The Demographic Situation of Kerkuk and the Iraqi Constitution

by Erşat Hürmüzlü
mailto:ersat@umgco.com
19.04.2007

To read the article (first published one year ago) and see the charts (which are missing in the excerpt below) please click on the following link:

http://www.kerkukvakfi.com/english/makaleler.asp?id=119

Excerpt:

The demographic structure of the Turkmens in Iraq is unlike those of the Arabs, Kurds and other minorities. The tribal system, with its advantages and disadvantages, is rooted among Arabs and Kurds, rendering blind loyalty to the tribe, granting tribal chiefs absolute powers, which led to the birth of the feudal system removing debate from decision-making and creating a lack of equal opportunities.

The Turkmens, however, are more family oriented, having intimate feelings for descendants from a grand grandfather who held the same family name. The family system, however, did not prevent any member from getting his share of respect, honor and fame due to a religious, academic or professional status.

This very difference, which was neglected by many researchers, may be a reason for the diminished role of the Turkmen in the structure of the Iraqi society.

However, there are other reasons behind this issue, mainly the attempts to change the reality of the Turkmen existence in Iraq in order to annex Kirkuk into a specific region.

What we can see from either Kurdish political parties or from the publications of the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq is that they were in agreement in only one subject, which is the denial of the actual size of this component of Iraq.

Let me give you one example, The Patriot Union of Kurdistan web site has published very recently an article adopted from their own newspaper “Kurdistani Nwe” saying:

We have found a document in the archives of the Foreign Affairs of Britain which depicted the makeup of the inhabitants of Kirkuk in the year 1919. At that time and according to this document the inhabitants of Kirkuk were 91 229, 75 thousand of which were Kurds.

In fact, the official documents of the National Archives in London, in which I have personally researched and studied, show clearly that the British delegation to Lausanne conference in early twentieth of the last century headed by Lord Curzon, had submitted their own figures which states clearly, and although the figures were questionable, that the Kurds were less than half in Kirkuk.

The cause of this disinformation was because an “error” was made in one of the Kurdish writers’ book, published in Arabic, saying that the division of the ethnicities in Kirkuk was as follows: 10,000 Arabs, 35,000 Turkmen, 75,000 Kurds, 600 Kildaniens and 1400 Jews. The total had been published as 92,000.

Simple arithmetic will clearly yield the total to be 122,000, and not 92,000. The reason was that in actual figures the number of the Kurds was 45,000 and not 75,000. That means that even with these false figures the Kurds were constituted less than half of the whole governorate and not the central city.

Why have we considered the figures submitted by the British delegation and Lord Curzon as false?

In his memorandum to the Head of the Turkish Delegation, Ismet Inonu, during the open sessions of the conference, Curzon claimed that the Turkmen population within Mosul Region was 66,000. He claimed also that these figures belong to the researches done by the British officers visited each and every settlement in the region, sometimes even on horseback or by any means necessary to count the people properly in 1919.

However we have discovered the same figures in the report of Wikie Young, one of the staff of British Consulate in Mosul, who clearly states his own estimates by saying that the inhabitants of Kirkuk at that time was 40,000, save 3000 non Muslims, the rest (i.e. 37,000) were all Turkmen.

He adds 1,500 Turkmen living in Tuzhurmato, 10,000 Turkmen in Telafer and quarter of Erbil inhabitants who were as much as 60000(i.e. 15000) were Turkmen. He also mentions that the all Bayat tribe people were Turkmen, say 2500 at that time. The total is 66000. (The Report of Mr. Young dated 5th.April 1910, The National Archives, File No: FO 371/1008.

If we look at the figures presented by the Turkish delegation at that time, we see that the Turks were not claiming that they have collected these figures by officers riding on horsebacks, but from the official records of the state which used to be registered by each part of the Ottoman Empire. These figures were registered before the war when there was no reason to exaggerate the numbers at all. The figures mentioned in this statement show the Turkmen at 146,000.

The same statements show the Kurds at that time at 263,000. If we consider the estimations made in the Oil for Food programme of the United Nations and the percentage adopted in the new Iraqi budgets we see that the Kurds are at 17% of the Iraqi population. Now, 17% of 25 million should be slightly more than 4 million. If we consider in the absence of a real census in Iraq that the Turkmen are above 2 million, we see that really the figures of the Turkish delegation were accurate.

The British authorities never denied that the majority of Kirkuk is Turkmen. This was even stated in 1952 in a report from the British Ambassador in Iraq Mr. J.M. Trulbil, addressed to the British Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anthony Eden, about the former’s visit to Kirkuk, Suleimaniya and Erbil during the period from 10-14 May 1952, he stated:

“The issue of minorities in Iraq is based on the relationship between the Arabs and non-Arabs, and this relation is evident now than ever before. The coexistence and harmony is clearly demonstrated in Kirkuk, for Turkmens constitute the majority of the population in that region and they live with Arabs and Kurds side by side”. (The British National Archives, London, File No. F.O/173/98738, report of the Oriental Dept. E/1018/2).

We know that the accurate figures of the Turkmen announced by the Iraqi republic after the military coup in 1958 show the real stand as 567 000( as stated in the report of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Policy watch No. 735, March27, 2003).

If we adopt and again in the absence of accurate census, the growth rates of Iraq in general which based on Iraqi population growth rates being approximately 3.2% throughout the 50s, 60s and 70s; 2.6% in the 80s; 2.4% from 1990-92, and 2.3% in 1993 as per the figures quoted in the 1993 Unified Economic Report published by the Arab Fund for Economics and Social Development; the Arab Monetary Fund, and the Arab Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, then we can calculate this figures nowadays as more than 2 millions.

