“We still don’t understand why you preach us and teach us democracy and elections,” said Falah Mustafa, but when it comes to the Kurdistan Region “it’s not good for us or is not a good time.”
He was speaking on a panel titled ‘Rebuilding the Middle East from civil war to civil society’ at the Halifax International Security Forum on Sunday.
Noting that the Kurdistan Region has taken what has not been an easy journey from a mountain-based revolutionary movement to running a civil administration while living in a neighbourhood that “is not that friendly,” Mustafa acknowledged that they are still working on building democracy.
But he noted that in Baghdad today “they think that by having elections on time, that’s democracy. But that’s only the beginning of the process.”
He questioned the largely North American audience as to why they were not offering more support for Kurdistan’s attempts to build a democratic nation and instead were backing Baghdad and a united Iraq.
“These are man-made borders. These borders will change… if not today, tomorrow.” Mustafa said, noting that now is the time to be realistic.
When the Kurdistan Region held a democratic exercise, voting on the right to self-determination, the world condemned it as illegal and illegitimate and Iraq reacted with force. Baghdad has taken the position “that they are victorious, winner takes all,” and they want to destroy Kurdistan, he said.
The situation is now threatening to return to civil war, repeating a common cycle in the Middle East of civil war to civil society and back to civil war, he said, picking up on the theme of the panel.
“Be realistic,” he concluded. “Change this One Iraq policy, you will see stability.”
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