![Mala Baxtiyar, a senior politburo member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan [L] holds a joint pree conference on holding referendum in Kurdistan on independence with the leader of the Islamic League (Komal) in Kurdistan Ali Bapir [R]. Photo: Rudaw video](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.rudaw.net%2Fs3%2Frudaw.net%2FContentFiles%2F294162Image1.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Region should work towards declaring independence if people vote in favour of independence in a referendum expected to be held this year, the leader of the second Islamic party in Kurdistan, Ali Bapir, told reporters following a meeting between his party and a joint committee formed by the two main ruling Kurdish parties.
Bapir said that his party, the Islamic League (Komal), who holds six seats in the Kurdish parliament and two ministers in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), supports holding a referendum if it is followed by founding an independent state for the Kurdish nation.
A “referendum by its nature is taking steps towards independence. We are with it 100 percent,” he said during a joint press conference with Mala Baxtiyar, a senior politburo member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), adding that if the Kurdish parties do not act on a vote for independence, then the referendum will be “meaningless.”
After a meeting between Kurdish President Masoud Barzani and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in Erbil last week, senior assistant to Barzani Hemin Hawrami said that the Region may not declare independence immediately after the referendum, but that the vote would be considered a mandate from the people.
The PUK and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) began taking steps towards preparing for a referendum, forming a joint committee on Sunday tasked with discussing the issue with other Kurdish parties and setting the time and mechanism for a vote to be held in 2017.
The joint committee passed a busy day on Monday as it met with the two main Kurdish Islamic parties Komal and the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), as well as the Kurdistan Communist Party. The 10-member committee is expected to meet with other parties in the coming days, importantly with the Change Movement (Gorran), which holds the position of parliament speaker and is in odds with the KDP because of political differences.
Baxtiyar said the reason behind that KDP-PUK meeting on Sunday and the meetings on Monday was to prove that the Kurdish government means what it says about the referendum.
“This is to say that we really mean it when we say we will hold referendum,” Baxtiyar noted.
Asked whether the Kurdish parties are concerned with the position of neighbouring countries in their opposition to the referendum, in particular Turkey, Baxtiyar argued that the Kurds have good relations with regional countries and international powers.
Baxtiyar called to mind the announcement federalism in the Kurdistan Region in the early 1990s even though the “fascist” Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein was in power at the time and there was a hostile environment with Iraq, Syria, and Turkey all opposed to the notion of a Kurdish federal government.
“We proved that the current federalism has guaranteed peace and security in Kurdistan and that of our neighbouring countries, and protected our mutual interests,” Baxtiyar said. This, he said, proved these countries were wrong in their “negative thinking” at that time and he declared the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) would prove them wrong again with the referendum.
Baxtiyar however, noted that the current situation was different and the KRG has good relations with its neighbours and Baghdad.
“We have been forced to be part of Iraq now for 96 years, by force. But during these 96 years, never before has the issue of independence been discussed as much as it has been in these two years, and never before has Baghdad been in such a listening mode, as it is doing now,” Baxtiyar said, adding that it remains to be seen whether Baghdad indeed is listening to Kurdish demands.
Despite showing support for the referendum, Bapir listed a number of obstacles that include what he called “paralysed” institutions, in particular the Kurdish parliament that needs to be reactivated, a need for a unified Peshmerga and security forces, and an improvement of the lives of the people who are “in a difficult situation” because of the ongoing financial crisis.
The Kurdish parliament has not convened since August 2015. The Kurdistan Region has been politically deadlocked in October 2015, amid a dispute over an amendment to the region’s presidential law.
Sunday evening, following the announcement of the PUK-KDP joint commission, leaders of Islamic parties called for the reactivation of parliament to deal with the referendum.
“The most appropriate way to go about the referendum is the reactivation of the parliament, then development of understanding among parties. This question should involve all parties. One single party should not make it its own achievement,” said Othman Karwani of the leadership of the Islamic Union.
“Who should do this and when? This needs the agreement and meeting of parties. Hence, no committee or organization should be used as an alternative to the parliament. We must turn to the parliament to resolve the crisis,” Faruq Ali, Islamic League leadership member, said.
Bapir said a high level of support for Kurdish independence should be guaranteed because it plays a role in strengthening “our position” at the negotiation table with Baghdad and in their talks with regional and international countries.
The Islamic leader also warned that they have “to bear in mind the consequences” of declaring independence, namely what will happen with the KRG’s relationships with other countries and Baghdad. This, he said, needs the unity of all parties as no one or two parties can carry the heavy responsibility of the referendum.
Baxtiyar concluded that it is wrong to call the referendum a vote for as separation or secession, noting that the KRG wants to make sure the Kurdish nation, like any other nation, will have a guaranteed right to self-determination, a democratic and natural right.
It is this right, he said, that they want to achieve for the Kurdish nation, but the outcome is ultimately in the hands of the voters.
Hemin Hawrami announced Sunday that the referendum will ask the people of Kurdistan one question. “Are you with for an independent Kurdistan? Yes or No,” he tweeted.
