New Generation MP: Abdulwahid leaves or we throw out the party

 
The first time I’ve heard it is from you, just now. However, we, and our friends, who are the majority, are the part whose political perspective has taken a totally different direction from Mr. Shaswar. I would like to speak of these differences. The entire faction in Baghdad goes in our political direction. Most of the MPs in Kurdistan’s parliament [in the new Generation Bloc] are also with us. The majority of the Supreme Council supports this direction. Most of the founders of New Generation are also backing this political perspective.   

 

In the Kurdistan Region, a harmful culture of political parties has developed, where political parties are viewed as the property of one person. Those sitting atop the pyramid of political parties would like the identity of parties to be those of only one individual. We are against this political viewpoint.

 

 

What will you, as New Generation, do now?

 

I would like you to talk about what we – those opposed to turning New Generation into family property, turning it into a company and making New Generation about one individual - will do.

 

I always ask the question, why did we establish New Generation? I asked myself why the PUK [Patriotic Union of Kurdistan] took a stand against the KDP [Kurdistan Democratic Party] becoming a family party, a stand that got so many people killed and divided the Kurdish movement into two in the 1960’s, if it was going to eventually become a family party itself? 

 

The same goes for Gorran. If it is to copy the same model, why go into a rivalry with the PUK? The same goes for us too. If the New Generation is to be a mini copy of the KDP, when all the parties of Kurdistan have become big or small copies of the KDP - including the New Generation we criticize currently - then there is no need for the hassle. Everyone is busy [in New Generation] making [business] deals. Everybody establishes a party for the family and company, turning it into a branch of the company, and eventually the party is turned into a one man party.

 

We are against this. We made a promise to the people to put forth an entirely new political model. First, we would be democratic, unlike all the other parties. We weren’t going to make ourselves the party of one man, but rather one of collective decision making. Second, we would be against turning the party into a family party. Other parties have all become family parties. Third, we are against mixing parties with companies. Let companies be segregated from parties. 

 

However, Mr. Shaswar abused the presidency of the New Generation. It became the party of one man. I dare all the friends of the Supreme Council, founders, all the MPs in office to look into relations Mr. Shaswar established between the New Generation and other parties.

Didn’t you know that he [Shaswar] had companies?
 

We did know. We said we know he has companies. We wanted him [to behave] like other rich individuals in Europe who support the political directions they like but who don’t make the party their property. Mr. Shaswar promised on TV he would leave business - go through his page. It said that Chavi Land and all the other companies had been sold, that Mr. Shaswar would abandon business. Now his business has developed, branches have been opened in Baghdad and in neighboring countries. A bigger tragedy is that the party has been turned into an object in the game of investors and businesses, the large companies in Iraq and outside Iraq.

Why does Mr. Shaswar say that his friends betrayed him?
 
New Generation wasn’t established to become a copy of the KDP, to become the party of a family, a branch of companies or the party of one man. But this is what it now is. That is why either Mr. Shaswar leaves, or we kick the party and throw it away so that people learn not to worship parties. We believe that a party is an object. If it is useful, use it. If not, then throw it away. Thus, the people have to ask that if Rabun Maroof and his friends - a group who believe in collective decision making, that promises to be against corruption, to be opposed to families controlling and ruling the political system, to stand against turning politics into a company or a money-making profession - if we have backed away from these promises, then we have committed betrayal. But if it is others who have backed away from this, they have been the traitors.

Our final message to Mr. Shaswar is for him to go back to being busy with business, since he hasn’t left it. If he does this, then we with our friends can fix New Generation. However - I want this message relayed - if Mr. Shaswar insists on remaining and attempting to join the ruling families, to create a family party to join the game of political families in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, we won’t enter this game, because we think KDP and PUK benefit. The corrupt political system in the Kurdistan Region will benefit. Then we will hand over the New Generation to Mr. Shaswar. Despite this, the people have to know that we are the majority.

If Mr. Shaswar doesn’t leave and doesn’t hand over the New Generation, what will you then do?
 
The people need to know we won’t enter into a fight. We won’t enter a fight that we think benefits family rule and the ruling families in the Kurdistan Region. If Mr. Shaswar wants to keep us busy for the next four years in a back and forth battle of saying New Generation is ours and for him to say no it is his, we won’t do that. We will simply surrender the New Generation to him. We are busy with another form. We will be busy putting forth a political alternative. That is what is important. When Mr. Nawshirwan [Mustafa] was working on the Gorran Movement back in the day, there was a heated discussion on whether the time had come in Iraqi Kurdistan for the establishment of a new party, totally different from those preceding it, or we avoid establishing a party and instead open a new door. Mr. Nawshirwan’s personal opinion then was not to establish a party because there was the belief that a certainty had been established in Iraqi Kurdistan, one that would see a party inevitability turn into a family party, a company branch and a one man party.

When we established New Generation, we said the very same things. We said we have decided to establish New Generation for it to be fully different from all other parties. In a short time, due to the bad influence of Mr. Shaswar, the same story happened all over again. That is why we believe in Iraqi Kurdistan, there is no room to establish a totally different party from the traditional parties. That is why, even if we establish another party, it will become the party of one man, of a family and a political company among the rest of the political companies.

We won’t just establish a party. I have lived in Europe, so we are under the influence of the Liberal Politics tradition, for which I’ll give you two examples. In Britain, we have the Conservatives and the Labour Party. In America, we have the Democrats and the Republicans. People don’t recognize these parties based on their name. They recognize them for their political viewpoints. In Iraqi Kurdistan, where every political party has become a small or a big copy of Kurdistan Democratic Party, people have to say the name of the party to know which party is being talked about. We don’t just want to establish a party. We want to develop a political direction and tradition so that they, when saying our name, know us as those who don’t believe solely in a political party in Iraqi Kurdistan.