This fact is in conformity with the above said report stating the percentage of the Turkmen population in Iraq as 9%. In the present we are talking about 25 million living in Iraq, 9% of which is 2,250,000.

Especially in Kirkuk, the situation was always in this regard, until recent attempts began to severely change the ethnic stance of Kirkuk and its surrounding areas. Even the Kurds have accepted this reality during the negotiations between the Iraqi Kurds and the government.

We see in David McDowell’s book, A Modern History of Kurds, ف.B. Tauris, New York 1996, the following statement:

“Mulla Mustafa (Barzani) accused the government of resettling Arabs in the contrasted areas Kirkuk, Khaniqin and Sinjar and told government that he would not accept the census results if the indicate is an Arab majority. He also dismissed the offer of 1965 census, which he said forged. When the government proposed to apply 1957 census to Kirkuk, Mulla Mustafa refused it, since this was bound to show that the Turkmen’s, although outnumbered in the governorate as a whole was still predominant in Kirkuk town.”

Documents:
I have presented tens of the documents including the official maps and reports of the British government, researchers and authors, which none of them are Turks or Turkmen, stating the ethnic reality of Kirkuk as Turkmen.

In dispute, the majority of the Kurdish authors persistently deny the extent of the historical Turkmen presence in Kirkuk; referring to Shemseddin Sami’s Kamus al Alam (Dictionary of the Individuals) as a factual and reputable authority. It is, in fact, an Ottoman encyclopedia of history and geography which makes the highly-dubious claim that three quarters of Kirkuk’s population are Kurds, the remainder being made up of Turkmen, Arabs and other ethnic groups.
Almost all of these authors refer to what they regard as the most authoritative and reliable sources in this regard. They always mention Shamseddin Sami’s work already referred to, as an author they describe as a Turkish historian and traveler holding no particular allegiance to the Kurds, who had visited Kirkuk and written, according to them, an accurate account of the area and its inhabitants.

As a matter of fact, Shamseddin Sami was not Turkish. He was born in Albania in 1266 (AH) (1849 G) where he received his early education in the Greek school at Yanya, and learned Turkish, Persian and Arabic from a private tutor. He later moved to Istanbul where he launched a newspaper ‘Sabah.’ He then turned to writing fiction, among his early stories being ‘The Love Story of Talat and Fitnat,’ which openly questioned Ottoman marriage traditions and ethics.

He followed this with ‘The Revolution of Kawa, the Blacksmith,’ which depicted the hero’s struggle against the dictator, Dhahhak. The reaction of the Turkish authorities was to exile him to Tripoli, but he eventually returned to Istanbul where he devoted his time to writing language texts and works of non-fiction.

Ironically, Sami was not a traveler at all, never having once visited Kirkuk or Baghdad despite writing knowledgeably and authoritatively about both cities. The reference to his major work, referred to above, in the Islamic Encyclopedia clearly states that he compiled it from information he obtained in Bouillet’s Dictionaries et de Geographie Universal d’Histoire, various Arab and Persian sources and the largely inaccurate reports and records of government officials. His credibility is also seriously undermined by his references to Baghdad as a ‘Turkish’ city where, he claimed, mainly Turkish was spoken, with Arabic being relegated to second place.

Last statement
In a debate, one of the colleagues was mentioning that the Turkmen always exaggerate their numbers in Iraq and that they do not exceed, as he thinks 7-8 hundred thousands.

In my answer I have mentioned that the natural rights of any individual in any community, are totally independent of the latter’s size or strength, in accordance with the principles laid down by the International Declaration of Human rights (and, in addition, upheld by the terms of the aforementioned Iraqi constitution, the temporary constitution which succeeded it and finally the new permanent constitution).

Even if the testimony of Kurdish writers or others like the said colleague is accepted as valid (though they have generally tended to grossly underestimate the numbers of Turkmen in the Kirkuk region) the fact has to be recognized that the Turkmen population actually exceeds that of several entire independent, internationally recognized nations, for instance in The Arabian gulf, Europe and Africa.

I have reminded this friend who resides in Geneva, Switzerland to have a look at the Swiss currency, the Swiss Frank. He would see four native languages on it, including Romansh who at time did not exceed 30,000 people, but had 5 members in Parliament in Bern, not because they were a minority, rather because they had the capability and qualities to hold the seat in the parliament.

We wish to affirm our views as Iraqi Turkmens toward the ethnicities issue in Iraq adopted from the Turkmen Charter, in which we believe: It is the firm belief of the Turkmen that the ideal solution for the ethnic problems in Iraq will come to fruition only when the process builds on a solid foundation that embraces all the ethnicities and groups and considers them all as first class citizens and partners in a single nation. The selection of a free and sovereign united government system should be according to the resolve and free will of the Iraqis.

There should be no attempt to push aside any ethnic group or sect of people and withstand from exaggerating the role of one group over another because of certain exceptional state of affairs.
The Turkmen citizens affirm their respect for a comprehensive decision by the Iraqis that should take into consideration all the Iraqi ethnic groups who should exercise equal rights in shouldering similar duties in the regions that they inhabit and, that this should be conditional on the credible and just demographic census under the supervision of the United Nations after eliminating the last attempt to change this situation in favor of one group.

The Iraqi Turkmen predict a united, democratic, pluralistic and parliamentary Iraq, in which the government will be chosen by a free and credible election according to international standards, and will not be subjected to narrow-minded ethnic determinations in the distribution of authority or governmental positions. In the public service, the Turkmen believe that efficiency, qualifications, experience, and clear vision should become the standard.

