Shayan Zadeh: Practical Entrepreneur

Without much fanfare or coverage in the west, the Iraqi government has endorsed a decision to relocate thousands of Arabs that were moved to Kirkuk during Saddam’s ruling as part of his Arabization program back to their home towns (see WSJ article – warning: paywall). This is a significant move with serious ramifications if it is really executed on the ground.

Kirkuk is a historically Kurdish town north of Baghdad and is the only Kurdish town with major oil reserves. Saddam forced many Kurdish families to leave their home through prosecution and other means of pressure so that he could have better control on this natural resource rich city. In the Kurdish circles the fate of Kirkuk under any program separating Kurdistan from Iraq has been a mystery due to ethnic mixture (and of course oil money!).

This decision is a big win for the Kurdish leaders in the Iraqi government and shows signs of mature diplomacy. To be clear, this decision endorses voluntary relocation (and compensation). It remains to be seen if many Arabs will leave Kirkuk after decades living there. But if they do, this will pave the way for an easier separation of Kurdistan from Iraq.

I personally never have been a big fan of separation of Kurdish regions from the currently ruling countries (mainly Iran, Iraq, and Turkey). However, after watching the Iraqi experiment debacle, I think dividing Iraq into 3 countries might be the only possible way to avoid a new Afghanistan for 20 years to come! But it has to be implemented very carefully in order to avoid destabilization of the whole region and major conflicts between the three parts in the long run. Kirkuk would have been one of contentious points in that plan, and there seems to be move to change that.

And if this move is any indication, I might not be alone on thinking that separation could be the way out of this mess! Only time will show…