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A Nation Without a Home
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10638 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
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7 / 1993 |
2,223 Words |
| Author
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Denise Natali
Denise Natali served as information officer for the U.S.
Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance in northern Iraq from
May 1993 to July 1994. She is an adjunct fellow at the Center
for Strategic and International Studies and recently returned
from a three-week visit to northern Iraq. |
The last most Westerners heard of the Kurds, they were suffering at the hands of Saddam Hussein following the Persian Gulf War. The forced exodus of hundreds of thousands of Kurds to Turkey and Iran drew world attention and assistance to a degree never before seen in modern history. Much has changed since: Allied forces have established a no-fly zone above the 36th parallel, and the Kurds have returned to their villages in northern Iraq.
They have also established a government.
Within 14 months, Iraqi Kurds evolved from refugees stranded in the mountains to an organized group with a unified, autonomous government. This accomplishment is noteworthy for Kurdish political history and may also serve as a model of political accommodation between other stateless populations seeking self-determination and central governments.
But the transition process has been difficult and remains incomplete. UN sanctions and Saddam's embargo have left the Kurdish government without sufficient revenues to pay salaries and implement programs. To date, Kurdish leaders have not secured international recognition of their government. The United Nations does not acknowledge Iraqi Kurdistan as an autonomous region and will not partially lift sanctions in the north.
Because the Kurds are an autonomous unit within the state, there is no mechanism by which they can differentiate themselves legally from the central government. Consequently, economic development and political transition remain thwarted. Future progress cannot continue without functioning printing presses, oil refineries, cement plants, and communications networks. Judicial, legal, and banking systems must also be created to maintain a viable political system.
Yet despite the uncertainty of its future, this experiment in government has had a significant impact on Kurdish unity, and political legitimacy as well as political and security issues in the region.
CREATING A GOVERNMENT
From July-October 1991, as the situation deteriorated with Saddam, Kurdish leaders attempted to compromise their political status with Baghdad. Negotiations ultimately failed, and, in October, Saddam's government withdrew from the north and imposed an economic embargo on Iraqi Kurdistan. This left a political, administrative, and economic
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