Some people talk sometimes about the rosy futures and urge the people not to live in the past but to look forward. May I suggest here that we should specifically in this subject go backward to the past. To adopt and implement the norms accepted in 1948 in the International declaration of Human Rights. Moreover to go back to the Iraqi constitution of 1925, which I believe it was more moderate and acceptable than all constitution followed, including the so called permanent constitution. Let me share with you what I have counted in 2005 constitution. There are references in this to Sunni, Shea, Arab, Arabic, Kurds, Kurdistan, Turkmen, Assyrians, Kildaniens, Yazidies, Sabia, Armenians, Muslims and Christians 25 times. While such a reference in 1925 constitution is only one and it is related to the official language of Iraq provided that the other languages are also respected.

Now we declared what we prefer as Turkmen of Iraq, I wish however to express how anxious we are about the situation in Kirkuk and other Turkmen inhabited areas in Iraq. Let me remind you that, at the opening ceremony of the General Assembly of the United Nations 2005, the Greek Cypriot president Papadopoulos expressed his opinion about how to solve the Turkish Cypriot-Greek Cypriot dispute, by saying that the Turks should dropped into the rest of Cyprus.

He used the ward “Osmosis”. By this, the plan was to melt the Turks into the other part. I am afraid that, what was planned in Cyprus is nowadays implemented and taking place in Turkmen areas of Iraq.

“Osmosis” is taking place to annul the Turkmen presence in Iraq and annex Kirkuk to a specific region. We urge the free world to stop this tragedy.

Please see also:

http://turkmenfriendship.blogspot.com/2008/04/constitution-of-iraq-and-issue-of.html

The Constitution of Iraq and the Issue of Kerkuk

* Arshad Al-Hirmizi

* Translated by Researches Department of Kirkuk Foundation


The constitution of Iraq is undergoing a serious crisis due to its inherently vague perspective. It was supposed to be the source of all rules and the umbrella for democratic principles promised for a new Iraq. Yet, a state of imbalance prevails due to the ephemeral calculations or shortsightedness of some groups that wanted to monopolize the gains, raising the limits of their demands to avoid losses at the time their gains were achieved but at the expense of others.

These groups overlooked the nature of passing the constitution, a document that represents a social contract where each side makes certain concessions to reach a satisfactory settlement for all, or the majority, of the Iraqi people. They also overlooked the fact that the constitution will not remain an unalterable document should it not meet the interests and aspirations of all the people. This is what prevented unanimous agreement among Iraqis in defending preceding constitutions, resulting in their being short-lived.

The Iraqi constitution, unfortunately, has become a two-way track in stating general principles, rights, and basic freedoms without convincing certain groups of the validity of some of its postulates. This predicament could have been avoided by the inclusion of one line stating that all resolutions of the United Nations concerning human rights and groups are effective and to be respected and that the state takes responsibility for their enforcement and ensures that they do not conflict with the interests of the different groups.

The Issue of Kirkuk

The people running the affairs of Iraqi Kurdistan—as it is called in the constitution—wanted to include their demands in the constitution, thereby shifting focus on the priorities related to clearing up the messy Iraqi house, as it were. In this respect, we can see the changing position of Kurdish leaders motivated by their own interests. These leaders, now insisting on the principle of "referendum" to ascertain the positions of a certain area where they know that the results of this referendum are actually guaranteed unless the new situation which they have created is corrected, did not mention referendum when they were negotiating autonomy in the 1970s. Instead, they were then talking about a solution achieved through table negotiations among the groups concerned.

The same leaders decided to boycott the first elections held in Iraq unless their demands relative to the inclusion of all those people who had escaped to Kirkuk and created settlements that lacked the same basic health and living standards as those enfranchised inhabitants of Kirkuk are accepted. Those first elections were a first step towards the establishment of a national assembly to draft a permanent constitution after the appropriate parameters were set in the Law of Administration for the State of Iraq for the Transitional Period. When the people in charge of the state submitted to these demands at that time, these same leaders changed their minds as the results became known to them and then opted for elections.


Playing on the ambiguity of language

It has become clear that those who succeeded in imposing their interests inserted into the Iraqi constitution conflicting items and principles which have given rise to more than one interpretation. This is a pitfall for all who seek transient gains without considering the damages done to the ideals they stand for. For instance, Article 143 of the Iraqi constitution states:

The Law of Administration for the State of Iraq for the Transitional Period and its annex are abated upon establishment of the new government, except for Item (a) of Articles 53 and the article 58.

This was consolidated in Article 140, which states in its first paragraph that the executive branch shall take the necessary measures to implement the requirements of all items of Article 58 of the Law of Administration for the State of Iraq for the Transitional Period.

This means that the terms of Article 58 remain effective even after the end of the transitional law. The author has said more than once that Paragraph C of the said Article states that the settlement shall be made in a manner that meets the principles of justice, taking into account the will of the inhabitants of those territories. When passing the Iraqi constitution, some groups inserted the word referendum in Article 140 but ignored the phrase the will of the inhabitants of those territories, thereby setting the stage for their own agendas.



Returning to the solution of disputed lands

The Law of Administration for the State of Iraq for the Transitional Period deferred the final settlement of disputed territories (Lands) until the taking of a fair and transparent census and endorsing the permanent constitution on the principles of justice. However, unnecessary detailing was included in Article 140 of the constitution with the words “…ends up with a referendum in Kirkuk and disputed regions,” meaning that the lands were expanded to include regions, in spite of keeping the above article legally effective.

The people in charge of drafting the constitution would have identified the differences in meaning had they returned to the definition of terminologies. By referring to Al-Munjed in Contemporary Arabic Language, we can see that the term land means the upper layer of soil, and that the term the land area is the land surface that can be built or stepped upon. The region, however, means the specific part of land, which means location, site, place, circle, field, and perimeter. It is evident that the advocates of these differences wanted to make the situation ambiguous by using this term. [1]

According to the agendas of certain groups, this ambiguity was intended to include a whole region in these procedures. The city of Kirkuk, for instance, is a specific land that can be talked about, and inserting the word regions is intended to include the province of Kirkuk after returning some Kurdish areas to it as another guarantee for getting the desired results from the elections. Paragraph B of Article 58 states that administrative borders of provinces shall be resolved. As for the demands of the Kurdish political groups, they ask first for the return of lands such as Jamjamal and Klar governorate to Kirkuk and then the call for a referendum in the province as a whole.

