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December 16, 2007
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The Kurdish Parliament Should be Dissolved
Kurdishaspect.com - By Rebin Hardi
Parliaments in every country in the world have been the first and the last resort for the people to monitor government's performance and to prevent any officials from misusing his or her position. One of the main duties of parliament, even in the worst of democracies, is to draft laws that narrow the authorities of the officials and the government and also extend freedom for the people.
In all countries, except in Kurdistan, parliament is one of the powers that balance the authorities. Many liberal thinkers, such as Montesquieu who invented the liberal theory of the separation of powers, have insisted on the idea of the theory of separation of powers to tackle the possibility of misusing authorities.
Parliament is the body that constantly monitors the performance of the government and drafts laws that protect the liberties from any violations by the officials. This has been the duty of parliaments in all democratic systems.
But in our country, the parliament shows how much it is against the people and their liberties. The parliament members amended the proposed Press Law that is even more detrimental than the Baa'th regime's Media Law. Even the walkout of the head of Green faction (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) in the parliament hall didn't change the conservative thinking that the members of the parliament have. In one of the ugliest sessions of the Kurdistan parliament (on Tuesday, December 11) the members stood against anything that is related to the freedom of pens in Kurdistan.
When the first and the second articles of the proposed Press Law was passed in two different sessions, I was happy because from the discussions I saw some changes and openness in the parliament and I wrote an article for the local press praising the parliament. But on Tuesday's session everything changed. Under the auspices of the conservative thinking of the Legal Committee of the parliament, some provisions were added to article 10 of the proposed law that makes the law anything but democratic.
The head of the Legal Committee is from the Yellow faction (Kurdistan Democratic Party) and this raises the question on why the Yellow faction has such a negative role against liberties? And why when the head of the Green faction left the session, only a dozen of her colleagues out of about 50 followed her in protest? The Green faction should have all walked out to strengthen their positions on the law. Why didn't other left factions leave the session to protest the laws?
These days are the most dangerous days to Kurdish journalism. It seems that the two Kurdish superpower parties (that have divided the parliament between themselves) have decided to draft the laws in a way that empower them to further suppress and be held less accountable for their actions.
The Yellow faction seems to be suggesting laws that protect the party and government officials from critics, instead of advocating freedom. This question puzzles me; is there no freedom advocate in the yellow faction to take position against this law?
If the Yellow members of the parliament continue on this agenda to threaten liberties, I believe these will be the darkest days in their parliament lives. It amazes me that there was no one to say, "I don't agree with this law," or there should not be the possibility of imprisonment and closing down newspapers. I wish someone would say. "We should not let journalists be tried with the anti-terror laws" where the maximum punishment is execution. When in the hell did the punishment of writing reach death penalties except in the middle or dark centuries?
Now we are all at the mercy of Kurdistan's President, Massoud Barzani. We all have to pray that he will not sign these conservative laws that are worse than Baa'th laws. We are waiting to see if the view of the president is similar to the members of parliament who do not want freedom or will he feel that these laws will bring nothing but shame for the Kurdistan region?
It is bizarre that things are so contrary in this country. In many countries the political factions and leaders want to draft laws in ways that narrow freedom of writing and critics of the government, while the parliament doesn’t let such laws pass. But in our country, the parliament passes conservative laws andit is up to our leader to reject it.
One has to wonder if this just a plot created by the political parties to gain popularity for Barzani. Has scenario been created so that all of us are forced to beg the president not to sign the law? And if he rejects the law, we will all be indebted to him. Then we have to praise him for his advocacy for freedom.
I hope I'm wrong, but one wonders.
I know one thing for sure, we don’t need a parliament that passes laws that lessens our freedoms and forces us to beg the president not sign it, instead of protecting us from the misuse of power.
Let this parliament be dissolved and have an early election so that more open-minded people can replace the current members. What a travesty that the parliament passes a law that can punish writers to death? What a travesty!!!
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