By Tahseen Wsu Abdullah
After World War I and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Kurdish case became a complex regional issue that has not been resolved for the past hundred years, which is directly related to the situation in which the states of Kurdistan were divided. On the other hand, the colonial states/powers have not always considered whether the Kurds as a nation with a different identity and culture cannot live within the framework of the imposed systems that are based on assimilation of the Kurds as a nation. This is true for all four states of Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Syria, because the Kurds as a nation have never seen themselves as owners within each of these states.
The part of Kurdistan that was annexed to Iraq, according to an international agreement to protect the interests of the powers, has seen many difficulties over the past hundred years. In other words, during the lifetime of the Iraqi state, this part of Kurdistan (South Kurdistan, Kurdistan Region) has been in constant war with it, although the war has changed according to historical stages Although the Kurds as an official and influential community have played an influential role in rebuilding the state form, when the balance of power changed in the political process, the ruling elite in Baghdad completely deviated from the principles shared by all parties They were formed on it. This is the story of the Kurds in Iraq over the past hundred years.
After 2005, the state system was based on federalism according to the constitution, unlike more than eighty years ago when the state was based on strict centralism. The experience of decentralization and federalism was appropriate for post-Saddam Iraq to the extent that the majority party or community, Iraqi Shiites, established itself in the main nodes of the state and political process. They quickly opposed this system and prevented the creation of another region in Iraq, whether in the Sunni areas or in southern Iraq. In addition, the political process in Iraq was strongly influenced by regional equations, which was not in the interest of implementing a federal system.
The failure to implement the constitution, especially those related to the creation of regions and regional powers, has led to the Kurdistan Region remaining as the only region within the federal state. This has prevented this system from being implemented properly in Iraq, so the Kurdistan Region has to rely on reality and de facto policy. This kind of mechanism advanced the situation in the Kurdistan Region, so that in some issues the relationship between Erbil and Baghdad resembled the relationship between two confederal units rather than federal.
Currently, the Kurdish story in Iraq and the ruling elite in Baghdad remains separated, so that the mentality of the political elite in Baghdad demands centralization of power, but the Kurdistan Region has passed this stage.