This demand is unconstitutional since Article 53 of the Law of Administration for the State of Iraq for the Transitional Period, whose first paragraph is to be maintained by the constitution, states the following:

The government of Kurdistan is recognized on March 19, 2003 as the official government of the lands run by the said government and these lands are located in Duhok, Erbil, Sulaimanyah, Kirkuk, Diala, and Ninawa.

Concerning Kirkuk province, Jamjamal and Klar were within the perimeters of these lands, so their status was determined constitutionally and the phrase disputed lands ceased being used to describe them. Certain groups, however, are trying to separate them from Kurdistan in order to annex them to another province that supposedly does know the results of any referenda in it and then call for a referendum to rejoin Kurdistan.

Who are the people of Kirkuk?

In Article 23, the Iraqi constitution bans possession for the purpose of making demographic changes and calls for the preservation and protection of public property. Certain people admitted that Kirkuk’s population, or their offspring, must be considered among those registered in the 1957 census; but based on weak arguments, they tried to change the records, sometimes recognizing the population’s registration cards and at other times relying on the records of these cards as a basis for considering the identity of the original residents of the city.

Since Kurds in the 1957 census were only nearly a third of the population against the Turkmen and Arabs, any referendum made in the city of Kirkuk with reference to the arbitration of “the disputed lands" cannot be in favor of joining Kurdistan, even if we presume that all original Kurdish citizens of Kirkuk vote in favor of joining, a matter not acceptable in democratic practices.

The single rational explanation for such a situation would be that the results of the referendum should be fraudulent as would the use of the census which counted only the original citizens. Both cases are unacceptable by the rules of justice and democracy.


Who are the people who were evacuated from Kirkuk?

If we took for granted the application of the aforementioned legal and constitutional articles and adopted the logic based on the 1957 census, the people evacuated from Kirkuk, whether Turkmen or Kurds, should be allowed to return to the properties and places that were originally theirs. This principle, or argument, had been utilized even before the implementation of related legal texts by inundating Kirkuk with hundreds of thousands of non-original people from other provinces.

There has been a lot of gossip regarding these evacuees, and Kurdish leaders have tried to assure that they were the original city residents. Local administrations facilitated—through a mayor's certificate and two witnesses—their receiving ration cards, which were deemed a substitute for the fair and transparent census stated in the constitution.

Official documents indicate that this has not been the case. The numbers of evacuees and newcomers that have been used to change the demographic structure can be identified by referring to government documents of the ousted regime, which was not supposed to minimize the figures as it was documenting success in executing the orders and tasks entrusted to it.

The governor of Kirkuk sent a letter to the senior official of Arabization, the secretary general of the committee for organizing the north, Taha Yasin Ramadan, a close ally of Saddam Hussein. This letter was among the documents a Christian citizen, Luna, obtained from the city hall. It included a report on the most serious cleansing phases that took place from June 1, 1985 to October 1988. The report presented the achievements made during this period and is supported by the following figures:

- 19,146 citizens were evacuated from security-zone villages.
- 96,533 records were transferred from Kirkuk region to Erbil to evacuate the people.
- 2,405 families were evacuated from the areas surrounding oil plants that were security-sealed.
- 10,918 Arab families (with 53,834 members) were evacuated to Kirkuk from other regions.
- 8,250 parcels of residential property and 1,112 houses were given to Arab families brought in from other regions.

The letter showed that the ultimate result of these changes led to the influx of 51,862 Arabs to the region and the evacuation of 18,096 Kurds from the region during this period. [2]

The transferred records mentioned in this report were for families that were not originally registered in the 1957 census in Kirkuk. The families evacuated from regions contiguous to oil plants and housed in new housing complexes outside Kirkuk were dwellers of Turkmen villages north and south of Kirkuk, while those Kurds evacuated numbered 18,000.


Total Number of Evacuees

Evacuation for security reasons or for protecting areas surrounding oil wells or evacuation motivated by the Arabization policy adopted by the ousted regime against Kurds was not restricted to Kirkuk. Even though Kurdish leaders exaggerated this issue and tried to draw attention to the demographic situation of the city of Kirkuk, the realities nonetheless refute their claims.

Studies conducted on this issue show that the nature of changing places of residence among the citizens of the region was motivated by the struggle between the two major Kurdish groups. Moreover, the total number of evacuated Kurds, Turkmen, and other races as part of the Arabization policy that took place in Kirkuk was ten thousand people between 1998 and 1999, while the total number of evacuated families was one thousand. [3]

Most studies indicate that evacuees were not from Kirkuk only. It is believed that around 120,000 people from Kurdish and other races were evacuated from their areas of residence in Kirkuk and neighboring areas. Kurdish writers themselves accepted this view before the phase of the inundation of the city of Kirkuk with newcomers. [4]

International organizations and sources refer to the true number of evacuees. A Human Rights Watch report shows that the total number of evacuated Kurds, Turkmen, and Assyrians from Kirkuk and from all areas adjacent to oil wells in northern Iraq to the territories controlled by Kurdish groups from 1991 until preparation of the report in 2003 was around 120,000 with smaller numbers evacuated to the south. [5]

Where does salvation for a new Iraq lie?

