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February 3, 2008
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Kurds cry out against corruption: (5) Interview with head of Kurdistan Toilers' Party Qadir Aziz
Qadir Aziz: KDP/PUK killed article 140 and are responsible for illegal party budgets
Translated by Dr Kamal Mirawdeli
The issues of Kirkuk , the performance of Kurdistan region's government, the remaining of Nechirvan Barzani in his post as the head of the government, and the budget of the region are the topics which were the focus of this interview with the Secretary of Kurdistan Toilers' Party Mr. Qadir Aziz.
[Awena] After the referral of Article 140 to the federal court, what will in your opinion happen to the implementation of this article? Will Kirkuk return to Kurdistan in 2008? Who is responsible for failure in implementing this Article? It is said that in the time of Bremer there was a chance for Kirkuk to be reintegrated in Kurdistan but Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) did not work for this? Is this true?
[Qadir Aziz] In legal terms, the extension of Article 140, should have been done by the Iraqi National Assembly in the same way as the article 142 related to the amendment of the constitution and article 118 related to the establishment of the regions, were extended by the assembly. But because there are many opponents of article 140 [in Iraqi parliament] the Kurds were not able to refer its extension to the National Assembly. Instead in a meeting among the representative of the UN in Iraq , the Presidential Council, and both the Prime Ministers of Iraq and Kurdistan the period of its implementation was extended. As we see, this has been attacked by the opponents of the article as illegal. Therefore, to deal with this legal issue the Kurds were forced to accept its referral to the federal court so that this court would decide in line with its legal expertise whether this extension is legal or not. And this is very risky for the Kurds because if the decision of the court is not to support the extension of the period, then not only the extension but the very survival of the Article would be in doubt. About your question whether Kirkuk would be reintegrated to Kurdistan this depends to the extent that Al-Maliki's government is prepared to work for this and also on our own (Kurdish) future plan for achieving this. If the things remain as they were before, then I am not optimistic about the return of Kirkuk in this year.
About the opportunity for the return of Kirkuk and other areas in the time of Bremer, of course then Saddam was overthrown, the Iraqi state was demolished and no authority in Iraq existed, the Kurds could refuse to participate in the rebuilding of Iraq without first achieving the return of Kirkuk and other Arabised areas to Kurdistan region's administration. But by failing to do this, a golden opportunity was lost that would not be repeated so easily. Of course, KDP and PUK are responsible for this.
[Awena] The events all indicate that the picnic period of the Kurds has come to an end and the Kurds are suffering setbacks in terms of advancing their demands in terms of the return of the taken-away territories, their position in Iraq and relations with the US and Britain? What do you say?
[Qadir Aziz] Of course it would not be difficult as a result of reading the current events to see that the equations are not progressing in the direction of Kurdish interests. The Kurds have lost many opportunities in a way that weakened their position in demanding their rights including those rights mentioned in the constitution. These changes are partly the result of the new developments and reactivation of other constituents of Iraq and the role of regional countries. The other part of the reason is related to the bad administration of Kurds themselves, the weakness of their performance, and the weakness of the subjective factor that failed to take advantage of the favourable objective conditions that were available for the Kurds for a long time. This has been predictable to many people and groups for a long time because according to the law of objective and subjective factors if the subjective factor was unable to take up and take advantage of the objective factor, then the objective factor does not remain still and would weaken or disappear. That is exactly what is happening in Kurdistan .
[Awena] Last week, the period of the premiership of Nechirvan Brzani was extended, what do you think he should do to make the government more active?
[Qadir Aziz] When a system of power in any country reached deadlock, however individuals are active and hard-working they cannot solve the problem. The only solution is to change the method or the system. The method of government by political parties in Kurdistan has reached deadened for a long time. Whatever the two parties [KDP and PUK} do, they fail not only to solve the crises but also to maintain the situation which is worsening day by day. In many countries parties are in power but like here the parties do not directly practise power. In our country the political parties do not act within the framework of law, and legal bodies and institutions. For this reason they cannot rule within law and through institutions? Therefore in the context of such a system of government however active and effective individuals may be, they cannot improve the conditions and achieve anything tangible. We must look at the performance of Nechirvan Barzani or any other person in this post in these terms.
[Awena] Do you think that the three ministries of finance, peshmarga, and interior would reintegrate? There is a rumour that the ministries of finance would remain separate?
[Qadir Aziz] In spite of claims and promises that have been made, the three most important ministries of peshmarga, finance and interior have not been reintegrated. This is a weak aspect of the performance of the government and a cause of the lack of trust in this government internally and externally. This shows that both parties have still do not see the government as the power of people and civil institutions but as the monopoly of parties. The political parties find their power in these three ministries, in other words, in money and force. Therefore they refuse to give up these three ministries to government as representing the power and interests of people. This is the crux of the problem in Kurdistan : until the government becomes more powerful than the party, and unless the government and parliament take the power of holding budget and money from the two parties, they cannot become two powerful institutions of government and the true representatives of people. They remain as they are: weak and ineffective.
[Awena] What is the reason that the issue of the budget of [money allocated for] the political parties is not discussed and decided in the parliament? Why is this issue always postponed?
[Qadir Aziz] Parliament does not want or cannot directly address the issue of the budget of the political parties because then the two dominant parties KDP and PUK must reveal their budget [the money they take] and their budget too would be put within the framework of law. Of course KDP and PUK do not want this. Parliament knows this. Therefore the budget of the parties is decided outside the Parliament. This ensures that the money taken by KDP and PUK, which amounts to billions, remains a secret and the decision to allocate money to other [smaller] parties remains in the hands of KDP and PUK.
Published in Awene, Sulaymaniyah, independent weekly newspaper in Kurdish, 15 Jan 08, p 3
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