Opening Remarks
“First of all, Ernest Renan, a noted French sociologist in the 19th century. Renan said that a nation is “a daily plebiscite.” By that he meant that to be a nation, there has to be the will to be a nation. And so we could ask ourselves, do the Iraqi Kurds, or do the Kurds in general, pan Kurdish movement, is there a will there? Do they think of themselves as a nation? This is an important concept also because it shows that it has to be a continuing will to be a nation.
You can be a nation, and then you can lose that impetus and no longer be a nation. So I think Renan’s definition of a nation, a daily plebiscite, is very apropos to the Kurds today. When we look at the Kurdish situation today, the divisions among the Kurds. I was talking to a Turkish scholar a few days ago, and he told me the problem with the Kurds is they’re so divided. There are no threats, they’re so divided. So is there, this will to be a nation? That is very important. I think we have contrary evidence here, and it’s a very important thing to look at. Now, even more important maybe is the famous German sociologist, Max Weber, who defined a state as that entity, which has a monopoly on the legitimate use of force within its area. A state has a monopoly on the legitimate use of force. And when we look at the Kurdish situation, Dr. Karim was just referring to this, the Turkish intervention into the KRG region, reports I’ve seen indicate that Turkish military ,air force has not only hit, UN protects, supposedly UN protected refugee camp Makhmour, but over 150 other sites in Northern Iraq killing a number of innocent Iraqi civilians in the Turkish-drive to go after the PKK.”
Overreaction to the Kurdish referendum
“If I understood it correctly was nonbinding. It was a nonbinding referendum and advisory referendum. The Kurds were not declaring independence in this September 2017 referendum. And I think that’s very important to realize it and the overreaction on the part of the United States and the others, Turkey and Iran to this referendum as if it were almost treason has only shown me how unfair the Iraqi Kurds were treated. Because again, this was simply the advice. It was not a demand, the advice of the Kurdish people, and it, as we’ve seen 93% of those who voted said that they would like to move towards independence, but they were not demanding it. “
Implementation of Iraq’s constitution
I think that’s very important to note and it’s been forgotten. I think this idea of article 140 being implemented and the constitution of Iraq being implemented. I wish it were, but look at the United States. We’ve had our constitution in the United States for 240 years. We’re supposed to be the most successful country on earth. And with this Coronavirus right now, sometimes you wonder if we have any idea what we’re doing. The federal government argues with the States about what, whose rights, who has the rights to open up the economy or not open up the economy, open up the schools and not open up the schools. So, yes, I would like to see movement on the KRG constitution, but let’s also realize how much progress we’ve made. When Najmadin [Dr. Karim] first took me to Kurdistan in 1993, I could never have envisioned. So KRG semi-autonomous part of Iraq. We have that, or would Saddam Hussein ever have realized that Jalal Talabani at Barham Salah two Kurds would be presidents of Iraq.
So we have achieved a lot. And I think our duty now is to hold on to what we’ve had and not overreach. Some people say this referendum in 2017, the Kurds overreached by including Kirkuk and the referendum that may be true. On the other hand, it seems to be very seldom, have the courage committed an egregiously wrong cruel act. Nobody is perfect. What the Kurds have done with their referendum seems to me to be a legitimate exercise of self determination and has been misinterpreted. And if it has been misinterpreted, it shows how much progress the Kurds have made to even have what they have now in Iraq, but how dead-set against any further implementation of Kurdish rights, even the so called friends of the Kurds are.”
Iraqi might fall apart before the Kurdistan region
“The implications of Biden being elected president, Biden has a long track record of being friendly toward the Kurds and has some positive thoughts about that. As far as what would happen if the US and Iraq broke off relations for a long time, people have wondered what the implications would be if the United States dealt only with the KRG. And certainly if relations with Baghdad were somehow broken it off, this could be a God said to the KRG and a friendly base for the United States to be in the middle East, given all the negative basis the United States has in the Middle East, supposedly with Turkey and Iraq and Syria and so forth. “
Kurds have a lot of problems. The KRG has a lot of problems, but frankly I think Iraq, when we apply what Renan said about a daily plebiscite and what Weber said about legitimate uses of force, Iraq has more problems. I see the possibility of Iraq breaking up before I see the KRG breaking up. And I think the KRG should be ready to become independent by default if Iraq itself breaks up. And despite the fact that I still think it was just a nonbinding resolution”
How to approach the new Iraqi prime minister
“Mustafa al Kadhimi has had a very distinguished career. He’s been in intelligence, he is a journalist. He seems to be a moderate person. He seems to be a reasonable person. So I would certainly encourage the KRG to work with this man, realize that all things cannot be created at a day, but if you have a person of Goodwill, and I think we do have here, stick with him and realize that we’re going to have to compromise. And there are some issues that are probably able to work on sooner. “