The only way to build a new Iraq that aspires to a free and honorable life and seeks the benefits and advancement of its future generations is to return to the spirit of human rights covenants that guarantee human freedom and dignity. I made a simple count of ethnic, national, sectarian, and religious phrases in the Iraqi constitution and found they are used twenty-five times. Yet, in the first Iraqi constitution, written in 1925, only one occurrence was noted, and it was related to the official language of the state, in which local languages and all minority languages, without exception, were respected.

The civilized way of thinking requires that Iraqis refrain from making factional gains, respect other groups, and avoid any actions that might destabilize the country even if committed by a party close or loyal to the same group. This goal can be attained by making no reference to any racial, religious, or sectarian differences and by banning the formation of any political groups or associations based on these references. Individual languages and cultures shall also be guaranteed with people exercising their national, political, and cultural rights freely, unless otherwise prohibited by law.

The Article 14 of the current constitution states:

Iraqis are equal before the law with no discrimination due to sex, race, nation, origin, color, religion, sect, belief, opinion, economic, or social status.

This text makes other interpretations or the mentioning of races or sects redundant, but the problem lies in the actual implementation. This text had already been mentioned in most of the earlier Iraqi constitutions and has been included in the constitutions of the most tyrannical and totalitarian regimes in the world, but the people have not enjoyed the least amount of freedom stated in these texts. As mentioned earlier, constitutions are social contracts, but if people are not allowed to enjoy their benefits, then regimes feel enjoined to quell dissension and oppress their people, believing that theirs is the right to be obeyed, insidiously all under cover of the alleged freedom, democracy and justice entrusted to them.

The question that preoccupies some Iraqis is related to the way Iraqi Turkmen regard this point. In this respect, the Turkmen Covenant states:

"Turkmen believe that the form of Iraqi regime is to be decided by the Iraqi people and it shall not be totalitarian. Like other Iraqi people, Turkmen have refused totalitarian regimes. The Turkmen Movement calls for a democratic regime and the peaceful exchange of authority through free and honest elections according to the civilized practices of democratic states.

The Turkmen Movement supports a republican and constitutional regime and believes that the Iraqi constitution has to express the nation's conscience. It shall guarantee that all Iraqis practice their political, civil, social, and cultural rights, including freedom of speech and expression, publication of newspapers and magazines, and establishment of political groups and intellectual organizations under the condition that they do not conflict with the public order or destabilize the unity of Iraq.

The Turkmen Movement prefers a strong and powerful government in the capital, Baghdad, and sees this as a guarantee of the unity and stability of Iraq. Local administrations and municipalities shall also have maximum authority. The Movement also respects the Iraqi decision related to the selection of administration style, whether it be federal or united, under the condition that this includes all Iraqi people. It believes that this is crucial and decisive and shall not be monopolized by any particular group, and that all Iraqi people have the right to participate in its endorsement."



[1] Al-Munjid in Contemporary Arabic Language, Dar Al-Mashriq, Beirut 2001, 18 and 1,420.
[2] The Assassin's Gate- America in Iraq, George Packer, Ferrar, Straus and Girouz, New York, 2005, 347-8.
[3] David McDowall, The Modern History of the Kurds Turkisj Edition, Doruk-Ankara, 520.
[4] Kerim Yildiz, The Kurds in Iraq, Pluto Press, London 2004, 54.
[5] Human Rights Watch, “The Iraqi Government Assault on the Marsh Arabs,” A Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper, New York, January 25, 2003.

Bir Devlet Aranıyor

Erşat HÜRMÜZLÜ

Bir sohbet programında ortaya çok enteresan bir soru atıldı: Bugünün Irak´ında neler devam ediyor ve neler kaybolmuştur?

Cevap gerçekçi olduğu kadar acıydı. Irak´ta hükümet vardır, partiler vardır; şehirler ve nehirler vardır. Ancak kaybolan önemli bir şey vardır, o da devlet’tir. Devlet, sosyal bir mukaveledir. Belirgin bir toprak üzerinde yaşayan kitleler aidiyet duygusu içinde olduklarında ortaya bir devlet çıkar.

Devletin en önemli unsurları kurumlar ve hukuk’tur. Kurumları, mesela orduyu, emniyet güçlerini, iletişim ve enformasyonu ortadan kaldırırsanız devlet zedelenir, hukuk birliğini de sağlamazsanız, ortaya çok hukukluluk çıkar ki bu da devlet mefhumuyla bağdaşmaz. Bugün Irak´ta bu plan uygulandı, devlet kurumları ortadan kaldırıldı ve çok hukukluk ortaya çıktı, onun için devlet anlayışı kaybolmaya başladı.

Bir ülkede yaşayan bir etnik grup, gönderde olan bayrağa saygı göstermiyor ve “bu benim bayrağım değil” diyorsa, mahkemeler, kararlarını millet adına değil, bir bölgenin halkı adına veriyorsa ve bazı bölgelerde resmî yazışmalar, ülkenin anayasa ile kabul edilmiş resmî dili ile değil, başka bir ülkenin lisanı ile yapılıyorsa, devlet çökmektedir.

Bir anayasa hazırlayıp devlet olmak iddiasında olmak yetmez. Her şeyden önce devletin saygınlığını korumak gerekir. Bunu teminin en önemli yolu da kabul edilmiş olan anayasaya bağlı kalmak ve seçici olarak uygulamamaktır.

Anayasa deyince, Irak’ta yürürlükte olan “kalıcı” anayasanın durumuna da bakmak gerekir. Anayasalar değişikliğe açık bir esas kanun değil midir? Evet, öyledir ve ihtiyaç doğdukça ulusun katmanlarının uzlaşması sonucunda bazı değişiklikler veya köklü değişiklikler yapılabilir. Ancak anayasa metni içinde, bu metnin kesin şekil olmadığı ve tadil edilmesi gerektiği yazılıyorsa, onun “kalıcılık” vasfı zaten tartışma konusu olur. Kaldı ki bu anayasanın birçok hükmü ile bununla çelişen tatbikat, devlet mefhumunun kaybolmasında önemli bir rol oynamıştır.

