Iraqi President Salih's Essay on the 100th anniversary of founding the modern Iraqi State: We should work together towards having a new political and social contract aiming to establish a good governance
One hundred
years have passed since the Iraqi Modern State was established in 1921. These one hundred years witnessed many historical
stations in Iraq's history. It included the first works of the Free
Patriotic Movement, laying the ground for economic development and management
as it witnessed the emerging of peaceful struggle and political dynamic, the
development of health, educational and cultural system, enhancing equality
among all the components of Iraqi people. Moreover, women took a leading role in
public life. It is, therefore, Iraq was at the forefront of states, and became
the centre of intellectual creation and human civilization taking advantage of
its historical legacy, where Mesopotamia which is one of the most ancient world
civilizations emerged in Iraq.
But the
subsequent stages of the age of the State did not come without setbacks or
flaws where the Iraqi have suffered from wars, persecutions, embargo and terror
that recently attacked our towns and cities.
The Iraqi argue about the cause of the crisis, and they do believe that
it was caused by the successive regimes that ruled the country. History has
shown us a serious deviation where the military meddled in political affairs,
coups d'état, Interim Constitutions, and practised discrimination and
oppression, and engaged in genocide campaigns and mass graves, the use of
chemical weapons against Kurdish people in Halabja and draining the Marshes in
the south of Iraq as well.
The biggest lesson we learned from founding the modern Iraqi State is the urgent
need to establish good governance. Although Iraq
is rich in natural resources and has great human resources and is located in
the heart of the Middle East, there is a failure to bring about lasting peace
and to improve the living conditions of the Iraqi citizens.
One of the greatest governance challenges is the structural imbalance in
the government system since 2003 because there was a failure to meet the Iraqi
population's needs. There is no doubt that genuine and fundamental reform
should be taken to the government system. What has been achieved after 2003
cannot be underestimated where successively six governments and five
parliaments peacefully and democratically transferred power.
Establishing good governance begins with restoring the Iraqi people
confidence in the political system and putting an end to the encroaching,
breaching on the sovereignty of the State.
Today, we are at the dawn of forming a new government that must be
strong and capable. To that end, we deem it necessary to establish a new
political and social contract guaranteeing civil peace to establish good
governance that can review the mistakes and past experiences.
The move towards beginning this contract is an urgent need. National
public opinion and political and social players will take part in the drafting
of the contract. Historical national responsibility and this critical juncture
require everybody to work seriously to break out of the cycle of crises. At the
end of the day, neither the Shiites nor the Kurds nor the Sunnis nor the rest
of the Iraqi components are satisfied with the status quo in Iraq. They do
believe that the continuation of the situation has become impossible.
Long-term problems in the relations between Kurds and Baghdad that
emerged since the beginning of the foundation of the modern Iraqi State were
still unresolved until the present day. It is, therefore, meaningful dialogue
in Baghdad is needed to work out these issues. Genuine partnerships should be
ensured to find definitive solutions that would serve all the Iraqis from Basra
to Baghdad, Najaf, Anbar, Mosul, Erbil and Sulaymaniyah and Kurdistan region as
well.
We have recently managed to hold an early election. It was conducted in
response to a popular movement and a national consensus on the need to
undertake radical reforms. The elections procedures that would help to form a
new government are expected to be completed.
It is truly inspiring to see the Iraqis taking the election as a
peaceful way to resolve their problems away from wars and infighting even
though they have suffered from crisis and the attacks and violence committed by
terror against them. low turnouts in the elections can't be denied. At the end
of the day, the electoral process isn't only our goal itself but rather it leads
us to keep the democratic process on track as it is a peaceful path ensuring
large-turn out in the election and meeting Iraqi people demands to establish
good governance.
The phenomenon of corruption is dangerous as it is a barrier to good
governance and this serious scourge is closely related to violence, terrorism,
feeding divisions, threatening civil peace and influencing equal opportunities
among the Iraqis.
Responding to the challenges of corruption calls upon all official
institutions and all social and civil actors to take a serious stand and work
together. It is a national battle therefore if the country's situation can be
rectified, the victory will be realized in this battle. Corruption must be
eradicated from the root and funds stolen and taken out of the country must be
recovered.
The next stage should work on the amendment of some terms of the Iraqi
constitution where political practice caused the deep-seated crisis that stand
in the way of achieving the development in the political progress. However,
legislation should be enacted in line with the Iraqi constitution and
fundamental national values and in keeping up with developments in the world.
The major transformations, which the country has experienced, remained tightly
controlled by the legal system that failed to keep up with the political,
economic, social developments that took place in the country where the
provisions of the Iraqi Penal Code are still applied by the judges.
There are still challenges ahead of us in achieving economic
transformation in the country. It's too dangerous to continue depending on
rentier economies which is unsustainable and relies more than 90% on the export
of oil. Reducing crude oil demands and the global shift to renewable energy
will drop in the financial revenue of our economy, sooner or later.
The acceleration of the global economic transformation towards renewable
energy through climate agreements requires early planning to completely change
our economic foundations. This is linked with the most serious threat to our
country's future, which is to address climate change and its significant
environmental and economic damage over Iraq.
The high temperatures have become more common and the drought is most
severe and the dust storms are more damaged and our land is threatened by
salinization. Building deems on the headwaters and tributaries of the Tigris
and Euphrates has declined our water quotas. It is, therefore, we have to
tackle climate change as a national priority and we have to revitalize Mesopotamia.
Our actions to protect biodiversity such as palm trees, the marshes, plains and
mountains in Kurdistan are to be more effective. This could be done through
having strategic plans to address climate change.
One of the drawbacks in the history of the modern Iraqi state is that
its geographical location, which is located in the heart of the Middle East, is
never taken advantage of. However, its internal crisis cast a shadow over the
region and aggravated the situation, where there senseless wars and conflicts
have been waged against its neighbours. As a result, the regional order has
been collapsed and being controlled by the polarization and division that
haven't brought the desired peace and everybody become affected and there is no
winner.
It is, therefore, we have to adopt a foreign policy that is based on
distancing Iraq from axes policy and adopting an equally neutral policy with all
states. Iraq which was a battleground for
various political agendas must be turned into a point of cooperation and
inclusion, rather than division, for all regional and international states.
This would bring Iraq back to its central role and would put an end to any steps by any country to settle scores on Iraq's
soil. Baghdad, the capital of the world civilization and centre for
diversity and tolerance, where the world culture comes together.
Today, while
marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Iraqi modern
state, some daunting challenges remain to be addressed and major tasks are
still ahead. The encroaching and breaching of
the sovereignty of the Iraqi state is not a matter of growing problems for Iraq
only, but also for the region as well. A strong, stable and sovereign state
that peacefully treats its people and pursues a policy promoting good neighbour.
That's what Iraq has got to be. A state that is based on the Iraqi constitution
and takes care of its people where there is no excuse to oppress its people.
Moreover, it should serve people and should be able to enforce the law and
respect human rights and strengthen the principle of citizenship and support
and develop the educational system.
A greeting of esteem and honour to all the martyrs of Iraq, those
who sacrificed their lives for freedom, democracy, dignity and for defending
the homeland.
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