By kazhan Abdullaah
The federal system prevents the monopoly of power, ensures the rights and freedoms of individuals, nationalities and social communities, fair distribution of the country’s wealth and strengthens the unity of the country.
Yet in Iraq these rights are violated and federalism is in danger! There are political parties that are trying to overthrow the constitution and empty it of its contents towards centralism, under the pretext of protecting the interests of the country, which threatens the entire democratic process.
In fact, the main conflict between Baghdad and Erbil is mainly on the control and management of oil resources. As referred in the Iraqi constitution, particularly Article 111 and 112, that the federal regions ( Kurdistan Region) have the right to manage and share the oil fields with the federal government, unfortunately this right is almost violated.
This dynamic is further complicated by the federal government as it argues that oil policy must be centralized and that autonomous KRG contracts violate national sovereignty. This stalemate has led to repeated budget cuts and suspension of salaries of civil servants in the Kurdistan Region, which Baghdad often uses as a political pressure.
Beyond the oil issue, these constitutional ambiguities have also spilled over into other areas, such as linguistic rights and cultural recognition. This raises fundamental questions about constitutional rights, as stated in Article 4 of the constitution, which officially recognizes both Arabic and Kurdish as official languages of Iraq.
This raises fundamental questions about the protection of minority rights and whether Iraq is truly committed to the multi-ethnic and multi-lingual vision enshrined in its constitutional preamble.
The suppression of Kurdish language and culture outside the Kurdistan Region is not only unconstitutional but also politically dangerous. This clearly amplifies a historical legacy of marginalization, reminding many Kurds of the Arabization campaigns under Saddam Hussein.
When combined with economic pressures and political isolation, these cultural exclusions foster a sense of betrayal and alienation among the Kurdish population, undermining national unity and giving rise to a sense of separation.
In reality, the Iraqi constitution was designed to balance unity and autonomy, and to hold minorities together , as well as allowing autonomous regions like the Kurdistan Region to have some degree of self-government.
The ambiguity and lack of clear implementation mechanisms towards the Kurdistan Region, especially regarding oil management and federal responsibility, has also made the constitution more of a political tool than a binding legal framework.
These dynamics show that Iraqi federalism is in crisis and is being systematically undermined. Without genuine political commitment to constitutional clarity and mutual respect, the federation risks collapsing into a central state with the edges of instability or alternatively fragmenting under the weight of regional disappointment.
Iraq’s future depends largely on resolving these constitutional conflicts, not by force, but through dialogue, legal reform and an honest assessment aimed at uniting peoples and races.