Irak Anayasası Delindi mi?

Bu soruya cevap vermek için, Anayasanın olduğu gibi yürütülmesini isteyenlerin maksadına bakmak gerekir. Bunu söyleyenlerin varsa yoksa 140. maddenin derhal ve bütün aksaklıklarına rağmen yürürlüğe konulmasını istemelerinin ardındaki maksadı çok iyi okumak da gerekir.

Evet, Anayasa delinmiştir, hatta delik deşik edilmiştir. Örnekler çok olmakla beraber burada bazılarını gündeme getirelim:

Anayasanın 9/1. maddesinin b. fıkrasında: “silahlı kuvvetler dışında milis güçlerin oluşturulması yasaktır” deniliyor. Milis kuvvetlerinin tümüyle ortadan kaldırılması sürekli konuşulurken, kuzey Irak’ta Peşmerge denilen milis kuvvetine son verilmesi reddedilmekte ve konuşulması dâhi kabul edilmemektedir. Neden olarak da, Peşmerge gücünün bir nizamî güç olduğu ve yasal olduğu söylenmektedir. Peşmergenin, tercüme edildiğinde “ölüme hazır fedaî” demek olduğu dikkate alınırsa, milis gücü olmadığı savı zaten iflas ediyor.

Eğer, iyi niyetle davranır ve bu argümanın doğru olduğunu kabul edersek, aynı maddenin a. fıkrasına da bir göz atalım:

“Irak’ın askeri güçleri ve güvenlik birimleri, Irak halkının farklı kesimlerinden oluşur, iç dengeleri gözetir, ayrım ve kayırma yapmaz. Sivil otoriteye boyun eğer ve Irak’ı savunur. Irak halkının kıyımına alet olmaz, siyasî işlere müdahale etmez ve yönetim değişikliğinde herhangi bir rolü olmaz.”

Peşmerge görevinin bununla örtüşmediğini sadece biz söylemiyoruz. Bu milis gücünün yöneticileri de saklama lüzumunu hissetmiyorlar. Kaldı ki bu kuvvet, askerî bir güç ise aynı maddenin 2. fıkrası “askerlik hizmeti yasayla düzenlenir” diyor ve biz, Irak Peşmerge yasası diye bir yasayı da görmüş bulunmuyoruz.

Aynı anayasanın 13. maddesi, bu anayasanın Irak’ın en üst ve en yüce yasası olduğunu, ülkenin istisnasız her bölgesinde bağlayıcı olduğunu hükme bağladığı için ve aynı maddenin 2. fıkrasında, bu Anayasa ile çelişen bir yasanın çıkarılamayacağı, bölgesel anayasalarda veya diğer hukukî belgelerde anayasa ile çelişen maddelerin geçersiz sayılacağı hükmüne göre, bölgesel bir Peşmerge yasası da çıkmışsa da (ki hem çıkmıştır, hem de bunun için bölgesel hükümette bir bakanlık ihdas edilmiştir), hükümsüz ve geçersizdir.

Anayasa ile Uygulama Çelişkisi: Mülkiyet Hakkı

Irak anayasasının 23/3 maddesinin a. fıkrasında: “Iraklıların Irak’ın herhangi bir yerinde gayrimenkul edinme hakkı vardır. Irak vatandaşı olmayanlar yasalarla getirilen istisnalar haricinde gayrimenkul edinemezler”. Bugün her Iraklı bilir ki bu madde sadece Irak’ın kuzeyinde çalışmaz ve uygulanmaya konmaz. Mesela, bir Türkmen; bir Arap veya bir Hıristiyan Kürt bölgesinde gayrimenkul alamaz; alsa da tapu kaydını yaptıramaz. Bırakın mülk edinmeyi, bugün bu vasıfta olan vatandaşlar, serbestçe belirli vilayetlere seyahat edemez, oturamaz ve bir sponsoru olmadan çalışamaz. Anayasanın bir başka maddesinde (42/1), Iraklıların Irak içinde ve dışında dolaşma, seyahat ve yerleşme özgürlüklerinin kısıtlanmayacağı hükmü yokmuş gibi davranılmaktadır. Olay bununla kalmıyor, bir de bunun aksi uygulanarak, mesela Türkmen ve Arap bölgelerinde demografik konumu değiştirmek için, paralar akıtılarak ve türlü korkutma ve özendirme yolları kullanılarak Kürt vatandaşlar ve siyasî hareketlerinin yanlıları mülk ediniyorlar. Peki, bu bağlamda aynı maddenin b. fıkrası ne diyor? Aynen şöyle diyor:“Demografik yapının değiştirilmesi amacıyla gayrimenkul edinmek yasaktır.”

