP governing the western half from Irbil.

The fissures running through Kurdish politics make a united negotiating front difficult, although all parties have been paying lip service to the idea of a central government. Both major parties have their own representatives lobbying international mediators in Baghdad ahead of a gathering expected to seat an interim government in July.

At the Irbil market, people voice an array of opinions. Some say they are willing to give up their more durable currency, reflective of a more vibrant economy, in the interest of a stronger country.

“It would be better to have one currency. It would symbolize a united Iraq,” says trader Dlear Mohammed.

Qasim Hasan, a 31-year-old businessman with a shop at the central market, says he trusts the U.S. forces to broker a new Iraqi administration with fair ethnic representation. But, like many Iraqis, he wants to see speedy elections so their nation can be ruled by a figure of the people’s choosing.

“We want a single government for Iraq and we don’t care what our leaders say. All they do is line their own pockets,” grouses Ismail Rasul Ahmad, his wizened face clenched with anger. “It doesn’t matter who is in power as long as he is a good person. It could be a Kurd or an Arab or an American or a Briton. We would even support an Israeli if he works at our service.”

U.S. officials believe that despite talk of independence, Kurdish leaders are fully prepared to accept a role in a unified Iraqi government.

“I truly believe they understand that whatever degree of autonomy they are able to enjoy is going to be within the state of Iraq,” says one U.S. official involved in the negotiations. “They know if they try [for something more] that they will lose the total support of the United States and that it would unleash all sorts of problems.”

But at the Michko cafe, a fly-buzzed terrace where writers and intellectuals gather for tea at sunset, the dream of independence is palpable.

“We are not Iraqis and we are not Turks and we are not Syrians. We are Kurds, and we want an independent nation,” says novelist Aziz Mala Rush, as other elderly patrons listen attentively.