False Kurdistan Dreams

Many Kurds complain about the lack of proper healthcare, education, clean drinking water and appropriate transportation.

But the picture from inside the autonomous region is quite different.

"Kurdistan isn’t a place to dream anymore," Saleh, not his real name, told IslamOnline.net.

Like many residents of Kurdistan, he is too afraid to be named criticizing the local government for fear of reprisals.

His personal experience is an enough proof.

"My brother was arrested three years ago after he tried to form a new party in Kurdistan with his friends," he recalls.

"In addition, all of our relatives working at the government have lost their jobs, exactly like how Saddam was doing in Iraq."

Kurdistan was originally established as the Kurdish Autonomous Region in 1970 following the agreement between the Baghdad government and Kurdish community leaders.

The three northern provinces of Erbil, Dahuk and Sulaymaniyah currently make up the autonomous region.

The Kurdistan Regional Government also has a de facto authority over half of Kirkuk province and parts of Diyala, Salahaddin and Ninawa provinces.

"Journalists are threatened and work scared from the government," Baraw Rojihat, a Kurdish journalist who left the region last year fearing reprisal after writing articles critical of the government, told IOL.

"Residents never speak badly about the governors afraid of being arrested and put in prisons where human rights is a dream."

But the Kurdistan government flatly denies any human rights violation.

"Human rights have always been one of our priorities, including inside our prisons,  and human rights organizations had always open doors in our land," Raman Ahmed, a senior official in the Kurdish government, told IOL.

"The Kurdistan government works with transparency."

Dynasties 

Since the 1970s, Kurdistan has been dominated by the Barzani and the Talabani families.

"All decisions about the future of the Kurdish people are in the hand of two families who announce a democratic government but act under a dictatorial behavior," insists Rojihat, the journalist.

"Only those from the two families are responsible for the governing system in Kurdistan."

There only two parties in the region; the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Massoud Barzani and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) of Jalal Talabani.

Any attempt to create new parties is swiftly and brutally suppressed, as was the case with Saleh's brother.

The long-time KDP and PUK rivals have long switched powers and controlled all sides of life in the region.

Barzani himself is president of the Kurdistan Regional Government, his nephew Nechirvan is its prime minister and his son Masrour is the intelligence chief.

Talabani's son Qubad is the representative of the local government in the US, his nephew is heading the International Relations Ministry and his cousin is the minister of finance.

Worse Life 

Many Kurds lament that the dynasty system is not the only problem in their northern enclave.

"Living conditions, although stable, never show signs of improvements," said Rojihat.

Kurds complain about the lack of proper healthcare, education, clean drinking water and appropriate transportation.

Although Kurdistan has been primed for a wave of foreign investment after the US-led invasion in 2003, there is neither a banking system nor a monetary policy.

Business and financial deals are made in the most primitive way.

Worse still, billions of dollars allocated to the local government never reach the people, allegedly going to the pockets of the two ruling dynasties.

"A huge part of this money goes to the pockets of Talabani and Barzani parties and families," charges Saleh.

Diar Mohammed, also not his real name, says that after years of patience, he has lost faith in leading a better life in new Kurdistan.

"For Years, we were accepting everything the government was telling us to do because we believed that we could reach democracy here and be an example of development for the central Iraqi government," said the frustrated shopkeeper.

"Now, we see their lives improving and democracy flourishing while we are stopped in time under a military and dictatorial system."

One recent survey in the region found that 83 percent of respondents say the place needs to change.

But Um Ferzo, a mother of three and a primary school teacher, does not except any.

"Elections will soon take place in the Kurdish provinces and although we would like to have a large number of options, we know that power won't switch hands," she told IOL.

"We will have to dream about a day when they [Barzani and Talabani families] will lose power like Saddam did."