İş sadece gayrimenkul edinmek ve satın almakla kalmıyor. Bugün dünya televizyon kanallarının da tespit ettiği ve İnsan Hakları Örgütlerinin gündeme getirdiği bir durum, en azından Kerkük gibi demografik yapısı değiştirilmeye çalışılan bir şehirde ayan beyan yaşanıyor. Bölge sakini olmayan binlerce Kürt ailesi bugün devlet binalarında, terkedilmiş istihbarat ve emniyet karargâhlarında, askerî lojmanlarda, stadyumlarda ve çeşitli kamu binalarında yerleşik durumda, yapılmasını istedikleri bir referandumu beklemektedir. Peki, anayasanın bu konudaki hükümleri yok mu? Vardır ve 27. maddede açıkça hükme ağlanmıştır:

“Kamu mallarının dokunulmazlığı vardır. Bunları koruyup kollamak her vatandaşın görevidir.” Bu dokunulmazlık ise bir başka dokunulmazlıkla ortadan kaldırılmaktadır. Bu siyasî hareketlerin kendi istekleri doğrultusunda hareket etme hakkının dokunulmazlığıdır. İşler sadece mülkiyet hakkının korunmasıyla sınırlanmıyor, bugün Kuzey bölgesi hapishanelerinde yüzlerce Arap ve Türkmen’in yargılanmadan tutuklu bulunduğunu her kes biliyor. Bunların tutukluluk şartlarının düzeltilmesi zaruretini Kürt idaresinin İnsan Hakları birimleri de söylüyor.
Peki, bu yargısız, suçlamasız tutuklamalar anayasanın hangi maddesine göre yapılmaktadır? Olsa olsa anayasanın 35.1 maddesinin a. ve b. fıkralarının yanlış yorumlanmasından veya algılanmasından kaynaklanıyor olacaktır.

Çünkü bu maddede aynen şöyle deniliyor:

“35/1:

a. İnsanların özgürlükleri ve onurları korunmalıdır.

b. Yargı kararı olmadan hiç kimse gözaltına alınamaz ve sorgulanamaz.”

Cumhurbaşkanı Nasıl Olmalıdır?

Irak Anayasası parlamenter rejimi seçmiştir. Bu Anayasaya göre iktidarı hükümet teşkil eder ve parlamentoda temsil edilen partiler tarafından icra edilir. Cumhurbaşkanlığı makamı, geniş yetkileri olmakla beraber, bu yetkiler bir dönem için Başkanlık Divanı tarafından kullanılması hükmü getirildiği gibi, bizzat Cumhurbaşkanının tarafsız olması hükme bağlanıyor.

Cumhurbaşkanı, Milletvekillerinin ettiği yemini ederek tarafsız bir konumda kalması isteniyor. Bu yeminin metni şöyledir:

“Yasal görev ve sorumluluklarımı özveri ve sadakat içerisinde yerine getireceğime, Irak’ın bağımsızlığı ve egemenliğini koruyacağıma, halkımın çıkarlarını savunacağıma, topraklarını, havasını, sularını ve doğal servetlerini muhafaza edeceğime, demokratik federal rejimin selameti için çalışacağıma, genel ve bireysel özgürlüklere saygılı hareket edeceğime, yargının bağımsızlığını müdafaa edeceğime, yasaların dürüst ve tarafsız bir şekilde uygulanması için çalışacağıma Yüce Allah’ın huzurunda yemin ederim.”

Tarafsızlığı, iktidarın başı değil, bütün ulusun Cumhurbaşkanı oluşundan kaynaklanmaktadır. Ancak bugün anayasa bu konuda da ihlâl ediliyor ve Kürdistan Yurtseverler Birliği (Partisi)’ nin başkanı, partisinden istifa etmeden Cumhurbaşkanlığı koltuğuna oturuyor ve nerdeyse her açıklamasında bir Irak Cumhurbaşkanı gibi değil, bir Kürt partisi başkanı olarak hareket ediyor, taraf tutuyor ve tarafsızlık yeminine de bağlı kalmıyor. Kendisi de hukukçu olan Celal Talabani, gün gelir bu çelişkisinden dolayı pişmanlık ve hicap duyacaktır!

140. Madde ve Tatbikatı:

Bugün sadece Kerküklülerin değil, tüm dünyanın gündeminde olan 140. madde sorunu, aslında yine Irak Anayasasının hükümleriyle yorumlanıp tarih sayfalarına gömülmelidir.140. maddenin kökü, daha önce işgal kuvvetleri tarafından 8 Mart 2004 tarihinde yayınlanan Geçiş Dönemi için Irak Devleti Yönetim Yasası hükümlerinin iki maddesi olan 53. ve 58. maddelerinin adaptasyonu ile ve anayasanın zoraki bir şekilde kabulünü sağlamak için Kürt partilerine verilen ödün kapsamında anayasaya yerleştirilmiştir.

Anayasada bu iki maddeye iki yerde atıf vardır. 58. madde tümüyle korunmuş ve anayasa hükmüne getirilmişken, 53. maddenin sadece a. fıkrası korunmuş ve ısrarla reddedilen öteki fıkraları iptal edilmiştir.

Konuyu daha iyi anlamak için, bu maddelere bir göz atmak yararlı olacaktır. Adı geçen yasanın 53. maddesinde şöyle deniliyordu:

"Madde 53.

(A) Kürdistan Bölgesel Hükümeti 19 Mart 2003 tarihinde Duhok, Erbil, Süleymaniye, Kerkük, Diyala ve Neynova vilayetlerindeki toprakları idaresi altında bulundurmakta olan resmi hükümet olarak tanınmaktadır. ‘Kürdistan Bölgesel Hükümeti’ ifadesi, Kürdistan Ulusal Meclisi’ni, Kürdistan Bakanlar Konseyi’ni ve Kürdistan bölgesindeki bölgesel yargı makamını kapsamı içine almaktadır.

(B) Onsekiz vilayetin sınırları, geçiş dönemi sırasında herhangi bir değişiklik yapılmadan olduğu gibi kalacaktır.

(C) Bağdat ve Kerkük hariç olmak üzere, Kürdistan bölgesi dışında bulunan ve sayıları üçü aşmayan herhangi bir vilayetler grubu, kendi aralarında bir bölge oluşturma hakkına sahip olacaklardır. Bu tür bölgelerin oluşturulmasına ilişkin mekanizmalar Irak Geçiş Dönemi Hükümeti tarafından önerilebilecek ve incelenerek yasa haline dönüştürülmek üzere, seçimle oluşturulacak Ulusal Meclise sunulacaktır. Belli bir bölgenin oluşturulmasına yönelik bir öneri getiren her türlü yasanın Ulusal Meclis tarafından onaylanmasına ilaveten, ilgili vilayetlerin halkının katılacağı bir referandum sonucunda da kabul görmesi gerekmektedir.
Ve bu maddenin bir de d. fıkrası vardı ki Irak Türkmenlerine bir güvence veriyordu:

"Bu yasa ile Türkmenlerin, Keldani-Asurîlerin ve diğer tüm vatandaşların idari, kültürel ve siyasî hakları garanti altına alınmaktadır”. Bu fıkranın hükmü Anayasanın 125. maddesine aktarılarak, bu hakların uygulanması için bir yasanın çıkacağı hükme bağlanmışsa da, öyle ir yasa şimdiye kadar gündeme gelmedi.

Bu maddenin a. fıkrası dışındaki fıkraları, anayasanın 138. maddesi gereğince geri alındı ve yürürlükten kalktı. Böylece Kerkük´ün başka bir bölgeye bağlanmaksızın özerk bir bölge olması ihtimali yara aldı. Ayrıca Türkmenlerin eğitim hakkı ve yoğun oldukları bölgelerde dillerinin resmî dil olması hükme bağlanmışsa da ilk defa olarak bir Irak yasasında zikredilen "siyasî" haklar ifadesi geri alınmış oldu.

58. maddeye gelince ince ayarla bir tadilata uğradı. Geçiş Dönemi Yasasında Kerkük dâhil, anlaşmazlık bölgeleri için kesin çözüm ifadesi kullanıldığında " Getirilecek çözüm, adalet ilkesi ile uyum içerisinde olacak ve söz konusu bölgede yaşayan halkın istekleri göz önüne alınarak belirlenecektir" söylenerek mutlaka bir referandumdan bahsetmemekle birlikte, sanki bu anlamı veriyormuş gibi, şu şekli almıştır:

"Geçiş dönemi yasasının 58. maddesinde yer alan ve Geçici Hükümetin sorumluluğunda uygulanan hususlar, bu anayasaya uygun olarak seçilecek Yürütme Organı tarafından, tümü yerine getirilene kadar sürdürülür. Bu çalışmalar, Normalleştirme, Nüfus Sayımı ve nasıl yönetileceğini saptamak için Kerkük´te ve diğer anlaşmazlık bölgelerinde, en geç 31.12.2007 referandum düzenlenmesine kadar devam ettirilir."

140. madde kalıcı mı, geçici mi?

Bu soruya Anayasanın kendisi cevap vermiş ve geçici hükümler başlığı altına alınmıştır. Bundan da anlaşıldığına göre, süreli olarak verilen geçici bir hüküm, ya o hükmün uygulanmasına kadar veya da sürenin dolmasına kadar geçerli olur. En erken hangi takvim tuttuysa, o hüküm yürürlükten kalkar.

Bu bağlamda, 140. maddede ön görülen Normalleştirme ve Sayım işlemleri yerine getirilmediğine göre ve Eylül 2007 ayında çıkan bu yazıdan anlaşıldığı üzere 31.12.2007 tarihine kadar da getirilemeyeceğine göre o belirli günde bu madde yürürlükten kaldırılacaktır.

Anayasa hükümlerinin değiştirilmesi, bir kanunla değil, ancak yine bir Anayasa değişikliği ile yapılabilir. Böyle bir değişikliğin de olamayacağı ortaya çıkmışken 140. maddenin hükmü bitmiş oluyor ve referandumun ertelenmesi talep veya önerileri de, hiçbir esasa bağlı olmadığından, bugünden sonra geçersiz ve yersiz olacaktır.

Referandum Ertelenebilir mi?

Referandumun zamanında yapılamayacağını anlayan bazı kesimler artık ertelenmesi ihtimalinden bahseder oldular. Eskiden ertelenmeyi de şiddetle reddeden bu kesimler tehlikeyi sezmiş ve ileriki tarihlerden bahsetmeye başlamışlardır.

Hâlbuki bir erteleme veya düzenleme ne Bakanlar Kurulu kararı ile ne de Millet Meclisi kararıyla olabilir. Anayasa hükmüne göre, ana hak ve hürriyetleri konu almayan ve iki devre değiştirilmesi yasaklanan maddeler dışındaki öteki maddeler, bir anayasa tadiliyle olabilir. Bunun için Millet Meclisi üye sayısının üçte ikisinin onayı ve tadil için halk referandumu ile Cumhurbaşkanı onayı gerekiyor. 2007 sonuna kadar bunun gerçekleşmesi mümkün değildir. Bir defa, Kürt Partilerinin dışında dörtlü ittifaka imza atan Dava Partisi ve İslam Yüksek Konseyi ikna edilse dahi bu dört partinin oyu 183 sayısını bulamaz ve 2007 sonuna kadar halk oylamasına gidilmesi de imkânsızdır.

Bu bakımdan ve geçici madde olduğu için takvimi dolunca iptal edilmiş olacak bu maddenin erteleme talep ve tertipleri yersiz ve geçersizdir. Ancak çoğu zaman görüldüğü gibi, dayatma ile bir plan uygulamaya konursa, koyanların kendi dayattıkları anayasaya da aykırı olduğu için kabul edilmemeli, referandum kararı için, Bağdat’ta Anayasa mahkemesine müracaat edilerek iptal davası açılmalıdır. Israr edilmesi durumunda da olası bir referandum boykot edilmeli ve meşru olması tartışma zeminine çekilmelidir.

Haksızlık üzerine kurulan temelsiz ve dayatmacı her karar, günü gelince geçersiz ve batıl addedilir.

ersat@umgco.com


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